The Disrupted team is welcoming the new year by choosing a couple of the episodes we loved from 2024. We have so many favorites that we couldn't reair all of them, but these are some of the ones that we wanted to listen back to. This week, producer Kevin Chang Barnum chose our interview with James Forman Jr.

The United States imprisons more people than any other country in the world.

And Black people bear the burdens of mass incarceration the most. In 2019, Connecticut was one of seven states where Black people were incarcerated at overnine times the rate of white people. That’s according to an analysis done by The Sentencing Project.

These problems aren't new, but they also aren't going away. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Yale law professor James Forman Jr. hopes the new book he co-edited, Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change, will inspire readers to work towards change. It talks about finding solutions at every level of what he calls "the criminal system," from policing to prisons to courts.

GUEST:


James Forman Jr.: J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale University. His book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. He recently co-edited Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change.

You can learn more about the prison system in the U.S. by listening to Disrupted's interview with Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Special thanks to intern Frankie Devevo.

This episode originally aired on October 25, 2024. 

The Disrupted team is welcoming the new year by choosing a couple of the episodes we loved from 2024. We have so many favorites that we couldn't reair all of them, but these are some of the ones that we wanted to listen back to. This week, producer Kevin Chang Barnum chose our interview with James Forman Jr.
The United States imprisons <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All">more people</a> than any other country in the world.
And Black people bear the burdens of mass incarceration the most. In 2019, Connecticut was one of seven states where Black people were incarcerated at over nine times the rate of white people. That&rsquo;s according to an <a href="https://www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2022/08/The-Color-of-Justice-Racial-and-Ethnic-Disparity-in-State-Prisons.pdf">analysis</a> done by The Sentencing Project.
These problems aren't new, but they also aren't going away. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Yale law professor <a href="https://www.jamesformanjr.com/">James Forman Jr.</a> hopes the new book he co-edited, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374614492/dismantlingmassincarceration">Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change</a>, will inspire readers to work towards change. It talks about finding solutions at every level of what he calls "the criminal system," from policing to prisons to courts.
GUEST:
<ul>
<li>
James Forman Jr.: J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale University. His book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374537449/lockingupourown">Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America</a> won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. He recently co-edited <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374614492/dismantlingmassincarceration">Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change</a>. 
</li>
</ul>
You can learn more about the prison system in the U.S. by listening to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted/2024-12-06/the-power-of-books-in-prison-with-poet-reginald-dwayne-betts">Disrupted's interview with Reginald Dwayne Betts</a>.
Special thanks to intern Frankie Devevo.
This episode originally aired on October 25, 2024.&nbsp;

Disrupted is about the changes we all encounter and the forces driving those changes. Some disruptions spark joy and possibility. Others move us to take action and re-evaluate our world. But the show isn't just about those disruptions; it’s about embracing them, exploring new perspectives, and feeling more connected to ourselves and our communities. Host and political scientist Khalilah Brown-Dean creates a place where changemakers come together to help us see the world differently and challenge us to grow together.

Visit ctpublic.org/disrupted for more! 

Disrupted is about the changes we all encounter and the forces driving those changes. Some disruptions spark joy and possibility. Others move us to take action and re-evaluate our world. But the show isn't just about those disruptions; it’s about embracing them, exploring new perspectives, and feeling more connected to ourselves and our communities. Host and political scientist Khalilah Brown-Dean creates a place where changemakers come together to help us see the world differently and challenge us to grow together.
Visit <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/disrupted">ctpublic.org/disrupted</a> for more!

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