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PODCAST

Chicago Justice Podcast

The Chicago Justice Podcast challenges the stories we"re told about crime, public safety, and justice. Instead of accepting headlines, political talking points, or conventional wisdom at face value, we dig deeper to uncover what the data, research, and lived experiences actually reveal.Each episode features candid conversations with journalists, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and people working to transform the justice system from within. Together, we examine the policies, institutions, and

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All Episodes

33:57

Weaponizing Crime Data: Jeff Asher on Facts vs. Fear

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/10/05

Send us Fan Mail Crime is falling in cities across America—so why does the public conversation sound like the opposite? Crime analyst Jeff Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics and host of The Jeff-alytics Podcast, joins us to unpack how crime data is being misused, misread, and weaponized. Social media, misinformation, and rising partisanship have turned crime statistics into political ammunition. When leaders deny data that challenges their views and exploit single violent incidents for politi...

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27:23

Blacked Out: The Montgomery County Traffic Stop Cover-Up

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/09/28

Send us Fan Mail A stop for a missed turn signal and a dim license plate light should have been routine. Instead, it ended in an arrest on charges that don't hold up, and then in a fight over records that officials won't release. This week, Emmy Award-winning KPRC 2 journalist Jaewon Jung joins us to break down a traffic stop earlier this year in Montgomery County, Texas, and what happened after the video became public. Jung requested the deputy's personnel file and the sheriff's office's tra...

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31:01

When Justice Isn't Enough: Louisiana's Fight Over...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/09/21

Send us Fan Mail Under Louisiana law, people who were wrongfully convicted and served years, even decades, in state prison are entitled to compensation through the Louisiana Innocence Compensation Fund. It's a simple principle: when the state gets it wrong, the state owes something to the people it wronged. But in practice, that compensation has been anything but guaranteed. In this episode, we're joined by investigative journalist Richard Webster of Verite News, a member of the ProPublica Lo...

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50:44

Gendered Police Violence: The Crimes the Media Won't...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/09/14

Send us Fan Mail Police shootings make headlines. Police officers sexually abusing children and adults rarely do. This week we sit down with Rachel LaPointe, a social worker turned independent investigator, who tracks gendered police violence across the country: officers caught paying minors for sex, school resource officers abusing students on duty, and departments that quietly rehire known offenders after six-figure settlements. We dig into why prosecutors almost never hold these officers a...

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28:11

Beyond Curfews: DC Councilmember Zachary Parker on...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/09/07

Send us Fan Mail DC Councilmember Zachary Parker (Ward 5) joins us to unpack one of the most misunderstood issues in local politics today: youth gatherings and the media and political rhetoric that surround them. We ask a question many officials avoid: should cities respond with more policing and curfews, or invest in the root causes driving young people to gather in the first place? Councilmember Parker makes the case for the latter. He walks us through his work partnering with DC's Departme...

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53:03

The Conviction Integrity Unit Under Eileen O'Neill...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/08/31

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Chicago Justice Podcast, we sit down with Injustice Watch Senior Reporter Dan Hinkel to examine the changing role of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) under State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke. Cook County has recorded more exonerations than any county in the United States, a reflection of decades of police misconduct, coerced confessions, official corruption, and other systemic failures that have led to approximately...

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32:17

Turner’s Outdoorsman, Crime Guns, and What the Data...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/08/24

New reporting from The Trace has shed light on an important question in the gun violence prevention space: Why are firearms sold by certain retailers showing up in criminal investigations at disproportionately high rates?In this week’s episode, we take a deep dive into data connecting California-based firearm retailer Turner’s Outdoorsman to a higher-than-expected number of guns later recovered as crime guns. According to reporting by The Trace, firearms sold by the

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58:31

The Right to Know Under Threat? California’s AB 1821...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/08/17

California’s public records law is designed to give residents access to government information, but proposed changes to Assembly Bill 1821 (AB 1821) could significantly reshape how that access works in practice.In this episode, we sit down with Sean McMorris, Transparency, Ethics & Accountability Program Manager at California Common Cause, to discuss the ongoing debate surrounding AB 1821 and what it could mean for government transparency, public oversight, and the public’s right

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34:25

The NYPD’s Secretive Community Response Team:...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/08/10

What happens when a police unit operates outside traditional oversight and is staffed by officers with troubling disciplinary histories?In this episode, we take a deep dive into the New York Police Department’s Community Response Team (CRT), a controversial unit that has drawn scrutiny for its aggressive tactics, alleged constitutional violations, and lack of accountability. We examine reporting that raises serious questions about the unit’s operations, including allegations that CRT

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37:19

Who Is Being Watched? The Geography of ALPR Surveillance

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/08/04

More than 100,000 Automated License Plate Reader cameras are now operating across the United States, feeding data into networks shared by thousands of police departments and federal agencies. But where are these cameras located, and who is most affected by this growing surveillance infrastructure?In this episode, we speak with Professor Steven Keener of Christopher Newport University, first author of the recent study “Surveillance Inequality: Race, Poverty, and the Geography of Automated

