2014

S1.E1 ∙ False Confessions

Sat, May 17, 2014

Jeffrey Deskovic was exonerated after 16 years in prison and being coerced to give a false confession. Kirstin Lobato still fights to clear her name.

0 /10

S1.E2 ∙ Mandatory Sentencing

Sat, May 24, 2014

In Florida, a man is serving 20 years behind bars for firing a warning shot. In Chicago, gun laws aren't strict enough.

0 /10

S1.E3 ∙ Flawed Forensics

Sat, May 31, 2014

Faulty evidence procedures within the FBI in the 1990s are still affecting thousands of cases today. The lives of two men hang in the balance.

0 /10

S1.E4 ∙ Eyewitness Identification

Sat, Jun 07, 2014

In Dallas, Christopher Scott spent years in prison because of an eyewitness failure. In New Orleans, George Toca claims the same happened to him.

0 /10

S1.E5 ∙ Parole: High Risks, High Rewards

Sat, Jun 14, 2014

In Massachusetts, aftermath from a senseless cop-killing led Governor Deval Patrick to clean house at the state's parole board. In Connecticut, a Cheshire home invasion that resulted in the slaying of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters by two parolees led to the revamping of its entire system.

0 /10

S1.E6 ∙ Juvenile Justice

Sat, Jun 21, 2014

In this episode we take a look at the issue of juvenile sentencing, and consider two compelling cases in Michigan that raise the question of whether children convicted of murder should be subjected to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A battle is now waging to decide how to sentence juvenile killers, and what to do with the more than 360 juvenile lifers already sentenced to die in the state's prisons.

0 /10

S1.E7 ∙ Geography of Punishment

Sat, Jun 28, 2014

Crime rates of previous decades continue to have a large impact on how the criminal justice system functions today. Proactive policing strategies such as "drug-free zone" laws and "stop-and frisk" were implemented with the best of intentions, but critics say they are not working, and are in fact causing more hardship - for the community and the state's taxpayers - filling up prisons and infringing on civil rights. What can be done to repair the public's trust in the system?

0 /10

S1.E8 ∙ Prosecutorial Misconduct

Sat, Jul 05, 2014

The sixth amendment to the US Constitution guarantees every American the right to a speedy and public trial before an impartial jury, and the right to a defense attorney. What the sixth amendment doesn't lay out are rules for law enforcement and prosecution. What happens when these officials face intense pressure to close cases and get convictions in a time of rampant violent crime? What systems are in place to make sure these guardians of justice aren't cutting corners, railroading suspects through a criminal justice system that's set up to heavily favor the "good guys?"

0 /10