Just Justice

Just Justice

A podcast about crime, justice, and second chances.

Episodes

September 30, 2025 35 mins
When former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer refused to recommend a pardon for actor Mel Gibson, the Trump administration fired her just three hours later. Now, Liz is telling her story. Liz has become a leading voice for justice, transparency, and integrity in the criminal legal system. On this episode of Just Justice, we dive into the politics of federal pardons under the Trump administration, and talk about what it takes to stand u...
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Law professor Aliza Kaplan joins Just Justice to share the human side of “second-chance lawyering." Aliza details the chllanging legal work that happens after a conviction, where post-conviction advocacy, parole, clemency, and re-sentencing can truly change lives. Aliza traces her journey from co-founding the New England Innocence Project to helping reshape criminal justice policy in Oregon, and shares stories of people who came ho...

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On this episode of Just Justice, Amanda Carrasco, author of the new memoir Becoming the Brave One, shares how her experiences with sexual abuse and homicide shaped her path toward healing, and how restorative justice became a powerful framework for accountability, resilience, and hope. This conversation highlights the strength it takes to tell your story and the possibilities of justice rooted in repair rather than prison.

To lea...

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At just 15 years old, Andrew Hundley was sentenced to life without parole. Nearly two decades later, he became the first juvenile lifer in Louisiana released after the Supreme Court ruled such sentences unconstitutional. In this powerful episode of Just Justice, Andrew shares his extraordinary journey from incarceration to non-profit leader. Now the co-founder and executive director of the Louisiana Parole Project, Andrew is helpin...
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Ever wonder what mass incarceration really costs us—not just in terms of dollars, but in lost opportunities, strained families, and long-term economic impact? Spoiler: it’s a lot more than you think. In this episode, I sit down with Zoë Towns, Executive Director of FWD.us, to unpack the eye-opening findings from their report We Can’t Afford It: Mass Incarceration and the Family Tax. We break down the staggering financial burden of ...
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Michael Pinard has devoted his entire career to advocating for children and fighting against the racial biases that often accompany their mistreatment in our legal systems. A former public defender turned law professor, Michael's work focuses on the intersection between race and the civil, criminal and juvenile justice systems. Michael is the faculty director of the Gibson-Banks Center for Race and the Law and director of the Clini...
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Phillip Alvin Jones is incarcerated in a Washington prison, where he is serving two life sentences plus twenty years for a crime he committed many years ago in Maryland. Although he has been in prison for over thirty years, he has used his time to be an agent of change, both inside and outside the walls. Phillip hosts the podcast, The Wall: Behind and Beyond, and runs his own company, Phillip A. Jones, LLC., which seeks to transfor...
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S1EP21 Bryan Widenhouse: Advocate, Artist and JLWOP Survivor  

Bryan Widenhouse received a life without parole sentence when he was only 17 years old. During his 31 year incarceration, some of which was spent at the notorious Angola prison, Bryan chose to serve others as a path toward accountability and redemption. When a change in law allowed...

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Ruth Greenberg has been called the Massachusetts mama of medical parole. As a trail blazer and a defense lawyer, Ruth has devoted her extensive career to fighting on behalf of the poor and the incarcerated. On this episode of Just Justice, Ruth tells us about her leading role in the push for compassionate release in Massachusetts, and shares stories about the successful fight against life without parole for people under the age of ...

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This week on Just Justice, we’re taking a hard look at life sentences in America—a country where one in six incarcerated people is serving life behind bars. That’s nearly 200,000 individuals, making the U.S. one of the most punitive nations in the world. Host Jessica Henry sits down with Dr. Ashley Nellis, a leading sentencing expert and soon-to-be Assistant Professor at American University’s School of Public Affairs. Together, we ...
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Danielle Sered is the founder and director of Common Justice, the first alternatives-to-incarceration and victim-service program in the United States.  Danielle is also a violent crime survivor and author of the award-winning book, Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair. In this episode of Just Justice, Danielle talks about the power of restorative justice to help survivors heal from violent crime, what...
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What happens to people in prison who face terminal illnesses? Or develop dementia? Or who are just very old? Must they die alone in prison? Or should they be released to spend their final days at home? How do we make that happen? In this episode of Just Justice, Mary Price, General Counsel of FAMM, walks us through the complex and often cruel world of compassionate release. FAMM has led the fight for better and more effective compa...
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Eve Hanan wrote a law review article called Terror and Tenderness in Criminal Law that blew my mind. She makes the argument that opportunities for leniency in the criminal legal system -- parole, clemency, compassionate release -- seduce us into believing the system is just and merciful, when in reality, the system is far too harsh for far too many. She even takes on the idea of hope and suggests that hope is a distraction from the...

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This week on Just Justice we talk with Marissa Bluestine, Assistant Director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Marissa is a former innocence lawyer and one of the nation's leading experts on Conviction Integrity Units (CIUs). CIUs are specialized units within prosecutor offices that review convictions with strong claims of actual innocence. Marissa gui...

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This week on Just Justice we peel back the curtain on the inner workings of the federal clemency process with law professor Rachel Barkow, a nationally-recognized expert in the field. Professor Barkow walks us through the stunningly complex and inefficient pardon application process, rates  Presidents Obama, Biden and first-term Trump in their pardon efforts, and speculates about what we might expect from a second-term Trump admin...
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February 4, 2025 48 mins
Kelly Savage-Rodriguez defines survivor. She survived years of abuse as a child and later extreme domestic violence in her marriage. She survived being criminally prosecuted and convicted in 1998, along with her abusive husband, for the murder of her son -- a crime she did not commit or intend. She survived years in a California prison under a life without parole sentence, transforming her pain into powerful choices. And she surviv...
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Steve Zeidman is a criminal defense hero who has spent his entire career fighting for people with nowhere else to turn. In this episode, Steve walks us through some of his most compelling efforts to gain freedom for people who would otherwise spend their lives in prison. Steve's zealous advocacy for second chances will leave you inspired by his work and horrified by a criminal legal system that seems to prioritize finality over hum...

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One night, in November 1994, Dina Windle was coming from law school in Little Rock, Arkansas when she was abducted and raped. The man who assaulted her was sentenced to die for a different rape and murder. In this episode of Just Justice, Dina shares the story of her assault, the trial and its aftermath, and how she came to be an advocate for the man who caused her such harm. Small in stature, huge in heart and compassion, Dina Win...

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Have you ever wondered about forgiveness after a murder? How do surviving family members forgive the person who murdered their loved ones? Who gives forgiveness? Who gets it? What makes one person forgive and another not? Join me in conversation with Dr. Kristen Discola, author of Redefining Murder, Transforming Emotion: An Exploration of Forgiveness after Loss Due to Homicide, as we discuss the science...

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Alex Bailey, Senior Campaign Strategist for the Sentencing Project, led the push for passage of the Oklahoma Survivors Act of 2024, a ground-breaking law that allows people convicted of serious crimes a chance to show that domestic violence or sexual abuse contributed to their actions. Alex is a master story-teller, who vividly shares the experiences of incarcerated survivors who inspired the creation of this law. Along the way, Al...
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