Life of the Law

139: Release Day [Rebroadcast] & Special Announcement

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 07:36:00 -0000

It's official, and it's one more amazing step into the future at Life of the Law: we have a new Executive Director. Six years after Nancy Mullane, Tom Hilbink and Shannon Heffernan launched the first episode of Life of the Law, with stories about jury nullification and jailhouse lawyers, we welcome a new fearless leader. Tony Gannon, whom you have come to know as our talented behind-the-scenes Senior Producer brings his vision and exciting energy to LOTL as our new Executive Director. This change will allow Nancy Mullane to focus on reporting, which, as many of you know, is what Nancy lives to do!

To celebrate this moment for Tony and Nancy, we have chosen to publish one of Nancy's stories from our archives... "Release Day." In 1994, California voters passed thethree strikes lawwhich required anyone with two felony convictions to receive a sentence of 25 years to life for committing their third felony. Between the mid-1970s and 2006, the three strikes law and other harsh sentencing guidelines increased California's prison population by 750 percent.

On November 6, 2012, Californians voted to change the three strikes law. That measure, known as Proposition 36 eliminated life sentences for non-violent crimes and allowed some of the prisoners sentenced under the three strikes law to petition for release for time served.

Curtis Penn is one of those prisoners. Life of the Law executive producer Nancy Mullane chronicles the day Curtis was released from prison.

Produced by: Nancy Mullane, Kaitlin Prest, Alisa Roth, Shannon Heffernan, Jillian Weinberger & Katie BarnettEdited by: Julia Barton

Music by: Kyle Kaplin, Matthew Dahar and Todd MacDonald

Special Thanks: Tom Hilbink

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138: Call NOW! [Rebroadcast]

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 04:00:00 -0000

When things go bad all you need to do is pick up the phone and CALL. Since the US Supreme Court allowed lawyers to advertise in the 1970s, practices like these have skyrocketed, with often shoddily-produced results. Are tacky lawyer ads trashing the profession or simply making it more easily accessible to those who might not otherwise know who to call when they need an attorney?

We are rebroadcasting a long-time favorite episode from our archive as we slow down for the summer. We aim to publish some classic episodes until we return in the fall. Please do not hesitate to reach out in the meantime with suggestions or comments!Below please find producer Sean Cole's original write-up for Call NOW!

I have always been so impressed by lawyer commercials on TV, and by impressed I mean…totally confused. I’m always like, “Who told you that disaster footage or wooden readings from cue cards or your cousin wearing a judge’s robe would be a great way to represent your law practice?” But then I stumbled into the engine room of lawyer advertising regulation. And learned about the silent era before these ads were even allowed. And the Big Bang after which they couldn’t be contained. And the subtle, possibly endless civil war in Lawyer Nation over how and even whether attorneys should advertise their services—whether lawyers have doomed themselves as a profession with all these swiveling gavels and toll-free numbers, or whether they’re reaching the aggrieved, attorney-less masses while exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech.

If you want to know more, click on the audio above. Hammers await you. Flaming cars and talking cars and possibly aliens await you. Seriously, do not delay: CLICK NOW.

To donate, visit our website www.lifeofthelaw.org

Send an email connect@lifeofthelaw.orgProduction Credits:

Reporter/Producer: Sean Cole

Producer: Kaitlin Prest

Music: Kyle Kaplan, Todd MacDonald, Matthew Darr

Additional Production: Shannon Heffernan, Ashleyanne Krigbaum

Additional Music - Andrea Hendrickson

Social Media Editor - Rachael Cain

Executive Producer - Nancy Mullane

Executive Director - Tony Gannon

We are a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange.

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137: Law and Society Association Conference Highlights

Tue, 19 Jun 2018 12:23:00 -0000

Where does one find a discussion of research on abduction for forced marriage amidst West and Central African conflicts? Where does one find research on how ‘yes means yes’ policies on university campuses have affected the college students intended to follow these new rules of consent? What about a conversation on the various strains of conservative thought?

The Law and Society Association’s annual conference just came to an end, and we were happy to find the scholars and researchers engaging these questions and more. For the first time, Life of the Law set up a listening station where attendees could interface with the production team, listen to previous podcast episodes and engage in impromptu conversation.

Life of the Law also co-presented the panel Building Partnerships, which was a discussion on the year-long process of producing our four-part Uganda series. The series was an international collaboration of journalists, researchers and legal scholars that worked together across time zones in order to tell the stories of people once held in captivity.

Life of the Law facilitated two panels where attendees pitched potential ideas for stories based on their own work. We are grateful to everyone who stopped by our listening station to contribute ideas, make suggestions, listen to our podcast and even agree to impromptu interviews. The exchange of information that was based on years of research by LSA scholars, advocates, attorneys, sociologists and political scientists made for an incredible conference.

For our next episode, we also had the opportunity to speak with former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas Wallace B. Jefferson and Professor of Law at the University of Houston Renee Knake.

To donate, visit our website www.lifeofthelaw.org

Send an email connect@lifeofthelaw.org

Production Credits:

Executive Producer - Nancy Mullane

Sr. Producer - Tony Gannon

Associate Producer - Andrea Hendrickson

Social Media Editor - Rachael Cain

We are a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange.

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136: New Voices Series - Law Students Take on Immigration

Mon, 28 May 2018 08:12:00 -0000

Immigration law is a mystery. Unless you’re an immigrant seeking relief under the law, or you’re an immigration law attorney, it’s an unknown. Then, earlier this year, Karla McKanders, a professor of immigration law at Vanderbilt Law School sent us an email. Her law students were producing their final reports on immigration and refugee law as audio stories, and would Life of the Law be interested in listening to, and possibly publishing their work as part of our New Voices series? Absolutely. Tony Gannon, our senior producer and I met with the class for a conference call workshop but they were well on their way to building their stories.

Today, Life of the Law presents three of the stories produced by the students in Professor McKanders' immigration law class at Vanderbilt University Law School. A note - they were not asked to approach the project as journalists, but as law students, so some of their stories include their perspectives on immigration and refugee law.

Many refugees leave their home country because of a well-founded fear they will be persecuted if they remain. As Joshua Minchin reports, how “well-founded fear” is defined and interpreted can make a profound difference for individuals seeking refuge in the United States. Our first story is Well Founded Fearby Joshua Minchin.

So if a refugee appears in a US Immigration court with a claim of well founded fear, will they receive a fair neutral hearing by the court, or do judges bring their own bias to the bench in asylum hearings? Our second story is Wrong Judge, at the Wrong Time by Simina Grecu.

Our final story… is from Rachael Pikulski. The US places an important role in helping refugees throughout the world by providing funding to the United Nations. But this year, the Trump Administration cut funding to the UN agency that provides services to refugees. Rachael Pikulski took a look at the impact of these cuts on one group of refugees, Palestinians.

Production Credits:

This episode of Life of the Law was produced by Joshua Minchin, Simina Grecu and Rachael Pikulski, students in Professor Karla McKanders' Immigration Law Class at Vanderbilt Law School. It was edited by Life of the Law’s Senior Producer, Tony Gannon and Associate Producer, Andrea Hendrickson, who also composed the music. Additional music by Alex Blank. Our Social Media Editor is Rachael Cain.

We are a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange.

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135: In-Studio: Peril and Promise of Genetic Testing

Tue, 15 May 2018 04:00:00 -0000

How curious are you about your genetic makeup? There are hundreds of companies that provide direct-to-consumer tests that promise your genealogy, deep ancestry and biogeographical ancestry. Other tests offer genetic information about your health and traits, with some promising your whole genome sequencing. But when you get the results, do you really know what you have? And do you know, without a doubt, who ultimately has access to your genetic information?

This week, our team meets up in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to see if we can sort out the answers to the question - genetic testing - promise or peril?

Join Life of the Law's team Osagie Obasogie, Tony Gannon, Nancy Mullane and guest, Lea Witkowsky who joined the Innovative Genomics Institute as a science policy analyst to look at the regulatory landscape as it relates to new genetic engineering technologies and the role of public perception in biotechnology development and adoption.

Production Credits:

This episode of Life of the Law was edited and produced by Nancy Mullane, Tony Gannon and Andrea Hendrickson. Our in-studio engineer was Katie McMurran. Our Social Media Editor is Rachael Cain.

Thanks to our In-Studio team Lea Witkowsky, Policy Analyst with the Innovative Genomics Institute; Osagie Obasogie, Professor at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health; and Life of the Law's Associate Producer, Andrea Hendrickson.

We’re a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange.

Special thanks to The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, and Marcy Darnovsky and Osagie Obasogie at The Center for Genetics and Society.

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134: GATTACA REVISITED - Up the Borrowed Ladder

Tue, 01 May 2018 12:18:00 -0000

Some two decades ago, filmmaker Andrew Nicols wrote and directed GATTACA a sci-fi movie that presented a future in which individuals and society were at risk from having gained access to, and control of, our genetic code.

Today, 20 years after the movie's initial release, that future fiction, once considered distant and impossible, is, in many ways, now. More than 500 laboratories offer 2,000 genetic tests. Once limited to medical professionals, the FDA has approved direct-to-consumer genetic tests that can test for 5,000 variants. Instead of looking at simple chromosomes, we can pay for the sequencing almost all of our genetic material.

For some parents-to-be, prenatal genetic screening allows couples to decide whether to complete a pregnancy to term, or with preimplantation genetic diagnosis, allows them to allows couples to decide whether to have an embryo found to have "disorders and mutations" implanted at all.

Are we paying attention to the ways this information is, and could, alter the human race in ways once thought only possible in sci-fi novels and movies like GATTACA? While the general consensus in the scientific community seems to be to steer clear of research that affects hereditary genetic traits, the push to test that boundary seems inevitable.

To consider these questions in 2018, The Center for Genetics and Society and the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society presented two screenings of GATTACA followed by panel discussions with the audiences in the Bay Area.

This episode of Life of the Law was produced by Senior Producer, Tony Gannon and Associate Producer Andrea Hendrickson. Nancy Mullane is our Executive Producer. Our Social Media Editor is Rachael Cain. We sampled audio clips from the film GATTACA. All other music was composed by Andrea Hendrickson. Katie Murphy audio described portions of the film.

We’re a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange.

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133: In-Studio: Police, Race and Fatal Force

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 02:50:16 -0000

Mothers, brothers, sons and daughters in cities across the country are suffering from the loss of a loved one to police use of fatal force. In 2017 The Washington Post reports police officers in the United States shot and killed 987 people. Sixty eight of them, men and women, some of them teenagers like Tony Robinson, were unarmed when they were shot and killed by police officers. The county with highest number of police shootings per capita in the country, is right here in Kern County in California. Last year, police in Los Angeles shot more than three times the number of people shot by police in New York City, even though NY has one-fourth as many officers.

What is the law on the police use of lethal force? Is there a way, under the law, to prevent these deaths from happening in the future?

This week, Life of the Law's team meets up in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to talk about our most recent episode, DEATH BY POLICE: A MOTHER'S (AUDIO) DIARY and officer use of fatal force.

In-Studio Team:

• Osagie Obasogie, Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and a Member of Life of the Law’s Advisory Board

• Tony Gannon, Life of the Law’s Senior Producer

• Troy Williams, Founder of the San Quentin Prison Report and RISE Coordinator at Chabot College.

• And joining us from the studios of KQED in Sacramento, Lizzie Buchen, Legislative Advocate for the ACLU of California’s Center for Advocacy and Policy.

Production Notes:

IN-STUDIO: POLICE, RACE AND FATAL FORCE was produced by Tony Gannon and Andrea Hendrickson. Nancy Mullane is Executive Producer. Rachael Cain is our Social-Media Editor. Katie McMurran was our engineer at KQED in San Francisco. Katie Orr engineered from KQED studios in Sacramento.

Special thanks to Lizzie Buchen, Legislative Advocate with the ACLU California’s Center for Advocacy and Policy and Troy Williams, Founder of the San Quentin Prison Report and RISE Coordinator at Chabot College for joining us In-Studio.

Life of the Law is a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange. Visit our website, Life of the Law.org and make a very much appreciated donation to help cover the costs of producing this feature episode. © Copyright 2018 Life of the Law. All rights reserved.

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132: Death by Police: A Mother's (audio) Diary

Mon, 02 Apr 2018 07:00:00 -0000

Police officers throughout the U.S. shoot and kill unarmed people, in Sacramento, Detroit, New Orleans and in Madison. The Washington Post reports 987 people were shot and killed by police in 2017, sixty-eight of them were unarmed. There are marches and calls for investigations and in the end, justice is elusive. So when Life of the Law producer Zoe Sullivan said the mother of an unarmed bi-racial teenager who had been shot and killed by a police officer in Madison had been keeping an audio diary after her son's death, we listened. We hope you will too.

Production Notes:

DEATH BY POLICE - A MOTHER'S (AUDIO) DIARY was recorded by Andrea Irwin and produced by Zoe Sullivan. Tony Gannon is our Senior Producer. Nancy Mullane is Executive Producer. Music and production support by Andrea Hendrickson. Rachael Cain is our social-media editor.

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131: LIVE LAW SF - Initial Public Offering

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 15:36:00 -0000

This week Life of the Law presents LIVE LAW... stories from people living with the rapid fire shifts that come with tech in the Bay Area, folks who are pushing back against the gentrification and alienation to try to make real life contact through music, journalism, murals, and filmmaking.

LIVE LAW San Francisco: Initial Public Offering took place on Friday night, February 23rd at The Polish Club in San Francisco's Mission District. We recorded the night so we could share it with you -- stories by Fantastic Negrito, Marcus Thompson, Irene Tu, Riddhi Shah, Troy Williams and Sirron Norris.

This episode was produced by Nancy Mullane and Tony Gannon. Engineered by Katie McMurran and Scott Steiner. Production by Andrea Hendrickson. Music is by Max McKellar and Rick Wilkerson. Our Social Media editor is Rachael Cain.

