As listeners know, Dave has a great day job: teaching law school. On this special episode we’ll meet some of his law students from the University of Pittsburgh, learning what drew them to the law, and what’s on their minds.

Leaving incarceration, and returning to life outside of prison. It’s a difficult process, and many end up back behind bars. What does it take to make it work? What more can be done to support those coming home? We hear it directly from two men who have done it. Mr. F. and Mr. R. (identities withheld) describe their steps into the free world after each served decades in prison.

On this episode, Wesley Caines, an alum of the program and now Chief of Staff at Bronx Defenders, and Lynn Novick, award-winning documentary filmmaker, discuss College Behind Bars, premiering Nov. 25 and 26 on PBS.

More than two million Americans are incarcerated in prisons and jails. These are often violent, difficult, and unhealthy places. But if prison is dangerous, how much more so – is Death Row? And how does a person live, knowing the only way out is death by execution?

Every year, courts hand out sentences of life without the possibility of parole to people convicted of serious crimes.  Our guest today was one of those people, and he’ll tell us what that was like – and, with his sentence commuted, what his life is like on the outside, after 43 years. 

In the US, we incarcerate our fellow citizens at the highest rate in the world. And once they are in prison, we give the incarcerated not another thought. But one program works to help improve our imprisoned population, by teaching them college courses inside – along with college students, from the outside.

Killings of unarmed black people by police have worsened historically troubled police-community relations. Until recently, little research existed that might help explain this or improve the situation. Social psychologists have created work that helps us understand why things go wrong in policing, what role race plays, and how we can do better.

James Comey wasn’t the nation’s embattled former FBI Director in 2002; he was the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan. It was around then that he gave a speech to a group of fellow attorneys -- men and women with impeccable courtroom records. He had a few... harsh words.

The Trump administration has promised a return to "tough on crime" criminal justice policies, including a recent memo that instructs federal prosecutors to reverse Obama era reforms meant to curb mandatory minimum sentences.

The Serial podcast, and its host Sarah Koenig, pulled off two amazing feats. Serial broke podcasting open: it was the first podcast to see 5 million downloads and now has well over 80 million. But it also pointed the lens of a full, in-depth journalistic examination on just one murder case.