Episode 29: Jasmine Tyler (Human Rights Watch) -Criminal Justice Policy in the Age of Trump

On today’s episode of Speak Out With Tim Wise, Tim speaks with Jasmine Tyler, of Human Rights Watch, about criminal justice policy in the age of Trump and under the watch of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. They’ll explore the administration’s threats to states that have legalized recreational marijuana and their call for the death penalty for drug dealers, and what it could mean to re-invigorate the failed and racially-disparate war on drugs. Tyler and Wise will also examine the ongoing racial disparities in street-level drug arrests, even in states that have legalized weed dispensaries, and the importance of linking decriminalization efforts to racial justice work. Finally, they’ll discuss the problem with drug courts, as well as using “risk assessment algorithms” to predict future offending—often offered as an alternative to financially oppressive money bail, but which threatens to replicate all the racial and economic inequities of the existing system.Also on the episode, Tim offers an analysis of the good, the bad, and the ugly in terms of racial (in)equity since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., 50 years ago this Wednesday.