Will Coronavirus Change Criminal Justice?

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2020

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The coronavirus pandemic has seriously impacted the criminal justice system—as prisons experience severe outbreaks, states release nonviolent offenders, trials experience delays, and some jurisdictions halt arrests for misdemeanors to keep jail populations down. On this episode, criminal justice experts Emily Bazelon and Paul Cassell weigh in on those and other changes affecting criminal justice systems around the country, and potential long-term impacts. They also explain defendants’ rights under the Constitution as well as victims’ rights, and detail some recent lawsuits filed, both on behalf of prisoners arguing that being detained in the midst of a pandemic violates the Eighth Amendment’s protection from cruel and unusual punishment claims, and by victims requesting notification of perpetrators’ release. Bazelon is the author of Charged: The Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration and Cassell is a former federal judge who now specializes in victims’ rights and is a law professor at the University of Utah. They join host Jeffrey Rosen. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome
0:07.4	to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:11.2	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress
0:16.0	to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.
0:21.0	The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically impacted many aspects of American life
0:26.9	including the criminal justice system. Prisons have experienced serious
0:31.6	outbreaks. Some states have experienced serious outbreaks.
0:32.5	Some states have released nonviolent offenders,
0:35.5	and some trials have been delayed.
0:37.5	On today's episode, we'll explore
0:40.0	the constitutional and legal dimensions of challenges to the criminal justice system in light of the coronavirus crisis.
0:49.0	I'm joined by two of America's leading experts on criminal justice and the Constitution.
0:55.0	Paul Cassell is the Ronald N. Boyce, presidential professor of criminal law and
0:59.6	university distinguished professor of law at the University of Utah.
1:03.5	Professor Gisell was a U.S. District judge for the District of Utah from 2002 to 2007,
1:09.3	and he's argued cases relating to crime victims' rights
1:12.6	before the US Supreme Courts and many courts
1:15.0	around the country.
1:16.4	Paul, thank you so much for joining.
1:18.6	It's great to be here, Jeff.
1:20.0	And Emily Bazalon is a staff writer
1:22.3	at the New York Times magazine and the Truman Capote fellow for creative writing in law at Yale Law School.
	...

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