28 episodes

Interviews with academics and experts who work on issues related to the U.S. criminal justice system. Host Thomas Baker is a PhD student in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is a former police officer who studies police culture and police use of force. Thomas is a U.S. Army veteran and a 2018 Pat Tillman Scholar award winner.

The Discipline and Punish Podcast Thomas Baker

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    • 4.2 • 6 Ratings

Interviews with academics and experts who work on issues related to the U.S. criminal justice system. Host Thomas Baker is a PhD student in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is a former police officer who studies police culture and police use of force. Thomas is a U.S. Army veteran and a 2018 Pat Tillman Scholar award winner.

    #28 FATAL ENCOUNTERS – Documenting Police Related Deaths in the U.S. – Brian Burghart

    #28 FATAL ENCOUNTERS – Documenting Police Related Deaths in the U.S. – Brian Burghart

    On this episode, Brian Burghart and I discuss his work to document every police related deaths in the U.S. since the year 2000. We talk about the lack of a comprehensive government run national database, why he came to create Fatal Encounters, what was required to create it, how it’s managed, and the future of the database.
    From www.fatalencounters.org:
    Hi, my name is D. Brian Burghart. I’m a lifelong, award-winning journalist. I’ve got two master’s degrees–one in English writing and one in journalism. I’m the former editor/publisher of the Reno News & Review and a former journalism instructor at the University of Nevada, Reno. These days, I’m founder and executive director of Fatal Encounters Dot Org and a part-time researcher for the University of Southern California.
    I’m based in Reno, Nevada, but I’m currently traveling and seeing how far I can push Verizon’s Unlimited limits. I’ve created this page because I believe in a democracy, citizens should be able to figure out how many people are killed during interactions with law enforcement, why they were killed, and whether training and policies can be modified to decrease the number of officer-involved deaths.
    Fatal Encounters intends to help create a database of all deaths through police interaction in the United States since Jan. 1, 2000. We are not a finished product. We’re just the first step toward creating an impartial, comprehensive and searchable national database of people killed during interactions with police. We expect other media organizations, law enforcement, universities, artists and activist groups will advance our work, and that’s why we let anyone use the data for any reason for free.
    This site will remain as impartial and data-driven as possible, directed by the theory that Americans should be able to answer some simple questions about the use of deadly force by police: How many people are killed in interactions with law enforcement in the United States of America? Are they increasing? What do those people look like? Can policies and training be modified to have fewer officer-involved shootings and improve outcomes and safety for both officers and citizens?
    Tom Baker has been a PhD student in UMSL's Criminology and Criminal Justice program since 2017. Tom received his BA in Political Science from Arizona State University and worked as a police officer for approximately nine years. His research interests include police culture, use of force, and qualitative research methods. 
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    • 1 hr 14 min
    #27 POLICE VIOLENCE AND BLACK CHILDREN – The psychological costs and implications – Ashley N. Jackson

    #27 POLICE VIOLENCE AND BLACK CHILDREN – The psychological costs and implications – Ashley N. Jackson

    www.thomasowenbaker.com for podcasts, LIVE streams, writing, and more.

    In this episode, Ashley N. Jackson from Washington University-St. Louis and I discuss the psychological impacts of police violence on adolescent Black boys. We talk about the history of race in the U.S., how it intersects police violence, "the talk", and Jackson's research.

    About Ashley N. Jackson:
    https://sites.wustl.edu/ajackson/

    In 2009, I earned a BS in Administration of Justice from George Mason University and an AM (MSW) from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration in 2011. During the 2017-2018 cycle, I earned a Fulbright Research grant to conduct research in Cali, Colombia where I explored how local NGOs support vulnerable communities impacted by armed conflict and violence.
    Prior to moving to Colombia, I worked at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) in New York in program development, advocacy and research on a variety of criminal justice issues. Specifically, I provided support to communities across the country addressing public safety issues. I also conducted mixed-methods research on youth experiences while incarcerated and during their transition back into the community and the impact of police contact on  youth and families in New York City.

    I currently study historical and contemporary patterns of police violence, its effects on psychological well-being and racial socialization among communities of color.

    I love cats, traveling (when we could!), and baking.