We also want to thank the volunteers who made the night possible, Khalilah Nelson, Sandy Fish, Andrew Germond, Nayeli Maxson, Poppy Dere, Brittny Bottorff, Kay Carter, Baxter Bhansalli, Steve Schellenger, Corinne Smith, Scott Steiner, Carlos Gonzalez, Amy Mostafa, Paul Galvin, and Max McKellar.

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130: Inside San Quentin - Moonlight

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 08:48:55 -0000

What would men in prison say, if we just listened? This week, Life of the Law presents a new INSIDE SAN QUENTIN episode - conversations inside San Quentin produced exclusively by men incarcerated inside the prison.

We have laptops and can watch just about any movie or series anytime we want. Prisoners have access to some tv and select movies approved by the prison, but not all movies and, up until recently, not Moonlight, winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Picture. One day after watching the movie on my laptop, I described it to a couple of men, scene by scene before the weekly meeting of the San Quentin Society of Professional Journalists. One of the men said he wanted to see the movie but didn’t think the prison would allow it inside. Why not ask.

As it turns out, prison officials said they would allow a screening of Moonlight inside the prison if, one, the producers of the film, A24 Films consented to the screening knowing the men couldn’t pay, and two, one of the prison chapels was available for the screening.

Spencer Lindenman of A24 Films sent a DVD. The San Quentin Catholic Chaplin said the chapel was available.

A few days after more than a hundred inmates attended the screening, four men who saw the movie for the first time, sat down in the prison’s media center to talk about the film.

Inside San Quentin: Moonlight was produced by Shadeed Wallace Stepter.

Production Notes:

INSIDE SAN QUENTIN - MOONLIGHT was produced by Shaeed Wallace Stepter. We want to thank Rashaan Thomas, Emile DeWeaver and Mike Adams. Our senior producer is Tony Gannon. We had production support from Andrea Hendrickson. Our post production editor is Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was by David Jassy.

Photographer Brian Asey took photos inside San Quentin of the conversation. Special thanks to Spencer Lindenman at A24 Films for sending the DVD of Moonlight, Lt. Sam Robinson for approving the screening, and Father Gregory Williams of the San Quentin Catholic Chapel.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get a behind-the-scenes look at the production, photos, and notes by the producers. You can subscribe right here on our website, Life of the Law.org.

We’re a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange.

We want to take moment to thank: for their recent donations… Kalli Catcott, Katie Burke, Patricia Pforte, Charles Magnuson, William English, Michael Yarbough and everyone who joined us at LIVE LAW in San Francisco…

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129: Uganda Part 4 - In Studio

Tue, 20 Feb 2018 15:15:00 -0000

Over the past month, Life of the Law's team of journalists and scholars have published a three part series of feature investigative reports on Uganda, examining the long-term impact of the violence committed on the people of the East African nation by rebels with the Lord's Resistance Army or LRA.

Beginning in the mid-1980's and for more than a decade, LRA rebels abducted 60,000 people from towns and villages in northern Uganda, many of them young girls and boys who were then forced to fight, kill and loot. Young girls spent years in captive marriages, forced to bear the children of LRA commanders.

This week, our production team, Life of the Law's Senior Producer, Tony Gannon; Professor Annie Bunting of York University in Toronto and Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer and Editor on the series, met up IN-STUDIO with Osagie Obasogie, Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and a member of Life of the Law's Advisory Board, and Kim Seelinger,Director of the Sexual Violence Program at UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center to discuss the making of the series UGANDA, children in conflict zones, and what justice has come to represent, so many years after the crisis began.

Life of the Law is a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts from Slate. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange. Our series on Uganda is funded by the Law and Society Association, the Conjugal Slavery in War SSHRC Partnership and by you. Visit our website, Life of the Law.org and make a very much appreciated donation to help cover the costs of producing UGANDA.© Copyright 2018 Life of the Law. All rights reserved.

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128: Uganda Part 3 - Justice

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 03:25:00 -0000

For more than 20 years, rebels with the Lord's Resistance Army abducted 60,000 people from towns and villages in Northern Uganda, many of them young girls and boys who were then forced to fight, kill, and loot. Young girls spent years in captive marriages, forced to bear the children of LRA commanders.

Where were the local police and government troops? How was this allowed to happen to so many children over the course of so many years? Where was the international community?

This week, Life of the Law reporter Gladys Oroma presents the third part of our special series following the lives of Beatrice Ocwee and Samuel Akena, two of the thousands of children who were abducted from their homes in northern Uganda and held captive by LRA rebels beginning in the 1980's through 2008.

In Part 1: ABDUCTEDBeatrice and Samuel share their lives before they were captured by the LRA, the night they were abducted from their homes, and their march into captivity.

In Part 2: ESCAPE no longer the children they were when they were abducted, years after they were abducted, Beatrice and Samuel share their terrifying attempts to escape, and their fear of the Ugandan troops.

THIS WEEK, Life of the Law presents Part 3: JUSTICE as Beatrice and Samuel try to return home with the children and the trauma they now carry.

Production Notes:

UGANDA: PART 3 – JUSTICE was reported by Gladys Oroma and was produced in partnership with Teddy Atim, Researcher in Kampala, Uganda; Annie Bunting, Scholar at York University in Toronto and the Conjugal Slavery in War SSHRC Partnership at csiw-ectg.org; and Life of the Law’s Executive Producer, Nancy Mullane and Senior Producer, Tony Gannon.

The series was edited by Nancy Mullane with sound design by Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editor is Rachael Cain. Special thanks to Ian Coss for his production assistance and Daphne Keevil Harrold for her editing and fact-checking and Rosebell Kagumire for her early production work on the series.

Music Credits:

Intro: Peace Talk by Oyeng Yeng

End Credits: Lweyen Ki Kech - Yib Oyo

Plus Music From AUDIO NETWORK in episode.

Please see visit our site www.lifeofthelaw.org for suggested reading and viewing lists.

Our series on Uganda is funded by the Law and Society Association, the Conjugal Slavery in War SSHRC Partnership and by you. Visit our website, Life of the Law.org and make a very much appreciated donation.© Copyright 2018 Life of the Law. All rights reserved.

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127: Uganda Part 2 - Escape

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 06:17:08 -0000

For more than 20 years, rebels with the Lords Resistance Army abducted 60,000 people, from towns and villages in Northern Uganda, many of them young girls and boys who were forced to fight, kill, loot and have sex with rebel commanders. Why didn't the government stop the abductions and the violence? Where was the international community? Who was upholding their right to protection under the law?

This week, Life of the Law reporter Gladys Oroma presents Part 2 of our special series following the lives of two of the thousands of children who were abducted beginning in the mid 1980's and continuing through 2008.

In the first episode of the series, PART 1: ABDUCTED, we met Samuel Akena and Beatrice Ocwee. We heard about their lives before they were kidnapped, their abductions and their long march to the LRA compound in South Sudan, and their years and conditions of captivity.

This week reporter Gladys Oroma picks up our story with the parents of the abducted children who were working to secure the release of all the children, the efforts by regional and international leaders to negotiate peace, and ultimately, Beatrice and Samuel's attempts to escape captivity by the LRA.

UGANDA: PART 2 - ESCAPE was reported by Gladys Oroma, and produced in partnership with Teddy Atim, Reseracher in Kampala, Uganda; Annie Bunting, Scholar at York University in Toronto and the "Conjugal Slavery in War SSHRC Partnership" at csiw-ectg.org; and Life of the Law's Senior Producer, Tony Gannon.

Nancy Mullane edited the story. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

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126: Uganda Part 1 - Abducted

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 04:35:00 -0000

Today man named Dominic Ongwen is on trial before the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands. The 42 year old Ugandan is charged with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Northern Uganda.

Ongwen is the only commander with the rebel group, The Lord’s Resistance Army, who is on trial before the ICC, but he wasn’t alone in the commission of crimes against the people of Northern Uganda. From 1986 through 2017, over the course of more than 30 years, LRA rebels abducted tens of thousands of people, 20,000 of them children as young as five years old.

This week at Life of the Law we begin our 4-part series on Uganda, telling the stories of the children who were abducted, their years in captivity, their eventual escape and the challenges they faced on their return home.

Our reporter on the series is Gladys Oroma. Gladys lives in Gulu, Uganda, where the abductions began back in 1986.

UGANDA: PART 1 – ABDUCTED was reported by Gladys Oroma, and produced in partnership with Teddy Atim, Reseracher in Kampala, Uganda; Annie Bunting, Scholar at York University in Toronto; and Life of the Law’s Senior Producer, Tony Gannon.

We had additional support from Daphne Keevil Harrold, Ian Coss and Rachel Cassandra. Tony Gannon and Nancy Mullane co-edited the story. Our Senior Producer is Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

Music Credits:

Ugandan Music courtesy of Gladys Oroma

Awili Maa Lwongi

Abedo i Camp – Labot Mon

Plus Music From AUDIO NETWORK

Please go to our website www.lifeofthelaw.org for links to supporting background audio and suggested reading and viewing.

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125: A Whole 'nother World - San Quentin Live (2017 Holiday Rebroadcast)

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 06:24:00 -0000

On Saturday night, Dec 5, 2015 more than 200 people filled the pews of the Catholic chapel inside San Quentin State Prison for a first-ever uncensored storytelling event behind the prison walls. Together, inmates and volunteers, officers and staff gathered to hear stories about the all-too-secret, often misunderstood community that sustains each of them inside and outside the prison walls.

For two storytellers, Troy Williams and Watani Stiner, the night would be the first time they would return to San Quentin after being released a year earlier following decades as inmates.

Like those in the audience for Live @ San Quentin, this special episode offers the chance to hear the voices and stories too often silenced by imprisonment.

The special hour-long feature episode presents stories from Lawrence Pela, Watani Stiner, Azraal Ford, Aaron Taylor, Phil Melendez, and Emile Deweaver. Each of the photos below are links to the audio stories of the other wonderful stories shared at Live @ San Quentin -- stories from Kathleen Jackson, David Jassy, Raphaele Casale, Eric Durr and Troy Williams.

Live @ San Quentin was a co-production of Life of the Law, the San Quentin News, the San Quentin Prison Report, the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California Chapter and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The event was funded in part by the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, the National Science Foundation and A Blade of Grass.

In 2015, the Society of Professional Journalists welcomed reporters inside San Quentin to become members of the national organization, creating the San Quentin Satellite Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the first SPJ chapter of journalists in a US prison. See the photos of the day they received their membership cars, and read about the association in this Life of the Law blog post.

Special thanks to San Quentin SPJ members Rahsaan Thomas, Greg Eskridge, Juan Haines, Louis A Scott, and Tommy Winfrey for their months of work co-producing the event. Our appreciation to photographer Elisabeth Fall and to Tony Gannon for producing the video of the event, which is being shown on San Quentin Television on Christmas Day.

Thanks also to Warden Ron Davis, Chief Deputy Warden Kelly Mitchell, Lt. Sam Robinson, Raphael Kasalee, Steve Emrick and Father George Williams of the San Quentin Catholic Chapel for their support in producing Live @ San Quentin.

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124: Traditions

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 21:03:07 -0000

Traditions. We all have them. Some good and, well, some not so good. Think for a minute. When you were a kid, what were your holiday traditions? Do you still follow some of them today? Put up lights? Bake special cookies or visit relatives? What if the law makes it impossible to follow your traditions?

More than two million Americans will spend the holidays locked up in a jail or prison. In the Bay Area, volunteers spend a few hours inside San Quentin State Prison's cell blocks singing holiday songs with the men. It's an annual tradition.

What's it like to spend years of your adult life in prison over the holidays?

From inside San Quentin State Prison, join Shadeed Wallace Stepter, Rahsaan Thomas, and Emile DeWeaver as they share memories of holidays when they were free, and how, over the years, they have created new traditions, to celebrate the holidays behind prison walls.

Emile DeWeaver Secretary of the San Quentin Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and reporter for Prison Renaissance, and a contributing opinion writer for San Jose Mercury Newsand Easy Street Magazine.

Rashaan Thomas Vice-Chair of the San Quentin Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and reporter with Prison Renaissance,The San Quentin News, and a contributing reporter for The Marshall Project.

Shadeed Wallace-StepterChair of the San Quentin Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, a reporter with the San Quentin Prison Report, and a TEDX presenter.

Listen to TRADITIONS

Visit our website www.lifeofthelaw.org or listen to all 124 episodes on iTunes. And send us your thoughts on this episode to connect@lifeofthelaw.org.

Production Notes:Inside San Quentin: Traditions — was produced by Shadeed Wallace-Stepter, Rashaan Thomas and Emile DeWeaver. Life of the Law's Senior Producer is Tony Gannon.

Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was recorded by Life of the Law's Executive Producer, Nancy Mullane. The song 'Keep It On The Real' (Instrumental) by 3X Krazy is used in the introduction and end credits and is referenced by Emile DeWeaver.

Rob Speight was our engineer at the studios of KQED in San Francisco. This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by donations from our listeners, and by grants from theLaw and Society Association, and theNational Science Foundation. © Copyright 2017 Life of the Law. All rights reserved.

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123: The Battle Over Your Right to Vote

Tue, 28 Nov 2017 08:00:00 -0000

The polls got it wrong. What matters in the end, on election day, is who has the right to vote and who goes to the polls to cast their ballot. Due to strict voter ID laws, not all Americans are allowed to vote on election day. In fact, some 21 million are prevented from voting simply because they don't have the required ID or paperwork when they go to the polls. The Government Accounting Office reports that can shift the election outcome in some states by 2-3 percentage points.

In our most recent episode GOVERNMENT GHOST reporter Megan Marrelli told the story of one American who could not cast a ballot or vote for much of his adult life because he did not have a birth certificate to get a government issued photo ID.

This week on Life of the Law, our team meets IN-STUDIO with Wendy Weiser, Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law to talk about the battle now taking place in state legislatures and in the courts to further restrict who can vote.

