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The Appeal

Episode 38: Privacy and Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs

Apr 25, 2019

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) have exploded in popularity. In 2000, thirteen states used PDMPs; today, they exist in every state and Washington, D.C. These programs are ostensibly designed to respond to the opioid crisis by monitoring prescribed drugs and preventing abuse and doctor shopping. But...

Episode 37: The Baltimore Police Department's Troubled Homicide Unit

Apr 18, 2019

A recent lawsuit accused the Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit of a long pattern of questionable police work. Our guest, Appeal contributor Amelia McDonell-Parry, joins us today to discuss the case of Jerome L. Johnson, a man just released from prison after serving 30 years for a 1988 murder he didn't...

Episode 36: The Long, Troubled History of Gravity Knife Prosecution

Apr 11, 2019

For decades, the New York Police Department has arrested people, the vast majority people of color, for carrying so-called gravity knives, meant to open with a flick of the wrist. The problem is, it's not always clear what is and isn’t a gravity knife, and many workers use knives on the job. Our guest,...

Episode 35: The Risks of Risk Assessment

Apr 4, 2019

As more and more states seek to abandon cash bail, a system widely seen as unjust and discriminatory, a question has emerged: What should replace it? Increasingly, the answer involves some sort of “risk assessment”––tools designed to predict an arrestee’s likelihood of fleeing prosecution or committing another...