The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/qa/)
When drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman was convicted last month, many people scored it as a major victory in America’s drug war. But in a conversation with TCR about his new book, Jack Riley, the DEA agent who helped bring Guzman to justice, said the country still hasn’t learned the real lessons of the struggle with opioid cartels and their enablers.
U.S. public opinion is shifting towards an acceptance of stricter gun regulations, according to Igor Volsky, founder of Guns Down America and author of a new book on the issue. In a conversation with TCR, Volsky offers a blueprint for taking advantage of the shift to go beyond what he calls merely “incremental” reforms.
American policing has drifted disturbingly far from the liberal values that gird our democracy, warns Luke William Hunt, a justice professor and a former FBI agent. In a conversation with TCR, he discusses his new book, which offers a blueprint for getting us back to our roots.
Why is the U.S. almost alone among Western democracies in condemning people to life sentences? Ashley Nellis, co-author with Marc Mauer of a new book calling for an end to the practice, tells TCR why it’s time for us to change our hardline approach to punishment.
Every day, in the corridors of most U.S. courts, defense attorneys and prosecutors quietly negotiate plea deals in a system of “underground justice” that often shortchanges defendants. In a conversation with TCR about his new book, Texas scholar William Kelly offers an alternative.
In the last few years, the sophisticated connections enabled by cyber technology have emboldened criminals from all corners of world. TCR talks with Louise Shelley, whose new book explores how the illicit economy threatens our future.
Belton “Money Rock” Platt, a young, flamboyant drug dealer in Charlotte, N.C., spent 20 years in prison before emerging to become a minister. In a new book, journalist Pam Kelley places his life story in the context of generations of southern racism, and in a chat with TCR she explains why such stories remain painfully relevant today.
A journalist whose brother was sent to prison for murder recounts the long-term impact on his family and community in “My Brother Moochie.” In a conversation with TCR about his book, Issac Bailey explains how the experience informed his own perspective about race and incarceration in the American South.
There’s a largely ignored territory in the justice system populated by poor, often minority, individuals whose lives have been stunted by perennial run-ins with the law over petty crimes and misdemeanors. Yale law professor Issa Kohler-Hausmann calls it “Misdemeanorland,” and she explores its consequences in a conversation with TCR about her new book of the same name.
A new book examines the arrest data produced by police stops in North Carolina, and finds the public safety benefit was minimal. In a conversation with The Crime Report, co-author Frank Baumgartner says it should make police departments across the US reevaluate a practice that is often considered racial profiling.