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Charged: A True Punishment Story
The Making of Charged
Season 2, Ep. 1
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In this first bonus episode of Charged, host Emily Bazelon talks to producers Veralyn Williams and Alvin Melathe. Williams worked with Bazelon in the early stages of the podcast, and then Melathe took over a few months in. They discuss what it’s like being producers of color, and the racial nuances of making a podcast about crime and punishment in New York.
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Introducing... Charged: A True Punishment Story
03:06||Season 2, Ep. 0For two and a half years, Emily Bazelon has been following people through a special court in New York designed to be a speedy machine for the harsh punishment of illegal gun possession. Along the way, a strange thing happened—the politics outside the courtroom started to change when a new generation of activists and insiders began challenging the old system the gun court was part of.Season 1 of Slate Presents brought you the story of Ruby Ridge, and Season 2 brings you a fight to transform one big-city justice system.1. Born In Brooklyn
28:07||Season 2, Ep. 1The mayor of New York deals with a big political problem by creating a new court in Brooklyn. Two men, born 25 years and a few blocks apart in Brooklyn, take entirely different paths to meet at that court—one as a defendant and the other as the district attorney.Join Slate Plus to unlock all seasons of Slate Presents, including Charged—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/podcastplus for access wherever you listen.2. Criminogenic
32:28||Season 2, Ep. 2As his family and friends hustle to come up with his bail money, Tarari ends up at one of the most infamous jails in the country: Rikers Island. Eric runs for his own term as district attorney just as the demands to close Rikers heat up.Join Slate Plus to unlock all seasons of Slate Presents, including Charged—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/podcastplus for access wherever you listen.3. The Ghost of Tyrone Howard
06:45||Season 2, Ep. 3Tarari faces a very long prison sentence before he’s offered the chance at mercy — with many strings attached. An episode from Eric’s past comes back to haunt him as he campaigns for D.A. and thinks through the consequences of extending mercy to people like Tarari.Join Slate Plus to unlock all seasons of Slate Presents, including Charged—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/podcastplus for access wherever you listen.4. The Escape Hatch
09:33||Season 2, Ep. 4Tarari enters a diversion program which saves him from jail but puts his life — and the lives of other defendants like him — on a knife’s edge. We hear from social workers who run the program about the many ethical quandaries of trying to help their clients inside of a system built to punish them.Join Slate Plus to unlock all seasons of Slate Presents, including Charged—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/podcastplus for access wherever you listen.5. The Long Tail
10:16||Season 2, Ep. 5A standalone episode about one of the voices featured in our series who is introduced to listeners as an expert but who goes through his own harrowing experience with the system when he’s sent to Rikers a few days shy of completing his parole. We document his ordeal and its surprising aftermath.Additional music for this episode by Lee Rosevere.Join Slate Plus to unlock all seasons of Slate Presents, including Charged—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/podcastplus for access wherever you listen.6. The Other Side
11:38||Season 2, Ep. 6We check in with Tarari and others as they complete their time in the diversion program and look toward their futures. We hear from the people inside the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office about their plans to reshape their slice of the criminal justice system.Join Slate Plus to unlock all seasons of Slate Presents, including Charged—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/podcastplus for access wherever you listen.
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10:33|In the 11th season of Slow Burn, host Susan Matthews traces the rise of Neil Gorsuch, from his formative years as a young conservative through his nomination to a “stolen seat” on the U.S. Supreme Court. Through interviews, legal analysis, and archival research, this mild-mannered Westerner emerges as the court’s most unpredictable—and most important—sitting justice.