According to a report in the NY Times, "In Georgia, which ended a program in September (2017) that had canceled or marked for purging roughly 35,000 registered voters, two-thirds of them African Americans. That purge was based on a data-matching program that had flagged registrations for errors as niggling as a missing apostrophe or missed hyphen."

Wendy Weiser joins Life of the Law's Advisory Board Members Osagie Obasogie, Professor at UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Jessica McKellar, Software Engineer and author; Tony Gannon, Life of the Law's Senior Producer and Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer.

Production Notes:In-Studio: The Battle over your Right to Vote -- was produced by Nancy Mullane and Tony Gannon. Special thanks to Wendy Weiser, Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice and our Advisory Board Members Osagie Obasogie and Jessica McKellar. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was by Ian Coss. Katie McMurran was our engineer at the studios of KQED in San Francisco. We had engineering support from Ivan Kuraev at Argot Studios in New York City. This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from theLaw and Society Association, and theNational Science Foundation. © Copyright 2017 Life of the Law. All rights reserved. Suggested Reading and Viewing:

ACLU – Oppose Voter ID Legislation Fact Sheet US Government Accountability Office -Issues Related to State Voter Identification Laws 2014 (Reissued 2015) Brennan Center for Justice – New Voting Restrictions in America Brennan Center or Justice – Research on Voter ID

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122: Government Ghost

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 08:00:00 -0000

2017 has been a terrible year for tens of thousands of people. Fires in northern California and record-setting torrential hurricanes and floods in Texas and Puerto Rico have meant that families have lost their homes and in many cases all of their belongings, including documentation and identification -- Social Security cards, drivers licenses and birth certificates. What happens when you lose your identification? As it turns out it's not always as easy as you might think getting government issued ID reinstated."The thing is, why do they make it so hard when you lose everything, to get it back? Do you have any answers to that?" - Dennis Rickett

Today, millions of Americans live in the shadows, without any form of government issued photo identification. They can't get social security and many can't vote. A US Government Accounting Office study found that strict voter ID laws around the country have reduced voter turnout by 2-3 percentage points, which, according to the GAO can translate "into tens of thousands of votes lost in a single state."Reporter Megan Marrelli tells the story of Dennis Rickett (in photo below) and his life without a photo ID. We call our story Government Ghost.

Production Notes:Government Ghost was reported by Megan Marrelli and edited by Nancy Mullane with sound design by Ian Coss. Our Senior Producer is Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was by Ian Coss. Jim Bennett was our engineer at the studios of KQED in San Francisco. We had engineering support from Rami Azer at Encounter Studios in Toronto. Special thanks to Dennis Rickett and his partner, Samuel "Chip" Delaney for sharing their story with all of us at Life of the Law. This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from theLaw and Society Association, and theNational Science Foundation. © Copyright 2017 Life of the Law. All rights reserved. Suggested Reading and Viewing:

ACLU - Oppose Voter ID Legislation Fact Sheet US Government Accountability Office -Issues Related to State Voter Identification Laws 2014 (Reissued 2015) Brennan Center for Justice - New Voting Restrictions in America Brennan Center or Justice - Research on Voter ID

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121: In-Studio - Brutally Ruthless

Tue, 31 Oct 2017 07:29:00 -0000

"As incompetent and bumbling as the Trump Administration has been in so many areas, they have been brutally ruthless on immigration."

-- Jose Chito Vela, Immigration Attorney and Candidate for Texas State Legislature

It’s been a year since the Presidential election of 2016 and the night the world turned upside down and inside out. Polls showed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton ahead by a solid margin. But by the end of the night, the networks had declared Donald Trump the next President of the United States.

Now, one year later, the Trump Presidency is in turmoil. On Monday, October 30, Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairperson was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on charges of tax evasion, submitting false statements, and illegally laundering more than 18 million dollars. The most serious charge of money laundering carries a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years. It was also reported on Monday, that George Papadopoulos, one of Trump’s campaign advisers, had plead guilty back in July to lying to the FBI about his contact with a Russian professor who had ties to the Russian Government.

The charges in Washington are disturbing, but President Trump continues to hold the highest office in the land, with the power to enforce his campaign promise to rid the US of undocumented immigrants. On September 5, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced an end to the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, but said they would give Congress six months to try and save the policy.

In our most recent episode, Life UnDACAmented, we presented an update on our January 2016 story about a young man who came to the US as a child and had taken his fight for DACA status to the immigration courts. You a find the audio on itunes, or on our websitelifeofthelaw.org.

This week, our team goes IN-STUDIO with Jose "Chito" Vela, the young man's immigration attorney and now candidate for the Texas State Legislature, to talk about immigration, DACA, and life in America one year into the Trump Presidency.

Joining Chito Vela are Life of the Law's team Brittny Bottorff, Attorney with the Mayor Law Group and Chair of our Advisory Board; Tony Gannon, Life of the Law’s Senior Producer; Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law’s Executive Producer and host; and Osagie Obasogie Professsor at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Production Notes:

Brutally Ruthless was produced by Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was by Ian Coss. Katie McMurran was our engineer at the studios of KQED in San Francisco. David Alvarez was our engineer at the studios of KUT in Austin.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Law and Society Association, and theNational Science Foundation.

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120: Life Un-DACAmented (Re-Broadcast)

Tue, 17 Oct 2017 07:00:00 -0000

Nearly two years ago on January 26, 2016, Life of the Law presented Un-DACA-mented, a report on the Obama Administration's DACA Program, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The program, begun in 2012 offered undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, a chance to defer deportation.

Life of the Law producer Jonathan Hirsch traveled to Texas where he met Luis Morales, a young man who came to the US from Mexico with his family when he was eight years old. In 2015, with the help of his family and Jose "Chito" Vela, a local immigration attorney, Luis was sorting out DACA requirements and regulations, immigration enforcement and shifting American politics. Our story left off with Luis hoping Immigration authorities would favorably rule on a review of his case and grant him a DACA permit.

Since we shared Luis's story, his immigration status and the DACA program have been in jeopardy. Throughout 2016, while campaigning for president, Donald Trump threatened to end the DACA program on his first day in office. On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Justice Department was ending the DACA program, but would give Congress six months to try and save the policy. Sessions also announced the Trump administration would not accept any new DACA applications, but would allow those already in the DACA program to apply for a two-year renewal if they applied by Thursday, October 5.

Unless Congress acts to save the DACA program, the last permit will expire on March 5, 2020.

This week on Life of the Law... we share Luis's story and at the end of the episode, talk to his attorney and his mother, to find out what has happened since we first met Luis two years ago.

Production Notes:

Life Un-DACAmented 2017 was reported by Jonathan Hirsch, with additional reporting by Nancy Mullane. This story was edited by Annie Avilés. Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain and our Senior Producer is Tony Gannon. Music in this episode was from Blue Dot Sessions and Ian Coss. Katie McMurran was our engineer at the studios of KQED in San Francisco.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from theLaw and Society Association, and theNational Science Foundation.

Justworks was a sponsor of this episode of Life of the Law. Our listeners receive a free month when they join. Go to Justworks.com/podcast.

Supplemental Reading:

Current US Citizenship and Immigration Service Page announcing the end of DACA:

https://www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca

Original United We Dream website announcing DACA

https://unitedwedream.org/about/projects/deferred-action/

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119: Live Law Detroit

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 07:00:00 -0000

Look around. Change is happening. People you know and people you pass on the street are in transition. They are transforming their lives. Unless you stop to hear their story, you may miss it.

Each year new and former Soros Justice Fellows gather for four days of discussions, workshops, plenaries, breakout sessions, and meals to debate and discuss issues facing the US criminal justice system.

On the last night of this year's gathering in Detroit, seven Fellows took to the stage to share personal stories of transition and transformation. Life of the Law selected three of the seven stories presented that night for this week's Feature Episode. You can listen to all seven stories by clicking on the individual photos below.

Production Notes:

LIVE LAW Detroit was produced in partnership with the Open Society Foundations - Soros Justice Fellowships. Our senior editor and producer is Tony Gannon. Special thanks Adam Culbreath and Christina Voight with the Soros Justice Fellowship for making this event possible. Marc Ajrouche engineered in Detroit. Howard Gelman engineered at KQED in San Francisco.

Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was composed by Ian Coss.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, Law and Society Association, and theNational Science Foundation.

This episode of Life of the Law was sponsored by Justworks. Our listeners receive a free month when they join. Go to Justworks.com/podcast. And by Hello Fresh. Visit hellofresh.com and enter promo code LAW30 for $30 off your first week of HelloFresh.

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118: In Studio - Global Intellectual Property

Tue, 19 Sep 2017 08:13:00 -0000

All over the world people create. Music, art, literature. But is their creative work protected? Sure there are international copyright laws, but are they enforced? And if not, what then? This week our team took to the studio for a discussion to sort out global culture and international copyright law. If you haven't yet listened to our most recent feature episode GIFT AND CURSE OF MUSIC - Haiti's Fight for Copyright by reporter and composer Ian Coss, take a minute to hit the play button.

Then come back and join us for our in-studio discussion on the incentives and rewards of international and national copyright law.

Tony Gannon Senior Producer

Nancy Mullane Executive Director/Producer

Osagie Obasogie Professor at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health, author of Blinded by Sight: Seeing Race through the Eyes of the Blind, and a member of Life of the Law's Advisory Board.

Madhavi Sunder Professor of Law at UC Davis and author of From Goods to a Good Life - Intellectual Property and Global Justice

Production Notes:

In-Studio: Global Intellectual Property was edited and produced by Tony Gannon. Special thanks to Tony Gannon and Osagie Obasogie for joining us at KQED studios in San Francisco, and Madhavi Sunder for joining us from the studio of UC Davis for our discussion. Katie McMurran and Howard Gelman engineered the In-Studio at KQED and Tim Kerbavaz engineered from the studio of UC Davis.

Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was composed by Ian Coss.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from theLaw and Society Association, and theNational Science Foundation.

Justworks sponsored this episode of Life of the Law. Our listeners receive a free month when they join. Go to Justworks.com/podcast.

Photo Credit: amira_a

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117: The Gift & Curse of Music

Tue, 05 Sep 2017 07:00:00 -0000

As a child, Serge Turnier fell in love with the sounds of the carnival bands that would pass near his house in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Now one of the top music producers in the country, Turnier is faced with the reality that Haitian law offers little protection for music copyrights and he must decide whether to quit the music business altogether, in order to provide financial security for his family.A musician is not even recognized as a real job here in Haiti. You're just nothing in eye of the law. -- Serge Turnier, music producer and composer in HaitiOne of the basic jobs of every government is to protect property rights, meaning if you own this piece of land or you build this house, no one can just come and take those things from you. Property rights are pretty clear cut when it comes to things – like land and houses – but less so when it comes to ideas. Can someone really own an image, or own a song? Here in the United States, the answer is yes, absolutely. But that isn’t the case everywhere.The Gift and Curse of Music - Haiti’s Fight for Copyright - is the story of Serge Turnier, a music producer and composer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Just last year, he produced a half dozen carnival songs himself, working with top artists in the Haitian music industry. But what he didn’t realize in his childhood dreams, was that Haitian law does not protect copyrights for songs, making it almost impossible to make money from recorded music.

116: In Studio - Prosecuting Discretion

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 16:51:54 -0000

"Every criminal trial is a competition between the prosecution and the defense. The judge has relatively less dominant role than in other countries and a lot of times, we have the guilt and innocence of people decided by juries, unless of course there's a plea bargain. This means prosecutors are crucially important because they're the ones who decide whether a case is going to go through, and what shape that case is going to take."

- Hadar Aviram, Professor of Law, UC Hastings

This week on Life of the Law, our team met up in the studios of KQED to talk about the law, moral luck, and prosecutorial discretion in America.

Hadar Aviram, Professor of Law at UC Hastings and a member of our Advisory Panel of Scholars; Brittny Bottorff, Attorney with the Mayor Law Group and Chair of our Advisory Board; Tony Gannon, Life of the Law's Senior Producer; Jessica McKellar, software developer, author, and member of our Advisory Board; Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer and host; and Osagie Obasogie Professsor at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health.

Production Notes:

In-Studio: Prosecuting Discretion was edited and produced by Tony Gannon. Special thanks to Hadar Avisram, Brittny Bottorff, Tony Gannon, Jessica McKellar, Nancy Mullane, and Osagie Obasogie for joining us at KQED studios in San Francisco.

Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was composed by Ian Coss. Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco was our engineer.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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115: Ten Hours to Twenty Years

Tue, 08 Aug 2017 07:00:00 -0000

It all started out as a plan to steal some comic books, sell them and split the cash. That was before a busted lip, a heart attack, and federal prosecutors stepped in.

Reporter Mary Lee Williams, a graduate of UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, tells the whole messy story of some people who got caught up in two different systems of laws, and two prosecutors who saw their crime from two very different perspectives, with long term consequences. Our story… Ten Hours to Twenty Years.Ten hours to Twenty Years was reported and produced by Marylee Williams. Tony Gannon senior produced this episode. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Ceil Mueller at KQED Radio in San Francisco was our engineer. Music in this episode was composed by David Szets-shey, Jah-zzar, the Losers, Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, and April.

Special thanks to UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, Ben Manilla, and Editors Anna Sussman, Kara Platoni, and Julie Caine. We had background research from University of Detroit Mercy Law School Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Law Richard Broughton. We also had editorial assistance from Lacy Jane Roberts, Teresa Cotsirilos, and Jennifer Glenfield. Special thanks to Harlan Haskins, Megan Dunbar, and Armin Samii.

We’re a non-profit project of the Tides Center and we’re part of the Panoply Network of Podcasts. You can also find Life of the Law on PRX, Public Radio Exchange. Production of this episode was funded in part by the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the University of California, Berkeley; the Law and Society Association; the National Science Foundation and by you.

