Episode S4 | E5

Beyond Mass Incarceration: How Best to Reform American Criminal Justice?

Air Date: Jul 03, 2019

About this episode

 

*Filmed at the Eastern State Penitentiary in front of a live audience

Violent crime rates in the United States are unchanged since 1970. The percentage of Americans incarcerated for crime, however, has skyrocketed, with the United States now dubiously leading the world in both the percentage of our people and absolute numbers of people behind bars. Today there seems to be a growing bipartisan consensus that mass incarceration has not reduced crime but has instead exacerbated social and economic conditions making it extremely difficult for people who have come under the authority of the criminal justice system to ever live law-abiding and productive lives. What are the best alternatives to incarceration? How can the United States reform its criminal justice system in ways beneficial to the full diversity of our people?

About the guests

Mark Holden

Senior VP, general counsel & corporate secretary, Koch Industries, Inc.

Mark Holden serves as senior vice president of Koch Industries, Inc., Chairman of the Board of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, Inc., Chairman of the Board of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and is a long-time advocate for criminal justice reform. He has worked with the various Koch companies on a variety of litigation, regulatory,...

Jeffrey Brown

President & CEO, Brown’s Superstores Inc.,; Founder, UpLift Solutions

Jeffrey Brown is President and CEO of Brown’s Super Stores and founder of UpLift Solutions. With a steadfast dedication to social issues and community interests and over 20 years of experience in the for-profit supermarket sphere, he has opened and oversees operations in ten ShopRite stores throughout the Philadelphia area, many of which are...

Paul Butler

Albert Brick Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Paul Butler is one of the nation’s most frequently consulted scholars on issues of race and criminal justice, with his scholarship having been published in many leading scholarly journals and frequently in popular media. He is the Albert Brick Professor of Law at Georgetown University and regularly lectures for the American Bar Association and the...

Robert Listenbee

First Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office

Robert Listenbee, Esq. currently serves as First Assistant District Attorney at the Philadelphia Office of the District Attorney, where he works at local, state, and national levels on juvenile and criminal justice issues. Previously, he has served as the Stoneleigh Visiting Fellow and Director of Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Initiatives at...