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.
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Grand juries are a handy tool for prosecutors, providing a ready pretext for any potentially controversial decision to bring charges or, as is often the case with police accused of crimes, not bring charges. Do grand jury proceedings serve any purpose, or are they just theater? Dave explains on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence.
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Dave previews some of the big cases coming before the U.S. Supreme Court this session -- first with Kevin Gavin on 90.5 WESA's "The Confluence," then continuing with extra podcast-only analysis of cases not covered in the segment.
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"Systemic racism" refers to systems that produce racially disparate outcomes regardless of the individual motivations, values, or personal qualities of the people working within them. The criminal justice system doesn't require individual police officers, lawyers or judges to hold racist views in order to structurally uphold white supremacy. But -- as the case of suspended Pennsylvania judge Mark Tranquilli vividly illustrates -- plenty of them do anyway.
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Pittsburgh has been named America’s most livable city many times over by magazines and ratings guides. And it is pretty great. At least, for people like me. What is it like for African American residents? And why are their experiences with our police so different than mine?
Our guest is the Reverend Dr. John Welch, former Vice President and Dean of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He tells us what it’s like to be in a thriving American city, as a black man, especially with regard to policing.
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Dave appears on WESA's The Confluence to discuss the case of a Pennsylvania judge disciplined for racist comments.
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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.
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Kicking off the promotional tour for his new book, A City Divided, Dave spoke to a packed house at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library Lecture Hall on January 14. Criminal Injustice members can hear the full program, courtesy of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures.
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Four Pittsburgh teens, accused of a crime they did not commit, spent months in jail despite having an ironclad alibi. What happened? Dave discusses the case on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence.
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Dave explains how prosecutors use "drug delivery resulting in death" charges in opioid overdose deaths on WESA's The Confluence.
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The Justice Department has announced it will seek the death penalty in the case against Robert Bowers, the white supremacist gunman who murdered worshippers in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue last year. Dave discusses the decision on Pittsburgh NPR station WESA.
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As we wrap up season 6 and pause for a quick summer break, some exciting news: Criminal Injustice returns in July as part of the Pittsburgh-based Postindustrial Media network. It's the first of several big changes you'll be hearing in the months ahead, and producer Josh Raulerson is in studio to help unpack the agenda.
We leave you with Dave's May 8 appearance on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence, discussing a recent federal court ruling on the right of prisoners to receive treatment for opioid addiction.
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The City of Pittsburgh made national news by passing gun control legislation that's all but certain to trigger lawsuits under a state law that bars municipalities from regulating firearm ownership locally. Will it hold up in court?
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Michael Rosfeld, the former East Pittsburgh police officer seen on video shooting 17-year-old Antwon Rose in the back as he runs away, has been found not guilty of the unarmed teen's murder. While Friday's verdict angered many and surprised some, it's only the latest in a long string of cases demonstrating the near-impossibility, under current statute and case law, of successfully prosecuting police officers for homicide.
At the start of a new year, producer Josh Raulerson joins David for a recap of 2018's biggest criminal justice stories and a look at what may be in store for 2019.
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The shooter in the Tree of Life synagogue murders pleads not guilty. David shares analysis on 90.5 WESA's The Confluence.
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Criminal Injustice is made in Pittsburgh, and Saturday's massacre hit us close to home in more ways than one. It's time to be very clear about what we mean by "free speech," and about what kinds of speech can never be accepted in a free society.
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In a rare moment of sanity, Pennsylvania lawmakers from both parties agree: revoking the driver's licenses of people convicted on non-driving-related charges doesn't help anybody.
What are pattern-or-practice consent decrees? Trisha wants to know more about how they're being applied in her home city of Baltimore and other cities.
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When a group of people is given great power to watch over the rest of us, how do we make sure they use that power correctly?
Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review Board was created in 1997 to do just that. Its investigators weigh in on individual complaints and issue findings independent of city leadership and department administrators.
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