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114: Inside San Quentin - To Be Heard

Tue, 25 Jul 2017 07:00:00 -0000

It's been more than 45 years since a thousand inmates at Attica Prison (Correctional Facility) in New York took control of the prison. In her 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning book, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy, Professor Heather Thompson pieces "together the whole, gripping story, from the conditions that gave rise to the rebellion, which cost the lives of 43 men, to the decades of government obstructionism that prevented the full story from being told." (NYTimes)

If you listened to our most recent Episode 114: In-Studio-Locking People Up, you know we're talking about the fact that more than 2.2 million people are locked up in America's prisons and jails. We invited scholars who have spent their professional lives researching and reporting on this crisis of incarceration, and a man who was incarcerated in California for more than 20 years, to join us in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to talk about how we got here and what it would take to make a safe and humane society.

Immediately after our conversation at KQED, Troy Williams and scholars Rebecca McClennan, Keramet Reiter, Ashley Rubin and Heather Thompson drove to San Quentin State Prison about an hour away, to go inside the prison for a round-table (recorded) discussion with men locked up, to talk about their right to be heard and to protest behind the walls.

We begin with an introduction by Shadeed Wallce Stepter, producer of this episode, a reporter with the San Quentin Prison Report and Chair of the San Quentin Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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113: In Studio

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 07:00:00 -0000

America is a nation that locks up more people per capita than any other country in the world. The Sentencing Project reports 2.2 million people are incarcerated in America's prisons. That's a 500% increase over the past 40 years. The Institute for Criminal Policy Research in London reports America locks up 670 people per 100,000. Russia locks up 439 per 100,000. Rwanda 434 per 100,000. China 118 per 100,000. How in the world did this happen? Are Americans criminally prone? Or has America's desire for security and tough sentencing policies lost its way?

This week on Life of the Law we ask scholars who have studied the history and changing conditions of prisons, and a man who was incarcerated for more than 20 years, to join us in the studios of KQED in San Francisco -- to talk about the social, financial and cultural impact of mass incarceration and what change would look like. Osagie Obasogieis Professor, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley, author of Blinded by Sight: Seeing Race through the Eyes of the Blind and is a member of Life of the Law's Advisory Board Ashley Rubinis Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and is author of the soon to be published book, The Deviant Prison: Eastern State Penitentiary and the Advantage of Difference, 1829-913.

Keramet Reiter is Assistant Professor of Criminology, Law and Society and Law at UC Irvine and is author of 23/7: Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement. Keramet Reiter has a forthcoming book with Oxford Press, Keynotes in Criminology and Criminal Justice: Mass Incarceration (2017). She is currently conducting research in Danish prisons, about prison culture and solitary confinement practices, and in Washington State, about solitary confinement reforms.http://cls.soceco.uci.edu/

Troy Williamsis a journalist and the new editor of SF Bay View and while incarcerated founded the San Quentin Prison Report.

Rebecca McClennanis Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley and is author of Becoming America: A History for the 21st Century and The Crisis of Imprisonment: Protest, Politics and the Making of the American Penal State, 1776-1941.

Heather Ann Thompsonis Professor of History at the University of Michigan and won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in History for her book Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy.

Please visit our website: www.lifeofthelaw.org for suggested supplemental reading

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112: In Studio

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 06:15:00 -0000

What does it take to win an NBA Championship? On Monday night, June 12th, Oakland's Golden State Warriors, aka "Dub Nation" silenced the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the 2017 NBA Championship. Three days later, thousands of diverse, loyal, cheering, screaming fans filled the streets of Oakland to celebrate a victory many felt belonged as much to them, as to the players. For now at least. After 40 years homed in Oakland, the Warriors are moving across the Bay to a new arena in San Francisco.

Life of the Law goes "In-Studio" to try and sort it all out -- the controversial calls of Game 5, winning team dynamics, playing by the rules, and the gentrification of team sports.

LOTL's Osagie Obasogie, Nancy Mullane and Brittny Bottorff are joined "in-studio" at KQED by Fast Break blogger and attorney Adam Lauridsen.

And...in case you missed Episode 111: NBA Champion GS Warriors vs SQ Warriors -- our feature story on the annual basketball game played between the Golden State Warriors and the San Quentin Warriors inside the prison on the lower yard, now's your chance. Listen to our post-game interview with the Warriors Draymond Green after he visits the prison cells to see first hand the inmate's living conditions.

Life of the Law co-produced the story with the amazing Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva for NPR's All Things Considered.

Production Notes:

In-Studio: Dub Nation was edited and produced by Tony Gannon. Special thanks to Brittny Bottorff, Osagie Obasogie and Adam Lauridsen for joining us at KQED studios in San Francisco.

Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was composed by David Jassy. Jim Bennett and Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco were our engineers.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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111: Warriors

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 07:00:00 -0000

It's official! The Golden State Warriors are the 2017 NBA Champions! Life of the Law honors the team and each of the players with this special episode.

One day a year, the Golden State Warriors' coaches, managers, and players go behind the walls of San Quentin State Prison for a game on the prison's lower yard against the San Quentin Warriors, a team of hard-driving inmates. And like all real basketball, it's an annual battle of will and determination against time and rules.

"I love coming in here. Although I'd never seen a cell.That's the scariest thing I've seen. A cell. Where the prisoners stay. I had never seen one of those. That's serious. If you ever want deterrence show somebody what that is. That's small. "

-- Bob Myers, Golden State Warriors General Manger after visiting the cells in San Quentin's North BlockYou may have heard the story we co-produced with the Kitchen Sisters that aired on NPR's All Things Considered. If you missed it, now's your chance to hear that story and for listeners of Life of the Law, an exclusive post-game visit by Draymond Green to the inmates cells to see what life inside the San Quentin is like for the men he knows from the yard.

NBA Champions GS Warriors vs SQ Warriors

Life of the Law's exclusive interview inside San Quentin State Prison with Golden State Warriors Draymond Green, Warriors General Manager Bob Myers, and San Quentin's Curtis Carroll "Wall Street."

Production Notes

NBA Champions GS Warriors vs San Quentin Warriors was reported by Nancy Mullane and produced by Tony Gannon and theKitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva.

Special thanks to Bob Myers, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, and Raymond Ridder with The Golden State Warriors; Lt. Sam Robinson, San Quentin Public Information Officer; Louis Scott of San Quentin Media; Zsa-Zsa Rensch and Phil Green; Curtis Carroll ("Wall Street"), and Jim McKee. Thanks also to Questlove, Fantastic Negrito, Too Short, and David Jassy for their music. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Our engineer was Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco.

Opening Music Credit:

Fantastic Negrito, 'About a Bird.'

Written and Produced by Xavier Dphrepaulezz Piano and Organ by Lionel Holoman Bass Guitar by Cornelius Mims Guitar by Masa Kohama Additional Guitar by Xavier Dphrepaulezz Vocals by Xavier Dphrepaulezz Engineered by Alexandro Maloles and Jabari Tawiah

Mixed by Matt Winegar

Mastered by Dave McNair

Publishing by Angry Ant Publishing

Art by Nick Francis

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by donations from our listeners and by grants from the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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110: In Studio

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:59:54 -0000

What does color of skin have to do with equal access to justice in America? The Equal Protection Clause, part of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which took effect in 1868, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction "the equal protection of the laws." In 2017 America, does every person have equal protection under the law, or not?

Over the past month, Life of the Law presented Sarah Marshall's two part report on the life and execution of Warren McCleskey.

Unequal Protection Part 1

Unequal Protection Part 2

Warren McCleskey was a black man living in Georgia. He was convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the robbery of a furniture store and the murder of a white police officer. He appealed his death sentence all the way to the US Supreme Court in the case, McCleskey v Kemp on the grounds that he was sentenced to die because he was black. McCleskey's attorneys presented evidence known as the Baldus Study -- evidence, statistics, data -- to prove that blacks disproportionately received death sentences when the murder victims were white, that the color of skin and racial prejudice directly affected his death sentence, and many other death sentences in Georgia.

Four of the Court’s justices accepted the evidence that Warren’s right to equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the US Constitution had been violated. But 5 of the justices rejected Warren’s evidence and in 1991, Warren McCleskey was executed.

To many legal scholars, the court’s disturbing 5-4 ruling in McCleskey v Kemp was the beginning of the end of equal protection under the law in America.

We took Sarah's reports and the Supreme Court's 1987 5-4 ruling on McCleskey V Kemp inside San Quentin State Prison to talk with men charged, convicted and sentenced about race, equal protection, and criminal justice in 2017 America.

Production Notes:

In-Studio San Quentin State Prison was edited and produced by Shadeed Wallace Stepter and Tony Gannon. We want to thank Shadeed Wallace Stepter, Rahsaan Thomas, and Emile DeWeaver of the Society of Professional Journalists, San Quentin; Osagie Obasogie, Life of the Law’s Advisory Board Member and Professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health; Lt. Sam Robinson, San Quentin State Prison Public Information Officer; and Larry Schneider, Media Advisor, San Quentin State Prison, for making production and publication of this episode, possible.

Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Music in this episode was composed by Ian Coss. Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco was our engineer.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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109: Unequal Protection - Pt. 2

Tue, 23 May 2017 07:00:00 -0000

Last time on Life of the Law we presented Unequal Protection - Part 1, the story of Warren McCleskey’s unsuccessful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. McCleskey argued that his death sentence by the state of Georgia had been prejudiced by the color of skin and that he had not been given equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Walking into the prison, I was the first one. I walked in and his lawyers were walking toward me. I was looking at them and I said, 'What’s wrong?' They said, Tthey denied him.' And I just dropped to the floor. Just screaming and crying and like, they didn’t even take time to think this through. They really gonna kill my dad.

-- Carla McCleskey

This week, we present Part 2 of Sarah Marshall’s report on Warren’s McCleskey’s life after the Supreme Court ruling and his execution on September 25, 1991 by the state of Georgia.

Production Notes

Unequal Protection was reported by Sarah Marshall, edited by Nancy Mullane, and produced by our Senior Producer, Tony Gannon.

Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

Our engineers were Paul Ruet of Argot Studios in San Francisco and Katie McMurran of KQED Radio in San Francisco. Music in this episode was composed and produced by Ian Coss.

Transcript of Unequal Protection: Part 2

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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108: Unequal Protection - Pt. 1

Wed, 03 May 2017 06:00:00 -0000

America is a country plagued by racism. Culturally, socially, economically. But what about in the courts? 30 years ago, Warren McCleskey, a black man on Georgia’s death row, took proof to the US Supreme Court that his trial and sentence had been affected by racial prejudice. It’s a landmark case that nearly every law student in American is familiar with -- but few of us know the whole story.

And I sort of said, "Well, Gird up your loins. If that’s, in fact, a problem in our criminal justice system, we have to confront it. We can’t simply avert our eyes."

-- Attorney John Boger

Life of the Law reporter Sarah Marshall traveled to Georgia to learn more about the man whose name has come to symbolize the end of equal protection under the law in America.

We’ll present our story in two parts. This week, Part 1: UNEQUAL PROTECTION.

Production Notes

Unequal Protection was reported by Sarah Marshall, edited by Nancy Mullane, and produced by Tony Gannon.

Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

Our engineers were Sara Melason of Marfa Public Radio and Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco. Music in this episode was composed and produced by Ian Coss. Special thanks to Tony Gannon, our Senior Producer for recording Supreme Court Justice William Brennan's dissent in McCleskey v Kemp for our story.

Transcript of Unequal Protection: Part 1

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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107: In Studio

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 06:44:10 -0000

Welcome to In-Studio from Life of the Law. This week we're talking about our most recent episode Mother and Son, the role of corporal punishment in the house, and the recent United Airlines situation.

Each month we present an investigative feature report and two weeks later our team -- a scholar, journalist, producer, and attorney -- meet up in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to talk about our investigative reports, the law in the news, and the law on our minds. Join us for this month's In-Studio conversation:

Brittny Bottorff Attorney and Chair of LOTL Advisory BoardKirsten Jusewicz-Haidle LOTL's Post-Production EditorNancy Mullane LOTL's Executive Producer and HostOsagie Obasogie Scholar and LOTL Advisory Board MemberHave a story or a question about the law you'd like us to bring to our next In Studio? Send us an email at connect@lifeofthelaw.org.

Stories we're talking about...or want to talk about:

Each time our team meets up In-Studio, we bring stories that are in the news and on our minds -- that we want to talk about, and get help sorting out.

We don't have time to discuss all of the stories on the table, but we're sharing them with you:

'Raise the Age,’ Now Law in New York, Is Still a Subject of Debate Raise the Age, NY Spanking and crime rates Does Outlawing Spanking Lower The Crime Rate Years Later?The Influence of Corporal Punishment on Crime

Production Notes

Life of the Law In-Studio: Mother and Son was produced by Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer and our Senior Producer, Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

We want to thank our Advisory Board Members Brittny Bottorff and Osagie Obasogie for joining us In-Studio.

Our engineer was Katie McMurran of KQED Radio in San Francisco. Music in this episode was composed by Ian Coss.

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106: Mother and Son

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 03:20:00 -0000

Prison is a walled off, secret world, where inmates and officers live a sort of altered reality. For the past 10 years Life of the Law's Executive Producer, Nancy Mullane, has been reporting on the people inside San Quentin State Prison in Northern California and over those years, some of the men she's been reporting on have themselves become journalists -- writing print stories for the San Quentin News and producing audio stories for the San Quentin Prison Report, stories told by reporters rom the unique perspective of life inside prison looking out, rather than from the perspective of free journalists outside looking in.

One day after a meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists San Quentin, reporter Greg Eskridge mentioned he was going to miss the next Sunday meeting. He said his mom was coming to San Quentin for a visit. How long had he been in prison, Mullane asked? More than 21 years. He said he was sent to prison at the age of 19 after being convicted of murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 65 years-to-life, and two life terms.

What’s it like to be a teenager sent to prison for what may be forever, and what’s it like to be his mom?

Our story is Mother and Son.

Production Notes

Mother and Son was reported by Nancy Mullane and produced by our Senior Producer, Tony Gannon.

Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

Our engineer was Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco. Music in this episode was composed and produced by Ian Coss.

