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Your Call

What will it take to truly reform the criminal justice system?

Photo by Sam Beebe
Federal Correctional Institution Sheridan

  On this edition of Your Call, we’ll discuss progress and next steps in criminal justice reform.

The First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, was signed into law at the end of the year. It eases some minimum sentencing requirements including the “three strikes” rule. What is this changing for incarcerated people, and what else is needed to fix our criminal justice system, which costs $182 billion a year?

Guests:

Jessica Jackson, attorney representing death row inmates and co-founder of #Cut50

Topeka Sam, founder and executive director of The Ladies of Hope Ministries and co-founder of Hope House NYC

Molly Gill, vice president of policy for Families Against Mandatory Minimums

Web Resources:

Vox: The First Step Act, Congress’s criminal justice reform bill, explained

The Hill: The FIRST STEP Act will bring real justice to thousands of incarcerated women

USA Today: Matthew Charles, forced to return to prison after judge ordered his release, will get out

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.