Cruel and Unusual: A Podcast on Punishment

In the first part of our interview with philosophy professor and fellow podcaster Tamler Sommers , we discuss the link between free will and deserving punishment. The episode can be found here...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2016/01/free-will-and-just-deserts-w-tamler.html

In the second part of our interview with Professor Thane Rosenbaum , we discuss his (and my) favorite films, books, and music about revenge. The episode can be found here , or if you haven't i...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/10/revenge-culture-w-thane-rosenbaum.html

In this interview with Professor Thane Rosenbaum , we discuss why revenge is a good thing and how our criminal justice system has failed to recognize this. The episode can be found here , or i...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/09/celebrating-payback-w-thane-rosenbaum.html

In this wide-ranging interview with capital punishment expert Austin Sarat , we discuss the new abolitionist movement's arguments against the death penalty as well as Professor Sarat's own study...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-death-of-death-penalty-w-austin.html

Do you find the idea of a pig on trial for murder or locusts punished for trespass ridiculous? If so (and I hope you do), than the history of medieval animal trials will likely intrigue, disturb...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2013/05/animal-trials-and-punishments-w-katie.html

Few acts have inspired more creative, repressive, and downright disturbing punishments than s-e-x. Author Eric Berkowitz joins us for a discussion on the long history of punishing sex, and how r...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2013/03/sex-and-punishment-w-eric-berkowitz.html

Shon Hopwood spent over a decade in federal prison for a series of bank robberies. While incarcerated, Hopwood became the most successful jailhouse lawyer in recent American history, writing two...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2013/02/from-jailhouse-lawyer-to-law-student-w.html

Shon Hopwood spent over a decade in federal prison for a series of bank robberies. While incarcerated, Hopwood became the most successful jailhouse lawyer in recent American history, writing tw...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2013/01/from-bank-robber-to-jailhouse-lawyer.html

Prison is as American as apple pie. And unlike apple pie, the modern prison system actually began in the United States.  Today's guest, Professor Michael Meranze , not only discusses the origin...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-american-origins-of-prison-w.html

Few things occupy a more terrifying place in the modern mindset than medieval prisons. According to Professor Guy Geltner , however, this historical conception is far from the truth. While medie...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/10/from-dungeons-to-medieval-prisons-w-guy.html

The title says it all. According to today's guest, former police officer Peter Moskos , the convicted should have a choice of whether to serve prison time or undergo a brutal caning.  You ...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-defense-of-flogging-w-peter-moskos.html

In our second episode on alternatives to incarceration we sit down with Professor Edward Latessa  and discuss everything from the ever controversial halfway houses to the ever absurd bootcamp...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/08/community-corrections-w-edward-latessa.html

Given American prisons' overcrowding and expense, judges have increasingly looked for alternatives to incarceration. Probation, or releasing convicts in lieu of serving prison time, has proven...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/08/probation-and-parole-w-megan-sacks.html

In our final episode on mass incarceration in the United States, we speak to Jonathan Simon , among the most influential sociologists currently breathing. According to Professor Simon, all three...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-politicization-of-punishment-w.html

The United States, despite its plummeting crime rate, continues to imprison people en masse. According to today's guest, the nation's incarceratory zeal constitutes a literal epidemic, comparabl...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/08/mass-incarceration-w-ernest-drucker.html

The United States is the only industrialized Western nation that executes its own citizens. Why is this? Is this a good or a bad thing? In today's episode we explore these questions with Profess...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-death-penalty-w-david-garland.html

American criminal justice has long concerned itself with finding the most dangerous criminals and separating them from society. The problem with this, according to today's guest , is determining...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/07/selective-incapacitation-w-kate-auerhahn.html

In the past few years, the idea of restorative justice has gained traction as an alternative theory of punishment. This simple idea involves having offenders and victims meet face to face, and t...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/07/restorative-justice-w-kim-cook.html

In the second part of our two-part series on Hell, we discuss the different views of what Hell is like. According to Protestant Pastor Edward Fudge , the Bible points in a single direction. Whet...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/07/what-hell-is-like-w-edward-fudge.html

In today's episode we tackle the ultimate punishment of all, none other than Hell. Hell scholar Alan Bernstein discusses how the concept of eternal punishment has varied and evolved throughout...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/07/hells-origins-w-alan-bernstein.html

While the public supports rehabilitating criminal offenders, the State isn't so keen on it. Charlie Sullivan, co-founder of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), has done more th...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/06/rehabilitation-w-charlie-sullivan.html

How can we deter people from committing crimes? According to Professor David Kennedy, rather than waiting to incarcerate offenders, we should actually sit them down and discuss the consequences ...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/06/deterrence-w-david-kennedy.html

In our second interview with Jeffrey Deskovic , a man imprisoned 16 years for a rape and murder that he did not commit, we go over Jeffrey's exoneration, his struggles for compensation, and the ...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/06/exonerated-w-jeffrey-deskovic.html

At the age of sixteen Jeffrey Mark Deskovic  was falsely convicted of the rape and murder of a fellow classmate. In this interview, Jeffrey discusses his arrest, trial, and sixteen year impriso...

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/06/life-in-prison-w-jeffrey-deskovic.html

This podcast explores why and how people are punished in the United States and throughout the world, ranging from criminal punishment to disciplining children. Each episode features a fifteen minute interview with a punisher (e.g., a judge or parent), someone punished (e.g., convicts or children), or those who study punishment (e.g., academics). So listen up...or be punished.

http://punishmentpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/05/episode-ii-retribution-with-jeffrie-g.html