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1:08:57

When Official Stories Collapse: The Brandon Webster...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/07/04

What really happened on New Year’s Day 2019 when North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers shot and killed Brandon Webster?For years, the official account of the shooting was accepted by law enforcement leaders, government officials, and the media. But behind the scenes, an internal investigation uncovered evidence showing that the trooper’s version of events could not have happened as reported. Despite those findings, both the Highway Patrol’s internal review and an investigation by the

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50:55

Beyond Qualified Immunity: How Police Avoid...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/06/06

In this episode, we sit down with Joanna C. Schwartz, UCLA law professor and author of Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable, to unpack the hidden systems that protect police from consequences.We go beyond the headlines about qualified immunity to explore what really blocks accountability: Why most police misconduct lawsuits fail before trial How courts, police departments, and legal rules work together to “shield” officers The surprising truth about who actually pays when lawsuits

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44:05

Because I Got Raided: Afroman, Police Power, and a...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/05/22

This week, we break down the controversial 2022 raid of Grammy-nominated rapper Afroman’s home by Adams County Sheriff’s deputies and the legal fallout that followed. Acting on claims from a confidential informant alleging kidnapped women, a “sex dungeon,” and large quantities of marijuana, officers executed a warrant that ultimately uncovered none of it. In fact, there wasn’t even a basement.Joining us is Afroman’s attorney, Dr. David Osborne, who walks us through the critical legal questions at

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5:06

Crime, Fear, and Power: Why We’re Taking a National...

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2026/04/29

How politics, media, and institutions distort crime narratives across AmericaFear has become the dominant framework for how Americans understand crime—and it is often deliberately manufactured. In this episode of the Chicago Justice Podcast, host Tracy Siska, Executive Director of the Chicago Justice Project, introduces a new national focus for the show. We examine how crime and violence are exploited by political leaders, media outlets, justice system officials, and police unions to shape public

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48:35

What does the science say about ShotSpotter?

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2024/07/31

In a first-of-its-kind independent analysis of the effectiveness of ShotSpotter, the science says the technology does not lead to more arrests and convictions for gun crimes and does not reduce these crimes in the areas where it is deployed. The study examined the impact of ShotSpotter in Chicago and Kansas City.To understand the science more deeply, we sat down with the study's first author, Dr. Eric Piza, who is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Director of Crime Analysis

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40:22

Time to Remove Guns from People Suspected of DV?

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2024/07/10

We open season four with a discussion of Karina’s bill, which hopes to formalize a process for the courts & police departments throughout Illinois to seize guns from individuals who have an order of protection entered against them.Our guest today is Danielle Parisi Ruffatto, Managing Director of the Family Law and Protective Orders Division at Ascend Justice. We discuss the horrific murder of Karina Gonzales & her daughter Daniela Alvarez at the hands of Karina’s husband, Jose Alvarez, who had

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52:18

Trying to Erase History is Purposeful

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2023/11/15

On today’s show, we discuss the connection between racialized policing in the US and the efforts by the right-wing to erase slavery from America’s history. We discuss this with Joseph Flynn, the Executive Director for Equity and Inclusion in the Division of Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at Northern Illinois University.The efforts to rewrite American history are an attempt to prevent Americans from realizing the connection

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34:31

ACLU on CPD Traffic Stop Lawsuit

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2023/08/09

On today's episode, we feature an interview with Alexandra Block from the ACLU of Illinois about their lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department's highly questionable traffic stop practices. The ACLU alleges that the CPD pulls people over exclusively to search them and their care for drugs and guns. According to their statistics, the CPD's rate of finding guns, drugs, or cause to arrest the person they have pulled over is about 1%. In 2020 the Cook County State's Attorney's Office documented

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41:44

Mismanagement & Abuse at JTDC

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2023/06/28

Today's episode discusses the long history of abuse and mismanagement at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) with Injustice Watch reporters Kelly Garcia and Carlos Ballesteros. The JTDC has long been a dumping ground for clouted workers in Cook County government who were too incompetent for any other job in the county. This, combined with a seeming refusal of half of those running the facility to see their role as anything less than jailers, has led to a point where over

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35:21

CPD Doesn’t Take Lying Seriously

Chicago Justice Podcast ·

2023/06/21

Despite promises to the contrary by the Chicago Police Department and the agencies that make up the police accountability system in Chicago, lying while undertaking your official duties as an officer isn't taken all that seriously. The CPD's rule 14 bars any officer from knowingly submitting a written or oral false report. In other words, they are not supposed to lie. A recent report issued by the Chicago Inspector General's office details how the CPD and the police accountability system are

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146 results

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