I’ve been working to launch the #FocusOnTheState series on my YouTube channel since the top of the year. The silver lining of a pandemic forcing people to stay at home, meant that confirming interviews has much been easier than in the past and I’m elated to finally roll this series out!
In the first episode I sat down with Josie Duffy Rice, whose work on prosecutorial accountability and criminal justice has linked the tentacles of the American criminal justice system to the vast apparatuses of American government and public policy that oppress Black, Brown and poor communities across housing, education and voting rights. President of The Appeal, a publication that cover criminal justice within the Justice Collaborative, Josie offers a wide breadth of insight on what it means to defund the police, why that call is necessary and how it is still not enough in moving towards a more peaceful and equitable society.
This series was made possible via my patrons on Patreon, who support my commitment to producing content that provides a socio-political education.
Timestamps/Questions Covered in Interview
- 01:36 – Title Card
- 02:08 – Intro of Josie Duffy Rice & her work.
- 04:25 – Thoughts on the celebrity of civil suit lawyers.
- 09:01 – Why is the public information civil suit lawyers share different from that of criminal lawyers?
- 11:08 – How voter suppression case is connected to the Ahmaud Arbery case?
- 16:36 – How to ensure politicians are criminal justice reformers?
- 21:16 – The influence of the Dukakis/Horton story and has that been over blown?
- 27:33 – What does it mean to defund the police?
- 43:12 – The difference between defunding vs. abolishing the police.
- 46:22 – Is defunding or abolishing the police enough? What other systems should we consider?
- 49:47 – What is the importance of judges and how we discuss police “reform”
- 01:02:25 – The prevalence of prosecutors in our political playing field?
- 01:07:36 Thank you, closeout + support via Patreon.
