Episode 31: Dr. Margaret Vandiver & John Ashworth

Dr. Margaret Vandiver is a retired professor of criminal justice at the University of Memphis and a strong supporter of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. She has studied state and collective violence, ranging from the use of the death penalty in America to contemporary instances of genocide. She is the author of Lethal Punishment: Lynchings and Legal Executions in the South and also volunteers with the Lynching Sites Project here in Memphis. John Ashworth is the executive director for the Memphis Lynching Sites Project, and also joined us for this episode. John spent several decades in the military and the airline industry before taking the lead in this important work. We discussed some of the critical issues facing our criminal justice system today and why it’s important to have a space to discuss the past.