Transcript of Mother and Son

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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105: In Studio

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 07:00:00 -0000

Want to know how heroin treatment centers in Canada, the Affordable Care Act, President Trump's new budget and Henrietta Lacks all fit into one conversation? Welcome to In-Studio from Life of the Law.

Each month we present an investigative feature report and two weeks later our team -- a scholar, journalist, producer and attorney meet up in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to talk about our investigative reports, the law in the news and the law on our minds. Join us for this month's IN-STUDIO conversation:

Brittny Bottorff Attorney and Chair of LOTL Advisory BoardTony Gannon LOTL's Senior ProducerNancy Mullane LOTL's Executive Producer and HostOsagie Obasogie Scholar and LOTL Advisory Board MemberHave a story or a question about the law you'd like us to bring to our next In Studio? Send us an email at connect@lifeofthelaw.org.

Production Notes

Life of the Law IN-STUDIO: Heroin Town was produced by Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer and our Senior Producer, Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

We want to thank our Advisory Board Members Brittny Bottorff and Osagie Obasogie for joining us IN-STUDIO.

Our engineers were Katie McMurran and Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco. Music in this episode was composed by Ian Coss.

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104: Heroin Town

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 07:33:00 -0000

Heroin is illegal in Canada. And just like in the United States many doctors and treatment centers treat heroin addiction by providing a legal alternative, such as methadone. But methadone treatment doesn’t always work. So what do you do?

These people are currently injecting heroin in alleyways, facing overdose and risk of disease and causing all kinds of problems for the public. Why wouldn't you want them to be getting the heroin from a doctor to bring them in off the street and in contact with the health care system?

-- Martin Schechter, professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia

Reporters Sam Fenn and Gordon Katic have this story about a small clinic in Vancouver BC that’s giving their patients legal access the very drug they are addicted to.

Production Notes

Heroin Town was reported and produced by Sam Fenn, Gordon Katic, and Alexander Kim of Cited Podcast in partnership with Travis Lupick and the Georgia Straight, and edited by Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer.

The story's Senior Producer was Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

We want to thank Josh Gabert-Doyon for his help with production.

Our engineer was Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco. Music in this episode was composed and produced by Ian Coss.

Transcript of Heroin Town

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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103: In Studio

Tue, 21 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0000

Welcome to In-Studio from Life of the Law. Each month we present an investigative feature report, and two weeks later our team of scholars, journalists, producers and guests will meet up in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to ask questions and get some answers about the law, or at least start to look for some answers.

Do you have questions about the law you'd like us to discuss? Write to us at Life of the Law with your stories and questions about the law, connect@lifeofthelaw.org.

This month join our In Studio team for a conversation about the law:

Brittny Bottorff Attorney and Chair, LOTL Advisory BoardTony Gannon LOTL Senior ProducerNancy Mullane LOTL Exec Producer and HostOsagie Obasogie Scholar and LOTL Advisory Board MemberKirsten Jusewicz Haidle LOTL Post Production Editor

Each time our team meets up, we bring stories in the news that are on our minds - stories we have questions about and want help sorting out. This week our team brought the stories listed below to our In Studio conversation.Civil Rights Groups, Funded by Telecoms, Back Donald Trump’s Plan to Kill Net Neutrality Net Neutrality And Broadband Privacy Under The New FCC The Debate Over Net Neutrality Has Its Roots in the Fight Over Radio Freedom New York Times issued weaselly statement on reporter who smeared Melania Trump The Leakers Who Exposed Gen. Flynn’s Lie Committed Serious — and Wholly Justified — Felonies California lawmakers are stuck on Trump, but there's a problem at home that needs attention: dirty water Henrietta Lacks’s family wants compensation for her cells Broad Institute Wins Big Battle Over CRISPR Gene-Editing Patent An Outdated Law Will Decide the CRISPR Patent Dispute

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102: Radio Silenced

Tue, 07 Feb 2017 08:00:00 -0000

In April of 2014, federal agents raided the studios of 106.1 TOUCH FM in Boston, Massachusetts. They took turntables, microphones, transmitters, pretty much everything. The reason was simple: the radio station was operating without a license. But that raises questions: could the owner get a license? If not, why not? And why did he need one in the first place?

Just because something’s law, doesn't make it right. I like to call us the Rosa Parks of radio. The Harriet Tubman of radio. The Nat Turner of radio. The Malcolm X of radio. Everyone deserves a voice.

-- Charles Clemons

This is a story about how radio regulation has evolved over its one-hundred year history, and whose interests that regulation serves. It is also a story of media diversity -- of two independent and black-owned radio stations that once broadcast on Boston’s airwaves, but have been silenced.

Finally, it is the story of Greg Lawson -- a man who always keeps the radio on, and listened as the stations he depended on disappeared, one after the other.

Suggested Reading

The Titanic’s Role in Radio Reform Unlicensed Grove Hall radio station shuttered Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times A Political-Economic History of FCC Policy on Minority Broadcast Ownership Production Notes

Radio Silenced was reported and produced by Ian Coss and edited by Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer. The story's Senior Producer was Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

We want to thank Jason Loviglio, Chair and Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Maryland for sharing his scholarship. Professor Loviglio is the author of Radio’s Intimate Public: Network Broadcasting and Mass-Mediated Democracy.

Our engineer was Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco. Music in this episode was composed and produced by Ian Coss.

Transcript of Radio Silence

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101: In Studio

Tue, 24 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0000

At Life of the Law, we're going to shake things up a bit so our team can jump into the national conversation that's taking place about the law. We're going to ask questions and hopefully get some answers, or at least begin to look for answers.

We want to welcome you to join us for In Studio and we encourage you to write to us at Life of the Law with your stories and questions about the law.

Each month we'll present an investigative report, and two weeks later our team of journalists, scholars, producers and guests will meet up in the studios of KQED in San Francisco to talk about our investigations and all things law.

This month our In Studio team is:

Brittny Bottorff Attorney and Chair, LOTL Advisory BoardTony Gannon LOTL Senior ProducerNancy Mullane LOTL Exec Producer and HostOsagie Obasogie Scholar and LOTL Advisory Board Member

Production Notes

Life of the Law In Studio: Knowledge in a Post-Fact Era was produced by Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer, and our Senior Producer, Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

We want to thank our Advisory Board Members, Brittny Bottorff and Osagie Obasogie for joining us In Studio, and Nathalie Konen for her production support.

Our engineers were Katie McMurran and Howard Gelman of KQED Radio in San Francisco.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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100: Live Law NSF

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 08:00:00 -0000

The US Constitution sets the rules for how our our society is governed. Lawyers and advocates, legislators and lobbyists, judges and courts work to enforce it, or change it. All the while, legal and social scholars work behind the scenes for years, often decades conducting research that gets to the heart of the history, evolution, practice, and potential of the law in our society.

To celebrate Life of the Law's 100th Episode, Life of the Law and the National Science Foundation brought five NSF funded scholars to the NSF Headquarters in Washington DC to share their stories, personal experiences, professional challenges and discoveries about free speech and the judiciary, children and the legal system, imprisonment and culture, family law and poverty, hate crimes, and incivility in society.

Production Notes

LIVE LAW NSF: TRANSLATING (law and social) SCIENCE was produced by Nancy Mullane, Life of the Law's Executive Producer. Our Senior Producer is Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

We want to thank the the National Science Foundation, Division of Law and Social Sciences for co-producing the live event at NSF Headquarters in Washington DC on October 7th, 2016.

Our engineers were Jim Bennett and Katie McMurran at KQED Radio in San Francisco.

Music in this episode was from The Audio Network.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, and the National Science Foundation.

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99: Shaken

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 08:00:00 -0000

Tonia Miller lost control and shook her baby to death. That’s what prosecutors said. Miller denied it, but a Michigan jury wasn’t convinced and convicted her of murder. At 19 years old, Miller was separated from her family, sent to prison and found herself having lost something else: her life.

Over 13 years later, those who knew the young family are haunted by moments when the child showed signs something was wrong during the short time she was alive. According to medical experts, authorities may have foreclosed the possibility that the death was the result of something other than murder—birth trauma, an accident or illness.

This shaken-baby syndrome investigation was reported by The Medill Justice Project, an award-winning national investigative journalism center based at Northwestern University that examines potentially wrongful convictions and criminal justice issues.

Production Notes

Shaken was a co-production with The Medill Justice Project and was reported by Adele Humbert and Taylor Mullaney with production by Adele Humbert and editing by Alec Klein and Amanda Westrich. Our Senior Producer is Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain.

We want to thank Allisha Azlan and Rachel Fobar, Medill Justice Project associates, and Anthony Settipani, former Medill Justice Project fellow for their help with the reporting and production of our story.

Our engineers were Adam Yoffe at WBEZ in Chicago and Howard Gelman at KQED Radio in San Francisco.

Music in this episode was from The Audio Network.

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98: Fair Fight for a Fair Court

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 19:43:25 -0000

The 2016 elections are over. But what did we learn from the results? Over the past 11 months, Life of the Law’s team of reporters, editors and scholars have been taking a hard took at how money and an increase in spending by special interest groups has played a role in the outcome of elections for judges on state supreme courts. And those outcomes may impact our shared access to our state courts, courts that are supposed to represent fairness in the law and the highest ideals of justice.

We called our five part series A Fair Fight for a Fair Court -- and now we’re presenting all five stories with updates in two hour-long special feature episodes on Life of the Law.

In this, the second hour, you’ll hear three stories: Recuse Yourself from reporter Chloe Prasinos, Courting Voters from reporter Ashley Cleek, and Judges v. Attack Ads from reporter Jess Engebretson. We'll also bring you updates on those stories.A Fair Fight for a Fair Court: Election Year Special - Part 2 was reported by Chloe Prasinos, Ashley Cleek, and Jess Engebretson and was edited by Ibby Caputo and Nancy Mullane. We had sound design and production by Shani Aviram and Tony Gannon. Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. We want to thank members of our Advisory Panel of Scholars and our Advisory Board, Brittny Bottorff, Ellen Horne and Osagie Obasogie for their support. Howard Gelman was our engineer.

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97: Fair Fight for a Fair Court

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 08:00:00 -0000

The 2016 elections are over. But what did we learn from the results? Over the past 11 months, Life of the Law’s team of reporters, editors and scholars have been taking a hard took at how money and an increase in spending by special interest groups has played a role in the outcome of elections for judges on state supreme courts. Ultimately, the outcomes of those races may impact our shared access to our state courts, courts that represent fairness in the law and the highest ideals of justice.

We are presenting all five stories in our series A Fair Fight for a Fair Court -- with updates in two, hour-long special feature episodes on Life of the Law. The first hour is being presented on November 29th. Part two will be presented on December 13.

A Fair Fight for a Fair Court: Election Year Special - Part 1 was reported by Ashley Cleek and Jonathan Hirsch and edited by Annie Aviles and Nancy Mullane, with sound design and production by Shani Aviram and Tony Gannon. Our post production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle, Rachael Cain and Alyssa Bernstein. We want to thank members of our Advisory Panel of Scholars and our Advisory Board Brittny Bottorff, Ellen Horne and Osagie Obasogie for their support. Howard Gelman and Katie McMurran were our engineers.

Music in this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions.

Special thanks to Michael Leachman, Director of State Fiscal Research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

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96: Live Law San Quentin: Hope

Wed, 16 Nov 2016 07:31:36 -0000

On Saturday, November 12, 2016 members of the San Quentin Wednesday Night Creative Writing Class presented the stories they have been writing, to fellow inmates and guests inside the prison’s education center. The event, the Eleventh Annual Public Reading, was sponsored by the William James Association’s Prison Arts Project. And so, down on the “yard” inside a double-wide modular bungalow, inmates stood before an audience of free and incarcerated to share their creative fiction, spoken word, and poetry.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Live Law San Quentin: Hope is a co-production of Life of the Law and San Quentin’s Creative Writing Program, Brothers In Pen. James Rowlands produced the live recording. Tony Gannon, Life of the Law’s Senior Producer designed and produced the episode. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Katie McMurran and Howard Gellman were our in-studio engineers.

Music was composed and performed by David Jassy and the San Quentin Prison Report.

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95: Judges v. Attack Ads

Tue, 01 Nov 2016 07:00:00 -0000

Judges across the country are in a fight to keep their jobs. You see, Unlike judges appointed to federal courts, many state judges have to run in elections to either get voted onto the court or keep their seat on the bench after they’ve been appointed… that means they have to convince voters to vote for them. So they do what candidates in elections do: they go to state fairs, they shake hands, they kiss babies and they spend hours on the phone fundraising. And now, they dodge harsh attacks.

Fifteen years ago, judges were pretty much exempt from attack ads like this one. But today independent groups pour millions of dollars into state judicial races and fund attack ads hoping to influence voters, one way or another. In this fifth and final part of our series A Fair Fight for A Fair Court, Jess Engebretson reports on how the rise of attack ads affects our justice system.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Judges v. Attack Ads was reported by Jess Engebretson and edited by Ibby Caputo, with sound design and production by Tony Gannon. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Special thanks to Benjamin Hardy for his help with reporting this episode. Howard Gelman was our engineer.

We’d also like to thank Professor James Gibson of Washington University in St. Louis for his scholarly advice about judicial elections.

Music in this episode is from the Audio Network.

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94: Courting Voters - Pt 4: A Fair Fight for a Fair Court

Tue, 18 Oct 2016 20:14:59 -0000

On October 4th, the justices on the Kansas Supreme Court traveled to Hutchinson, a small town in central Kansas. The seven men and women donned their black robes and took the bench in a community college auditorium to hear oral arguments in upcoming cases. This is pretty much the extent of campaigning the justices are allowed to do and for more than 50 years this has been enough.

But this year, many people in Kansas say they are disillusioned by several rulings the justices on Kansas’ highest court have made and now, they want to boot four of the five justices on the ballot, from the bench. Never before has a sitting justice on the Kansas Supreme Court not won a retention election. But as we all bear witness, 2016 is a different sort of election year.