    Tom Baker has been a PhD student in UMSL's Criminology and Criminal Justice program since 2017. Tom received his BA in Political Science from Arizona State University and worked as a police officer for approximately nine years. His research interests include police culture, use of force, and qualitative research methods.

    Article Discussed:
    Jackson, A. N., Butler-Barnes, S. T., Stafford, J. D., Robinson, H., & Allen, P. C. (2020). “Can I Live”: Black American Adolescent Boys’ Reports of Police Abuse and the Role of Religiosity on Mental Health. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(12), 4330.

    https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4330?type=check_update&version=1&fbclid=IwAR1jFFVTBy07sy6RIR0vB2-zxL9SDr-etLt8rkF15B4qeihXO3y0h_l3Tik

    Abstract:
    "State sanctioned violence aimed at Black individuals and communities is an issue that has pervaded American history and society since before the establishment of the United States. For Black males, anticipating and preparing for involuntary police contact, unfortunately, is an inevitable part of life. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of reports of police abuse on mental health and perceived racial out-group perceptions and the protective role of religiosity among a nationally representative sample of Black American adolescent boys (Mage = 14.98). Linear multiple regression was used to determine the interactive effects of subjective religiosity and reported police abuse on Black American adolescent boys. Higher reports of subjective religiosity were associated with lower depressive symptomatology. Reports of police abuse were associated with lower public regard beliefs (belief that society views Black Americans less favorably). Results highlight the impact experiencing police abuse has on Black adolescent boys and we conclude with implications, areas for future research and intervention points." 
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    • 1 hr 13 min
    #26 DEFUND THE POLICE – What Does The End of Policing Look Like? – Alex Vitale

    #26 DEFUND THE POLICE – What Does The End of Policing Look Like? – Alex Vitale

    www.thomasowenbaker.com
    In this episode, Professor Alex Vitale from Brooklyn College and I discuss his book The End of Policing. We talk about the current crisis and how the use of policing as a form of social control can be reduced in the U.S. We talk about the drug war, the mental health crisis, deindustrialization, and automated driving technology. 
    http://www.alex-vitale.info/
    Alex S. Vitale is Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and a Visiting Professor at London Southbank University. He has spent the last 30 years writing about policing and consults both police departments and human rights organizations internationally. Prof. Vitale is the author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics and The End of Policing. His academic writings on policing have appeared in Policing and Society, Police Practice and Research, Mobilization, and Contemporary Sociology. He is also a frequent essayist, whose writings have been published in The NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice News, Fortune, and USA Today. He has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, PBS, Democracy Now, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
    Book discussed:
    The End of Policing. New York and London: Verso. 2017. 
    Tom Baker has been a PhD student in UMSL's Criminology and Criminal Justice program since 2017. Tom received his BA in Political Science from Arizona State University and worked as a police officer for approximately nine years. His research interests include police culture, use of force, and qualitative research methods. 
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    • 44 min
    #25 THE FUZZY LINE BETWEEN WAR AND POLICING – Where does one end and the other begin – Green Beret Logan Leslie

    #25 THE FUZZY LINE BETWEEN WAR AND POLICING – Where does one end and the other begin – Green Beret Logan Leslie

    On this episode, Green Beret, Tillman Scholar, and Harvard Law graduate Logan Leslie and I discuss the fuzzy line between domestic law enforcement and the military. We talk about the veteran experience and how the Global War on Terrorism influences U.S. policing. We also discuss how to control police use of force and also touch on his recent experience working the protests in Atlanta with his National Guard unit. 
    Per the Tillman Foundation:
    Logan Leslie is an honors graduate of Harvard College and has served for over 12 years in the United States Army as a scout and as a Special Forces Combat Diver. Enlisting on his 17th birthday, Logan has over 26 months of combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
    Currently, a JD/MBA student at Harvard, Logan is a Tillman Scholar, an InSITE entrepreneurship fellow, and the founder and co-president of the Free Enterprise Club at the Harvard Business School. While a student, Logan spent summers at the private equity firm Crestview Partners, Hedge Fund Solutions at the Blackstone Group, and at the Boston Consulting Group. He continues to serve as a Special Forces team member in the Army National Guard.
    Passionate about veterans’ education issues, Logan has volunteered extensively to help enlisted veterans achieve academic excellence in order to continue to serve their communities after leaving the military. Logan currently resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his alluring wife, two enchanting daughters, and one unruly puppy.
    He also created a venture capital firm dedicated to empowering veterans:
    https://www.nrockusa.com/
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    • 1 hr 48 min
    #24 BODY OF THE CONQUISTADOR – Early European Social Control in the Americas – Professor Rebecca Earle