In Part 4 of our A Fair Fight for a Fair Court series, Life of the Law reporter Ashley Cleek takes us to Kansas for COURTING VOTERS.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Courting Voters was reported by Ashley Cleek and edited by Nancy Mullane with sound design and production by Shani Aviram. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Ceil Muller and Howard Gelman of KQED in San Francisco and Paul Ruest of Argot Studios in New York were our sound engineers.

Special Thanks to Hutchinson Community College and Lisa Taylor at the Kansas Supreme Court and Professor James Gibson of the American University for his scholarly advice.

Full Transcript of Courting Voters

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93: Last Count

Tue, 04 Oct 2016 07:00:00 -0000

Douglas Collier is serving a life sentence inside San Quentin State Prison. For years he shared a 9x4 foot cell with his friend Tony, a fellow inmate. One day Tony couldn’t stop coughing. His arteries were clogged. Several months later, Tony died -- one of the hundreds of inmates who die in California state prisons each year.

In this story, reported by Greg Eskridge, an inmate and journalist with the San Quentin Prison Report, Douglas tell us what it was like to witness, and come to terms with, his friend’s death.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Last Count was reported by Greg Eskridge and edited by Jess Engebretson with sound design and production by Jonathan Hirsch. We want to thank the journalists with the San Quentin Prison Report and David Jassy for providing additional production support for the story. Special thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Larry Schneider with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and to Nigel Poor. Our Post Production Editors are Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle and Rachael Cain. Howard Gelman was our engineer.

Last Count was sponsored by Blue Apron and by Denial.

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92: Live Law Phoenix - Borders

Tue, 20 Sep 2016 08:59:28 -0000

Each summer, people from all around the country gather for the Soros Justice Fellowship Conference -- three days of meetings, conversations, and workshops by scholars, journalists, attorneys, and advocates working on projects that explore the criminal justice system in America.

This year six fellows, some new and some former, shared personal stories about their work and their lives. It was hosted by Adam Culbreath, Program Officer of the Soros Justice Fellows Program. Here are their stories…

PRODUCTION NOTES

Live Law Phoenix - Borders was held at summer gathering of the Soros Justice Fellows. We’d like to thank Adam Culbreath, Program Officer of the Soros Justice Fellowship, for hosting and Christina Voight, Program Coordinator, for her co-production of the event. Jonathan Hirsch designed the sound. Our post-production editors are Kirsten Jusewicz Haidle and Rachael Cain. Howard Gelman was our engineer.

Music in this episode was from Martin Landh

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91: Death on a Dairy

Tue, 06 Sep 2016 13:43:00 -0000

“Being trampled, being struck by livestock, being struck by vehicles, backed over. People have fallen into and drowned in manure pits.”

- Steve Kaplan, OSHA

Turns out small dairy farms can be some of the most dangerous, unregulated places to work. There are hinges and machines and huge cows to contend with. Over the past decade in New York State alone, 70 dairy workers have died on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, investigated only six of those deaths.

Life of the Law reporter Eilis O’Neill traveled to upstate New York to find out why it's so dangerous to work on small dairy farms.

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90: Kids Doing Life

Tue, 23 Aug 2016 04:00:00 -0000

When you’re sixteen or seventeen do you really think about what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with? Sometimes, sure. But not all the time. There’s science to show that teens don’t think like adults. Their brains aren’t fully developed. That means two things. First that they don’t have the same ability as an adult to consider the consequences of their actions, and second, that in time, when their brain does become fully developed, they can be rehabilitated.

For these and many reasons, the US Supreme Court issued a series of decisions that teens can’t be sentenced to death and they can’t be given an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole. But what does that mean? How long can a state send a teen to prison before they have a chance at parole?

If you break the law and are sent to prison as a teen, how long do we wait to give you another chance? This week on Life of the Law, reporter Brenda Salinas tells us Ashley Ervin's story.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Kids Doing Life was reported by Brenda Salinas and edited by Jess Engebretson with sound design and production from Shani Aviram.

We want to thank Rachael Cain, our summer intern, and Megan Flynn, Beth Schwartzapfel, and Terry Langford for their reporting and help with production. Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle is our Post Production Editor. Howard Gelman is our engineer.

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89: Live Law Philadelphia - Prison Positive

Tue, 09 Aug 2016 12:00:00 -0000

If you’ve had unprotected sex the only way to know if you’ve been infected with the HIV is to take a quick saliva or blood test. It’s free and it's easy. And then whether you’re negative or positive you can get on with life and, if you test positive, start the really important early treatment.

Today people with HIV who get treatment can live a normal life. But if they don’t -- if they avoid the test and treatment -- in around 10 to 15 years HIV so severely damages their immune system that AIDS develops.

It hasn’t always been so easy to get tested and treated for HIV.

For 22 years, Philadelphia FIGHT, a comprehensive health services organization providing primary care, consumer education, research, and advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS has hosted an entire month of free workshops, trainings, and outreach about HIV and AIDS. This year, Life of the Law traveled to Philly to take part in Philadelphia Fight’s inspiring work. On June 15th we presented LIVE LAW - Beyond the Walls: Prison Positive...stories told by people who have done the testing and been tested in the city’s jails and prison.

Jessica Falcon produced and hosted Beyond the Walls: Prison Positive and has our first story. Jessica’s pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering, but uses her spare time to advocate for the HIV positive population in Philadelphia. She is deeply motivated by the cause and says she has chosen activism as her passion. Waheedah Shabazz-El describes herself as a 50-plus African-American Muslim woman and retired U.S. postal worker who was diagnosed with AIDS in 2003.Sonia Williams is the program officer at First Hospital Foundation, a local health foundation that supports programs that serve the most vulnerable populations in Philadelphia County. While completing her Masters in Public Health, she conducted her internship at the Philadelphia Prison System.Odessa Summers has been the Prison Medical Case Manager at ActionAIDS for 8 years. She’s been doing HIV work for 15 years.Dr. Debra D'Aquilante is a board-certified Infectious Disease specialist for Corizon Health who has been seeing patients in the Philadelphia Prison System for 22 years. She conducts the Infectious Disease Clinic and sees all the incarcerated HIV+ patients, as well as other Infectious Disease consults.

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88: Clemency

Tue, 26 Jul 2016 08:00:00 -0000

Last December 95 prisoners had their sentences shortened by President Obama. This was part of an ongoing effort to use clemency to free non-violent drug offenders who were given harsh sentences for their crimes. For 53 year old Ramona Brant this meant she would not spend the rest of her life in prison. Brant was a first time offender convicted in 1995 on charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine.

This summer Life of the Law is presenting some of the best and the brightest new voices in investigative reporting and audio production. This week's episode is from Shandukani Mulaudzi of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Reporter Shandukani Mulaudzi met Brant on February 2, as she was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Mulaudzi later traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, where Brant -- as part of the clemency agreement -- is living in a halfway house until mid-April.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Clemency was reported by Shandukani Mulaudzi and edited by Ann Cooper with production support from Jonathan Hirsch, Nancy Mullane, and Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle.

Special thanks to Kerry Donahue, coordinator of the audio program at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Amy Povah of Can-Do Clemency for her support, and Romana Brant for sharing her story.

Music in this episode is from Ketsa.

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87: Bail or Bust

Tue, 12 Jul 2016 08:00:00 -0000

Hundreds of people in cities throughout the US have been arrested for participating in Black Lives Matter protests. In Chicago, a judge set one protestor's bail at $350,000. To "make bail" he will have to present the court with the money or property as s promise, a sort of collateral, that he will return for his hearing in exchange for his freedom while he awaits trial. When he appears for his trial, he will get his money back."There really are two systems of justice. There’s one for people who can make bail, and one for people who can’t."

- Josh Saunders, Public Defender

Possibly this protestor and others like him will have help raising the funds to post his bail. But what if a person who has been accused of a crime has been arrested and doesn't have enough money, or access to property, to make bail? Each year some 45,000 people in New York City alone are arrested and sent to jail who can't make bail. That means they either stay in jail until their trial takes place, which can be months down the road, or they plead guilty without a trial.

This summer Life of the Law presents the best and the brightest new voices in investigative reporting and audio production. This story is from Ariel Ritchin of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Ariel has taken a hard look at what it takes to make bail.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Bail or Bust was reported by Ariel Ritchin and edited by Kerry Donahue and Nancy Mullane, with production support from Jonathan Hirsch and Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle. Ceil Muller of KQED Radio in San Francisco was our engineer. Special thanks to WNYC and New York 1. Music in this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions and K2.

Bail or Bust was sponsored by The Great Courses Plus.com/law.

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86: Winter of Love

Tue, 28 Jun 2016 07:00:00 -0000

This summer, we’re changing things up a bit at Life of the Law. We’re presenting some amazing audio documentaries produced by at universities and colleges around the country. Our first story is from Aviva DeKornfeld of Pitzer College in Southern California. Aviva was curious about marriage. Marrying the person you love is the ideal, right? But what happens when you find your mate, your dream, your love...and you get married but then a few months later, the government tells never mind, your marriage doesn’t count. Aviva has the story…

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BONUS: Life as Lady J

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 09:00:00 -0000

While North Carolina sorts out whether children who identify as transgendered should be able to use the bathroom of their choice, shots were fired inside a gay dance club in Orlando, Florida. Fifty innocent people were killed and dozens of others were seriously injured.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals are more likely to be targeted for hate crimes than people who are part of any other minority group.

The Human Rights Campaign reports more transgender people were killed in 2015 than during any other year on record.

And the National Coalition of Anti-Violence programs reports that black transgender women are the most at risk for attacks of extreme violence and murder.

At Life of the Law, we want to acknowledge the formidable challenges faced by LGBTQA individuals with this bonus episode, the Life as Lady J.

PRODUCTION NOTES

This Bonus Episode of Life of the Law was produced by Nancy Mullane and Jonathan Hirsch with production assistance from Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle. Music by David Jassy. This production was funded by grants from the Open Society Foundation, the Law and Society Association, the Proteus Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.

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85: Live Law New Orleans - A Scholar's Life

Tue, 14 Jun 2016 09:00:00 -0000

What’s it like to be a scholar? You go to college, get graduate degree maybe a phd to study something about the law in our lives. Years pass. You live in the hallowed halls of academia. Who are you now? Life of the Law traveled to New Orleans for the Law and Society Association’s annual meeting where more than 2000 law and social science scholars from around the world got together to share their work and personal stories about their lives. Host Osagie Obsaogie, a Law Professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco, and a member of Life of the Law’s Advisory Board takes us to center stage…

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84: Liberte & Securite

Tue, 31 May 2016 08:00:00 -0000

There’ve been a series of terrorist attacks in Europe, and now France, one of the countries hardest hit, is adjusting to the elevated threat.

Since the shootings at the offices of Charlie Hebdo last year and the attacks that killed 130 people this year, French people have been trying to cope with the fact that not only is their country a target for terrorism, but a few of the terrorists who engineered and even participated in the attacks were born and raised in neighboring Belgium and France.

And now the French are asking a question Americans have been struggling with:How does a country balance civil-liberties with safety and security?

Producer Emma Jacobs reports from Paris on how the French are answering the question...and the answer lies at the intersection of French values, French fears and French laws.

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83: Recuse Yourself - Pt 3: A Fair Fight for a Fair Court

Tue, 17 May 2016 07:00:00 -0000

When should a judge step aside? Most people can agree that when a judge’s family member appears in court, it’s the judge’s responsibility to bow out. Or, if a judge stands to profit directly from the outcome of the ruling — that’s pretty cut and dry, too. But what about this: can a judge remain impartial when a case concerns a person or group that contributed money, sometimes millions of dollars, to help that judge get elected? What then? As more and more money floods into judicial elections across the nation, states are grappling with this question. Perhaps none more than Wisconsin, where, like many states, the final decision whether or not to step aside is left for the judge to determine. Reporter Chloe Prasinos has our story.

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82: The Holdup

Tue, 03 May 2016 04:00:00 -0000

“I feel like I need to do those things cause the court has to appear normal to the outside world, even though things are really abnormal inside, it's my job to keep a sense of normalcy and not to draw attention to the court.”

--Chief Judge Keith Watkins, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama

This year is an election year, which is already pretty rough going. Then in February, Justice Antonin Scalia died, leaving an open seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. More like a black hole. Senate Republicans immediately declared that they would not hold hearings or vote on anyone President Obama nominated to fill the vacancy. That it’s up to whoever is elected President in November to fill the seat on the highest court.

And it’s not just the Supreme Court that has an empty seat. There are dozens of unfilled judicial seats in federal courts across the country. Some seats have been empty for months, others for a years, and one for a decade. And while politicians argue about who should fill the seat, the judges on the bench continue to work day and night against an ever-growing backlog of cases.

PRODUCTION NOTES

The Hold Up was reported by Ashley Cleek, edited by Annie Aviles, with sound design and production by Jonathan Hirsch. Alyssa Bernstein, Kirsten Jusewicz-Haidle, Shani Aviram, and Nancy Mullane provided production support.

Special thanks to the many federal judges who took time out of their very busy schedules to talk to us.

The music in this episode is from Blue Dot Sessions.

Full Transcript of The Hold Up

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundations, the Law and Society Association, the Proteus Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, and was sponsored by Squarespace and The Great Courses Plus. Be sure to use the promo code LAW at check out to receive special benefits as a Life of the Law listener.

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81: Rig the System - Pt 2: Fair Fight for a Fair Court

Tue, 19 Apr 2016 09:00:00 -0000

The law isn’t always black and white. Let’s say your neighbor wants to drill for oil in their backyard. It could be loud and it might even pollute the groundwater. You’re worried. Who has the authority under the law to determine whether your neighbor can drill for oil or not?

People living in states like Ohio, want their local governments to decide… and have gone as far as to change the state constitution to grant local governments something called “home rule”, which gives locals the power to govern themselves, as long as local law don’t conflict with state and federal law.