    #24 BODY OF THE CONQUISTADOR – Early European Social Control in the Americas – Professor Rebecca Earle

    Please visit thomasowenbaker.com for more podcasts, videos, streams, and writing.
    On this episode, Professor Rebecca Earle and I discuss early forms of social control in the Americas. Professor Earle studies the history of food and focuses on the Spanish conquest. She describes what “policing” might have looked like in 1492 and how the diets of European and Native populations were used as a tool of statecraft. We also discuss the creation of race during the early conquest and how we are living with those consequences today.   
    Get the book discussed:
    https://www.amazon.com/Body-Conquistador-Experience-1492-1700-Perspectives-ebook/dp/B0089NUPV4
    Description from Amazon:
    “This fascinating history explores the dynamic relationship between overseas colonisation and the bodily experience of eating. It reveals the importance of food to the colonial project in Spanish America and reconceptualises the role of European colonial expansion in shaping the emergence of ideas of race during the Age of Discovery. Rebecca Earle shows that anxieties about food were fundamental to Spanish understandings of the new environment they inhabited and their interactions with the native populations of the New World. Settlers wondered whether Europeans could eat New World food, whether Indians could eat European food and what would happen to each if they did. By taking seriously their ideas about food we gain a richer understanding of how settlers understood the physical experience of colonialism and of how they thought about one of the central features of the colonial project. The result is simultaneously a history of food, colonialism and race.”

    From Professor Earle’s Faculty Page:
    https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/earle/
    “I am a historian of food, and of the cultural history of Spanish America and early modern Europe. I am interested in how ordinary, every-day cultural practices such as eating or dressing, or even using postage stamps, shape how we think about the world. My early work was rooted in a very specific part of the world (southern Colombia). These days I tend to study the movement of ideas and practices across larger geographies.



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    • 54 min
    #23 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER – With former PSYOP’s soldier - Rick Schumacher

    #23 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER – With former PSYOP’s soldier - Rick Schumacher

    Please visit thomasowenbaker.com for more podcasts, videos, streams, and writing.
    Check out https://www.schumachercg.com/ for information regarding Rick’s consultant work. 
    On this episode, former psychological operations soldier Rick Schumacher and I discuss his path into the military, the recent deployment of federal officers to U.S. cities, as well as the use of PSYOPS and propaganda during the recent national uprisings. We also discuss the rules of engagement followed by soldiers in war zones and how those rules compare to the procedures followed by domestic police. We finish by discussing police training, the future of the BLM movement, and the importance of civil institutions such as the Tillman Foundation.
    Per the Tillman Foundation Website:
    “Rick enlisted in the US Army while still in high school, with a need to take control of his own future. As a Psychological Operations Specialist, he learned quickly the importance of being a servant-leader. Over 11 years of service as a cross-cultural communicator, he saw parts of the world ravaged by war, poverty, and disaster. These experiences instilled in him the need to do more to protect and serve the neediest among us, domestically as well as internationally. 
    Working as a criminal investigator since leaving the military in 2004, a degree in Criminal Justice seemed like a natural progression for Rick. During his degree program, and is his subsequent graduate education, Rick has studied the interrelation between poverty, social vulnerability, criminality, and disaster risk.    
    As a Tillman Scholar, Rick continues to work on projects that reduce social vulnerability in struggling populations. Currently serving as a compliance officer in a multi-national corporation, Rick hopes to look after the rights of under-served manufacturing workers in Africa, South America, the Middle East, Asia, and India.”
    Tom Baker has been a PhD student in UMSL's Criminology and Criminal Justice program since 2017. Tom received his BA in Political Science from Arizona State University and worked as a police officer for approximately nine years. His research interests include police culture, use of force, and qualitative research methods. 
    what are psychological operations, how to use psychological operations, who uses psychological operations, how to train psychological operations, psychological operations in the united states, what is a psyop, black lives matter psyop, federal police officer deployment, seattle protests, Portland protests, chaz, chop, Atlanta police
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    • 1 hr 27 min

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