Seems clear enough. Or so it seemed for people living in Ohio, until the oil boom came to town pitting neighbors who wanted a piece of the oil action against neighbors who didn’t want to live next to an oil well. Question is, when it comes to oil and gas, who has the power to decide who can drill, and where?

In part 2 of our series on a Fair Fight for a Fair Court, Life of the Law’s Jonathan Hirsch, has this story.

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80: Live Law Nashville – Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Tue, 05 Apr 2016 07:00:00 -0000

Hosted by Hal Humphries, our live show, Blood Sweat and Tears explores music and the law in “Music City”.

We host live storytelling events that are unlike any other. All across the country, our Live Law shows showcase the stories of lawyers, judges, storytellers, and everyday people share their experiences and encounters with the law.

So Not all stories about the law fit snugly into one of our feature investigative reports. Some stories have to be told live, in front of an audience, no editing and no backing out.

This week we take you to Nashville, for BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS and stories about the blues, jazz, songwriters and a cabin in the woods.

Harold Bradley a musician and studio entrepreneur helped create the "Nashville Sound" and served as President of Local American Federation of Musicians. Why do musicians need a union? Listen and find out.Loren Mulraine earned his JD at Howard University of Law, worked as a contracts attorney for the FAA, then moved to Nashville to practice entertainment law. A songwriter and gospel recording artist, Mulraine is a professor of Belmont School of Law.John Allen earned a scholarship to study classical guitar at Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music then headed to Music Row after college. He's worked at Capitol Records and bug Music and is now Vice President at BMG Chrysalis.Inspired by Beatles bassist Paul McCartney, Alison Prestwood followed her musical dreams to Nashville and became a session bass player, cutting her teeth recording with Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins. But when Music Row's fortunes flagged, she took up another instrument... the law.

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BONUS: A Conversation on Eugenics and the Law

Tue, 29 Mar 2016 07:00:00 -0000

Last week, we published STERILIZED, Reporter Jess Engebretson's disturbing story of Rose Brooks and Lewis Reynolds, two of more than 60,000 men and women forcibly sterilized in the United States by doctors working in state hospitals. The doctors and nurses who performed the vasectomies and salpingectomies weren't breaking the law.

Throughout the 20th Century, state legislators passed laws that allowed these surgical procedures. It was all part of the early 20th century eugenics movement. But, you might ask, how could this happen? How could the law deny tens of thousands of men and women the right to have children?

Life of the Law invited scholars who have studied eugenics to join us in the studios at KQED in San Francisco to talk about eugenics, past and present.

Osagie Obasogie is Professor of Law at UC Hastings San Francisco, author of Blinded by Sight.

Marcy Darnovsky is Executive Director at the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley.

Alexandra Minna Stern is Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan.

Milton Reynolds is Senior Program Associate at Facing History and Ourselves.

PRODUCTION NOTES

This Bonus Episode was produced by Nancy Mullane and Jonathan Hirsch. Special thanks to Osagie Obasogie, Marcy Darnovsky, Alexandra Minna Stern, and Milton Reynolds for their contribution to this production.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundation, the Law and Society Association, the Proteus Fund and the National Science Foundation.

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79: Sterilized

Tue, 22 Mar 2016 08:00:00 -0000

Beginning in 1907, states in the US began to forcibly sterilize over 60,000 Americans -- people considered by scientists to be “unfit” -- the mentally ill, the disabled, the morally suspect. Now, a few states are trying to figure out what they owe to the program's survivors.

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78: Revolution in a Cornfield

Tue, 08 Mar 2016 06:07:00 -0000

In Kansas, public schools are at the heart of a debate about how much money the state should budget for education -- a debate that comes down to a fight over nothing less than the balance of power among the three branches of government.

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77: Harris County

Tue, 23 Feb 2016 12:00:00 -0000

All over the country, critics argue that ID laws discourage voter participation--particularly among poor and minority voters. This is particularly true in Texas, which passed a voter ID law in 2011. By 2050 the state’s population is expected to double--and most of that growth will be come from the Latino community. How are all of these voter ID laws impacting who votes today in the US, and who will have access to the polls in the future?

This episode of Life of the Law is sponsored by Squarespace.

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76: Juggalos

Tue, 09 Feb 2016 09:00:00 -0000

In 2011 the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center released their Gang Threat Assessment, which listed Juggalos as a “loosely affiliated hybrid gang.” Juggalos, who are more commonly known as fans of horrorcore rap and the Insane Clown Posse, say that this designation has been unfairly attributed to them based on the actions of a few violent outliers in the community. In 2014 the Juggalos teamed up with the ACLU to sue the FBI to remove the gang classification. This case, Parsons v U.S. DOJ, is still making it’s way through the courts. But what does this mean for an average Juggalo who is now a gang member? And how does a group of fans become a gang?

Life of the Law Episode 76 "Juggalos" was sponsored by Squarespace and Casper.

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75: UnDACAmented

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 04:00:00 -0000

In 2012, the Obama Administration signed a memo addressing all branches of the Department of Homeland Security, which granted undocumented immigrants who migrated as minors to the United States a renewable deferral of deportation. It’s called Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals. DACA, for short.

Luis Perez Morales is one of those children. He crossed the border with his family when he was 8, and has been living in the U.S. since then. When he heard about the program, Perez Morales scheduled an appointment with an immigration attorney to apply for DACA. An encounter with Border Patrol agents, a week before his scheduled meeting with an attorney, changed everything.

Life of the Law Episode 74 "UnDACAmented" was sponsored by Squarespace.

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74: Overruled

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 05:00:00 -0000

In the U.S., juries are often seen as democracy in action. Twelve men and women are asked to hear an entire case, and ultimately, decide another person’s fate. But in Alabama, the jury’s decision between life and death is only a recommendation.

Life of the Law Episode 74 "Overruled" was sponsored by Squarespace.

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73: “A whole ‘nother world” – Live @ San Quentin

Fri, 25 Dec 2015 07:00:00 -0000

On Saturday night, Dec 5, 2015 more than 200 people filled the pews of the Catholic chapel inside San Quentin State Prison for a first-ever uncensored storytelling event behind the prison walls. Together, inmates and volunteers, officers and staff gathered to hear stories about the all-too-secret, often misunderstood community that sustains each of them inside and outside the prison walls.

For two storytellers, Troy Williams and Watani Stiner, the night would be the first time they would return to San Quentin after being released a year earlier following decades as inmates.

Like those in the audience for Live @ San Quentin, this special episode offers the chance to hear the voices and stories too often silenced by imprisonment.

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72: Outside The Walls

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 11:00:00 -0000

“I didn’t go to prison because I was a saint. I went to prison because of my lifestyle. Since the age of 13 I was a gangbanger, and did what gangbangers do. I’m 49 years old now. After 20 years of a life sentence, I got paroled. That was a year ago. My name is Troy Williams and this is a diary of my first year as a free man.”

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71: Space Law 2.0

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 05:00:00 -0000

When you look up at the sky the last thing you probably think about is the law. But space is exactly where the next frontier of law is being played out.

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70: Live Law – Truth or Dare

Tue, 17 Nov 2015 05:00:00 -0000

Truth or Dare? What's it gonna be? On this episode, we have three stories told live: two truths and a dare.

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69: Bit of an Edge

Tue, 03 Nov 2015 13:00:00 -0000

In real life, the business of jury selection is a 400 million dollar industry. So in a world of high priced jury consultants what does a jury of our peers look like? How do jury consultants work? How do juries even get picked?

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68: Thorpe’s Body

Tue, 20 Oct 2015 05:00:00 -0000

The body of legendary Native American athlete Jim Thorpe rests in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania ... but some members of his family say he should be dug up and reburied on tribal land in Oklahoma. A lawsuit seeking to move his body back to his birthplace shows how difficult it can be for the law to provide justice for Native Americans.

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67: The Stop

Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:00:00 -0000

We all know this feeling. You're driving. Maybe you're speeding. Maybe you don't think you're doing anything wrong. All of a sudden blue lights flash in your rear-view mirror. Your stomach drops. You've been stopped.

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66: Who’s the Criminal?

Tue, 22 Sep 2015 16:00:00 -0000

Ever committed a crime? Were you caught? Arrested? Maybe not. Between a quarter and a third of all adults in America were caught and arrested. Now they have a criminal record. What about those who got away?

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65: Commuter Cops

Tue, 08 Sep 2015 13:00:00 -0000

Laws that required cops to live in the cities they patrolled were common in the early 1900s and still exist in the United States today. However, some law enforcement officials say residency requirements restrict their freedom of movement and the effectiveness of these laws have been questioned and even challenged in the US Supreme Court. Yet, many citizens still want the police who patrol their communities to live where they work.

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64: Block Boss

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 16:00:43 -0000

On every city block, there are rules. Some are unspoken, some require friendly reminders, some are enforced by the law. Is it ever OK to break the rules in order to prevent others from breaking the rules themselves?

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63: Water Rights

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 16:00:09 -0000

In the Western United States, water law is based on what seems like a simple principle: "first in use is first in right." In other words, first come first served. But take a severe drought, a Native American tribe and a hardscrabble band of ranchers, and it’s actually pretty complicated.

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62: No Lawyers Allowed

Tue, 28 Jul 2015 05:00:00 -0000

At disciplinary hearings in prison, inmates are not guaranteed the right to an attorney. In fact, they aren't allowed to have one at all.

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61: Outside the Womb

Tue, 14 Jul 2015 13:00:00 -0000

What happens when the law changes and people find themselves in legal limbo in a foreign country?

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60: The Bear

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 13:00:00 -0000

Frank 'The Bear' Abramovitz lost his wife to cancer. That’s when he took over her business, and became a bounty hunter.

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59: The Trauma Room

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 05:00:00 -0000

When prisoners act out, they get put in solitary confinement -- the penal version of go to your room and think about what you've done. But for the women that reporter Annie Brown talked to with histories of trauma, being in solitary confinement was more like go to your room and think about what’s been done to you.

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58: Oswald Is Still Dead

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 05:00:00 -0000

Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered before he could stand trial for the assassination of JFK. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying to get him into a courtroom, over and over again.

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57: Drag.net

Tue, 19 May 2015 13:00:00 -0000

Amateur sleuths armed with their own laptops, public information and a lot of spare time are working alone and in groups to crack criminal cases. Sometimes it works and sometimes it goes very, very badly. Welcome to the future of crowdsourced law enforcement.

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56: Tipping the Scales

Tue, 05 May 2015 13:00:00 -0000

Are aggressive, expensive elections corrupting the court system? Or are they evidence of a strong democracy?

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55: Marijuana Rules

Mon, 20 Apr 2015 13:00:00 -0000

Recreational pot has earned the state of Colorado $53 million dollars in tax revenue. All on a drug that, according to federal law is still illegal. How does a marijuana business navigate all the uncertainty?

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54: Bad Gig

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 13:00:00 -0000

Exotic dancers, on-call drivers, and writers might have a different name for what they do -- freelancing, part-time work and independent contracting -- but it all means the same thing. Work that doesn’t start at 9 and end at 5. And sure, it has its perks, but do 1099 workers have protections?

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53: Anatomy of a Confession

Tue, 24 Mar 2015 13:00:00 -0000

A triple murder, a habitual liar on a stolen motorcycle and a confession that doesn’t add up. Why would anyone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? On Life of the Law, the story of a man dying of cancer on Texas’s Death Row who confessed to a crime he says he didn’t do.

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52: Birth Rights

Tue, 10 Mar 2015 05:00:00 -0000

Pregnant with options. There’s the stroller, the crib, and the adorable baby clothes. And, for more than 50,000 women each year birthing plans also include choosing the right midwife even in states where birth by midwife is not legal.

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51: Call NOW!

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:00:00 -0000

When things go bad all you need to do is pick up the phone and CALL. Or so lawyers like Saul on AMC’s new series tells us. Since the US Supreme Court allowed lawyers to advertise in the 1970s, practices like these have skyrocketed, with often shoddily-produced results. Are tacky lawyer ads trashing the profession or simply making it more easily accessible to those who might not otherwise know who to call when they need an attorney?

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50: The Diaper Wars

Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:00:00 -0000

In the 1980's, the world's two largest diaper companies set out to destroy each other, in a patent battle known as the Diaper Wars. The court battles lasted seven years and cost millions of dollars. What did we get out of it? Better diapers -- and one very messy lesson in patent law.

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49: Life After Doxing

Tue, 27 Jan 2015 13:00:00 -0000

The internet is anonymous. Except for when it isn't. When someone wants to hurt you, they can find your address and other personal information and post it online, inviting others to harass you, stalk you, or worse. And thanks to minimal regulation of the Internet, there may not be a whole lot you can do about it.

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48: Boiled Angel

Tue, 13 Jan 2015 17:00:00 -0000

Freedom of speech is a right guaranteed in the first amendment of the constitution. One exception to the rule is obscenity. But determining what is obscene is difficult – especially for those making it.

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47: Life of the Law End-of-Year Special: Redemption Stories

Tue, 23 Dec 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Life of the Law looks back over some of our favorite stories from the year: The ones that left us hopeful. Over the past year, we’ve found the law in places as different as comedy clubs, bedrooms, even in our own consciences.

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46: One Conjugal Visit

Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:00:00 -0000

How long would your relationship last without a kiss or more than a kiss? In America, only three states allow prisoners and their spouses or domestic partners to have extended family visits, also known as conjugal visits or, on the inside, “booty calls.” They have privacy and they have sex. This is the story of one couple and the 48-hour conjugal visit they share once a month inside San Quentin State Prison.

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45: Fair Share

Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Podcasts Life of the Law & Destination DIY team up to examine the legal grey area occupied by the sharing economy. How are cities grappling with these increasingly popular, disruptive, peer-to-peer business models?

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44: Living With Wolves

Tue, 04 Nov 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Bringing wolves back to the West has tested the legal system’s tolerance for restoring wild places -- especially when humans live nearby. This year, the Endangered Species Act is at the center of a debate that will determine how that landscape looks in the future -- and whether wolves will still live there.

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43: There Oughta Be A Law

Tue, 21 Oct 2014 13:00:00 -0000

In Tennessee, it’s illegal for grocery stores to sell wine, but perfectly legal for passengers to ride in cars and drink alcohol. At the state level, legislators have fought for years over how (or whether) to rework these two rules. And there’s no question that the federal government wants states like Tennessee to pass tougher open container laws that would put a stop to drinking in cars all together. The hope is stricter laws would prevent costly accidents, and even deaths. As bait, the federal government offers millions of dollars in funding that states can use to fund transportation projects and new jobs. But, unlike most states, Tennessee has yet to bite, instead choosing to allow its residents the right to crack open a cold frosty one from the passenger seat. So what is it with these local laws that don’t seem to make sense? It turns out the process of making a laws isn’t always as logical as might think.

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42: In The Name Of The Father

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 13:00:00 -0000

The Scottsboro Boys are infamous — nine black teenagers falsely accused and convicted of raping two white women. Last year, the state of Alabama finally exonerated all nine. But what does a pardon mean 82 years after the fact? And what does forgiveness look like after so many years?

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41: Who Owns That Joke

Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:00:00 -0000

Comedian Carlos Mencia is notorious for stealing other comics’ jokes. But he’s never been sued—in fact, there are almost no lawsuits in comedy. On this episode of Life of the Law, what the law means to comics, and what they do when it can’t help them.

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40: Abuse, Abduction, and International Law

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 13:00:00 -0000

What happens when one parent takes a child across international borders without the other parent’s permission? In 1980, the United States and international partners created a treaty that lays out the rules for what federal officials are supposed to do in such cases. Judges are instructed to send children back to their home countries – with very few exceptions. Lawmakers imagined the treaty would usually help left-behind mothers, trying to get their children back from abductor-fathers. Today, more than a quarter of a century after the U.S. implemented the treaty, the standard profiles of abductor and left-behind-parent have shifted dramatically. The majority of the taking parents – the abductors – are women. And most of those women are victims of domestic violence, fleeing their abusers with their children.

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39: Two Sides of a River

Tue, 22 Jul 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Sometimes what’s considered as socially acceptable behavior can also be technically unlawful. Reporter Jason Albert follows one city as it grapples with how to enforce laws in a public park without unnecessarily restricting public use.

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38: One Reporter on California’s Death Row

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Over the past decade, the California Department of Corrections and

Rehabilitation has denied press access to all death rows in the state.

But on one day in June 2012, Nancy Mullane was given exclusive press access to all

three death row cells blocks and the prisoners serving death sentences.

Here is the story of that day. (Note: The California Department of

Corrections and Rehabilitation has said no other reporter will be

allowed on Death Row for the forseeable future.)

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37: Jailhouse Lawyers

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 13:00:00 -0000

In California, there are hundreds if not thousands of people practicing criminal law though they’ve never passed a bar exam. They don’t wear suits. They don’t have secretaries. And they can’t bill for their time. They’re called Jailhouse Lawyers. They’re inmates who pursue the equivalent of a lawyer’s education and who work as lawyers from within prison walls.

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36: Jury Nullification

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Though jurors are sworn to uphold the law during their deliberation, they still have the power to decide that a defendant is innocent even when all signs point to their guilt. Prosecutor Paul Butler traces the ways this hidden process was a boon for abolitionists in the 1800’s, and a curse to contemporary prosecutors arguing for a guilty verdict.

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35: Right to Beg

Tue, 10 Jun 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Standing in the empty parking lot of a Subway store in Springfield, Illinois, Don Norton unfolds a ragged cardboard poster and holds it just below his chest. The sign, which reads, ‘Please help any way you can,’ is so old it looks like it’s about to dissolve.

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34: The Necessity Defense

Tue, 20 May 2014 13:00:00 -0000

It’s odd to think cannibals, cannabis-growers, Vietnam War protesters, and prison escapees all have something in common. But they do: the necessity defense. We explore the origins and uses of this rare long-shot defense argument, which says in essence, “Yes, I’m guilty of committing a crime. But I had no choice.”

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33: The Hardest Time: Moms in Prison

Tue, 06 May 2014 05:00:00 -0000

Mother’s Day is the one day of the year we set aside to honor mothers. Some do it with flowers and cards. For women who are in prison and their children who are being raised by grandmothers, aunts or guardians on the outside, the day can be especially difficult.

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32: Privacy Issues

Tue, 22 Apr 2014 13:00:00 -0000

You’re driving your car down a street and as you pass, a camera takes a photo of your license plate. Who is taking the photo and what are they doing with the information? Reporter Cyrus Farivar has our story.

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31: People and Their Taxes

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 13:00:00 -0000

It’s April and that means two things: spring and tax time! The US tax system is really, really complicated. Every time you do your taxes, you’re answering to multiple jurisdictions –– and all their laws about what you owe for what, and why. We’re taking a look at how our tax system got so complicated and how our attitudes about taxes have changed over the years. We start with a story from Alisa Roth about a surprising group of taxpayers who live outside the law. Then we listen in as a group of scholars talk about how the tax system got so complicated, and how Americans ideas about citizenship and taxation have changed over the years.

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30: Trouble With Profiling

Tue, 25 Mar 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Is ‘looking Mexican’ a legal reason for the Border Patrol to stop a car? Federal law says agents have to have ‘reasonable suspicion’ that something illegal is happening. But what that means depends where you are, and whom you ask.

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29: Best of Live Law 3

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:00:00 -0000

What’s love got to do with the law? Then again, what’s the law got to do with falling in love? From coast to coast, Life of the Law occasionally takes to the stage with LIVE LAW to present true, first-person stories about how the law shapes and transforms lives.

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28: Bad Constitution

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:00:00 -0000

With more than 300,000 words and over 800 amendments, Alabama’s Constitution is 40 times longer than the US Constitution, and holds the record for being the longest active constitution in the world. Originally written in 1901 by men seeking to establish the law of white supremacy in the state, the constitution still requires racially segregated schools and outlaws interracial marriage, laws that have been nullified by the United States Supreme Court.

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27: Polyamorous Love

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Diana Adams believes the family law system is at least 20 years behind cultural changes. She helps non-traditional families—such as three people in love—find a simulacrum of the protection offered by legal marriage. But her real goal is to change our idea of what “marriage” can be.

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26: School Discipline

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 13:00:00 -0000

Thousands of kids are arrested in school every year. About a third of U.S. schools have a regular police presence on campus; some school districts even have their own police forces. As the number of law enforcement officers on campus has gone up, so, too, have the number of arrests, often for low-level misdemeanors. Life of the Law’s Alisa Roth investigates one student’s case, and examines the uncertain legal terrain police, teachers, administrators and students face in American high schools.

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25: Release Day

Wed, 15 Jan 2014 05:00:00 -0000

For eighteen years, California’s three strikes law leveled harsh penalties against repeat felons: anyone with two felony convictions received 25 years to life for committing a third felony. In 2012, Californians voted to change the three strikes law, allowing some of the prisoners sentenced under it to petition for release for time served. Curtis Penn is one of those prisoners. Life of the Law executive producer Nancy Mullane chronicles the day Curtis was released from prison.

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24: Best of 2013

Thu, 02 Jan 2014 13:00:00 -0000

This hour-long special hosted by Al Letson features three of Life of the Law’s best stories of 2013. Letson leads listeners through the virtual world of games and the law, into a conflict over social mores and the law, and through the unspoken rules and real laws of city life, block by block.

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23: Prison and Pregnancy

Tue, 17 Dec 2013 13:00:00 -0000

United States incarcerates six times as many women as it did thirty years ago. Many of these women are already mothers, and four percent of incarcerated women enter prison pregnant. What happens to the babies born in the correctional system? What happens to the children left behind, as their mothers serve out their sentences?

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22: A Criminal Debt

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 13:00:00 -0000

It’s not unusual at all to leave prison anywhere across the country owing fees, fines, or other costs to the local court. The city of Philadelphia alone is trying to collect some $1.5 billion in judicial debt owed back to days of the Nixon Administration. But should courts try to collect from a population, ex-inmates, who have 70 percent unemployment rate?

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21: Water Rights

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:00:00 -0000

When a serious drought hit just months after an Oregon court awarded senior water rights to the Klamath Tribes, the tribe made a ‘call’ for water. The call meant enough water in its rivers and streams to keep the Upper Klamath Lake full, protecting two species of fish that are important to the tribe. But it left area ranchers with no water at all.

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Freestyle Special

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 13:00:00 -0000

On this edition of Freestyle, Al Letson devotes the entire hour-long program to Life of the Law, presenting three podcasts: Shannon Heffernan of WBEZ reporting on "Jury Nullification", Michael May's PRX funded report on "Forensics in Flames" and Sean Cole on investigating attorneys who advertise on "Call Now!"

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20: Justices on the Move

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 13:00:00 -0000

It’s hard to imagine Supreme Court Justices working outside of Washington, D.C. But for the first half of our country’s history, they spent much of their time traveling as circuit court judges. And it may have made them better Supreme Court justices.

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19: Judging Steinbeck’s Lennie

Tue, 03 Sep 2013 13:00:00 -0000

In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute people with mental disabilities. But the Court left it up to individual states to define mentally disabled. After the Texas legislature failed to agree on a definition, a decision from the Court of Criminal Appeals became the de facto definition, a definition based in part on John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men.

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18: Forensics in Flames

Tue, 23 Jul 2013 13:00:00 -0000

Over the past 20 years, there’s been a revolution in the science of arson investigations. Many of the clues that had been used for decades to determine that a fire was not accidental, especially the analysis of burn patterns on walls and floors, have been proven to be false. Texas is one state that is re-examining arson convictions that may have been based on junk science.

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17: Redefining Rape

Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:00:00 -0000

Most of us have an idea of what the crime of rape is. But the legal meaning of the word rape varies widely, depending on which state you’re in. And in 25 states, what we may think of as rape…isn’t called that at all.

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16: Call Now!

Tue, 25 Jun 2013 05:00:00 -0000

When things go bad, all you need to do is pick up the phone and CALL. Or so the late-night ads on basic cable tell us. Since the US Supreme Court allowed lawyers to advertise in the 1970s, the practice has skyrocketed, with often shoddily-produced results. Are tacky lawyer ads bringing down the profession or simply making it more accessible to those who might not otherwise know an attorney?

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15: New Frontiers of Family Law

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:00:00 -0000

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14: An Architect’s Code

Tue, 28 May 2013 13:00:00 -0000

In its code of ethics, the American Institute of Architects requires members to “uphold human rights.” But what does that mean when it comes to prisons—specificially, those that confine inmates largely to their cells with little to do? Raphael Sperry is an architect in San Francisco and president of Architects, Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility. He wants his profession to refuse to design facilities for solitary confinement or execution.

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13: A Life on the Bench

Tue, 07 May 2013 13:00:00 -0000

What does it take to become a judge? No one starts their legal career as a jurist. First they work as a lawyer advocating for one side of a case over another. But transitioning from lawyer to judge means hearing both sides of a case objectively and then making decisions that carry the weight of the court. In a break from our usual feature format, this week Life of the Law’s Executive Producer, Nancy Mullane talks with James R. Lambden, an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal about living a life immersed in the law.

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12: Games and Law

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:00:00 -0000

Online, multi-player games create addictive, all-encompassing competitive worlds for players. But sometimes, players disturb the fantasy with abusive behavior. Through trial and error, game developers have found that “virtual judiciaries” can help solve problems in their virtual worlds, and the results have real-world consequences.

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Full Interview with Justin Helzer

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:00:00 -0000

Justin Helzer died Sunday night, April 14th. He committed suicide inside his cell on San Quentin’s Death Row (the cell in this photo). If you look closely you can see him sitting on his bunk, leaning against the door. Listen to his full interview with Nancy Mullane in this Life of the Law special.

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11: Without Means

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:00:00 -0000

More than 30,000 people died by guns in 2011 in the US. Of those, close to 20,000 died by suicide. Many still do not make a connection between gun availability and suicide rates, but a growing body of research suggests otherwise. What role do these “other” gun deaths play in our discussion of gun laws?

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10: Dibs!

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:00:00 -0000

After a big snowstorm, the streets of many northern cities start to get cluttered with furniture. Why? Because of “dibs,” the practice of claiming a shoveled-out parking spot. Some see it as a necessity, others as a dangerous nuisance, and still others as an expression of John Locke’s theory of property rights.

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9: Reporter on Death Row

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:00:00 -0000

What do we really know about death row in California? When we don’t know we create, we imagine.

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8: Redesigning Justice

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:00:00 -0000

Red Hook is an isolated neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, once known as the “crack capital of America.” In 2000, residents banded together to create a community justice center more responsive to the needs of the neighborhood. Can a more humane courthouse get better results?

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7: Felony Factory

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:00:00 -0000

You’ve just been arrested, charged with a felony and can’t afford to pay your bail, let alone hire a lawyer. You know you have the right to a trial by jury or judge, but what happens when the legal system is too busy to see you? Public defenders in Cook County, Illinois, struggle to fill the gap at one of the busiest court complexes in the nation.

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6: Block Boss

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:00:00 -0000

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5 : Tough Crowd

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:00:00 -0000

Is the law ever a laughing matter? We present to you a brief history of attempted comedy in the toughest room in the country—the Supreme Courtroom.

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Behind the Walls of the Most Restricted Cells

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:00:00 -0000

In California, there is one place where people considered to be the most dangerous inmates are incarcerated, it’s called the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison. Life of the Law Executive Producer, Nancy Mullane, pushes for access to this prison’s most restricted cells and to the people who are living inside them.

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4: Law in Translation

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:00:00 -0000

Vietnamese fishing communities are still finding themselves grounded by the BP oil spill, one of the largest environmental disasters of the century. These fishermen and women are without adequate interpretation services and legal representation and are having a hard time keeping afloat.