50 Episodes and 20+ Authors
Labor Day seems like a fitting time to celebrate a milestone for one of my own labors of love… Just Justice just released its 50th episode!
When I started the podcast, I wanted a place to have conversations about the things I care deeply about but that I don’t believe are spoken about nearly enough. Our overzealous systems of punishment. Our broken criminal legal system. What real accountability looks like. What redemption, mercy, and second chances mean in practice. Over the past four seasons, I’ve talked with people who have spent decades in prison, crime survivors, public defenders, lawyers, scholars, advocates, policymakers, and people working in all kinds of ways to make our criminal legal system better and more fair.
And, as I looked back over those 50 episodes, I realized something else.
I’ve spoken with a LOT of book authors.
This is not entirely surprising. If you know me, you know I love a good book. I’m always reading, all kinds of books, across all kinds of genres. I love talking about books. Getting book recommendations. Swapping books. I’ve even written a couple.
So I guess it makes sense that more than 20 of the 50 folks who have been on my show are also book authors. Each showcasing their own labor of love. Some of the authors below came on Just Justice specifically because I wanted to talk about their books. Others came on because of their work, research, advocacy, or lived experience, and they have also just happened to have written a book or two, too.
The books themselves cover an incredible amount of ground: parole, clemency, life sentences, restorative justice, public defense, forgiveness, criminalized survival, incarceration, abolition, motherhood, and second chances. Some are well-researched works of scholarship or journalism. Others are intensely personal accounts written by people who lived through the criminal legal and prison systems.
And the author list is about to get longer.
Later this month, I’ll be talking with Elizabeth Vartkessian, founder of Advancing Real Change and author of The Deserving, about mitigation, punishment, and the stories we tell about who deserves mercy.
I’ll also be talking with Jennifer Sellitti, the Public Defender of New Jersey and author of The Adriatic Affair, about public defense, holistic representation, second chances — and, yes, her rather unusual second life exploring shipwrecks.
But today, fifty episodes in, I’m incredibly grateful to all of the guests who have trusted me with their stories and ideas — authors and non-authors alike — and to everyone who has listened, watched, shared an episode, or told someone else about the show. If you haven’t yet, please leave a rating and a review. It matters more than you can imagine.
Want to browse the back catalog? You can find all of the Just Justice episodes and links to listen at:
https://jessicahenryjustice.com/just-justice-podcast/
Below is the list of the Just Justice episodes featuring authors. It’s a pretty amazing list, and I’m honored to have had the opportunity to share their work.
Season One
Bobby Bostic: author of multiple books that he wrote while serving 29 years of a 241-year prison sentence; he has continued writing since coming home. S1E3: “Sentenced to 241 Years in Prison at Age 16 for Robbery.”
Ben Austen: author of Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change and High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing. S1E5: “Author Ben Austen Talks Parole, Innocence, and ‘Buck Rogers’ Prison Time.”
Susan Bandes: editor of The Passions of Law, the groundbreaking anthology on emotion and the law, and other book-length work on law and emotion. S1E7: “Judging Remorse in Criminal Sentencing, Susan Bandes, Law and Emotions.”
Kim Wehle: author of Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works—and Why, along with books on the Constitution, voting, and presidential power. Season One Bonus: “Live from Watchung Booksellers, a Conversation with Law Professor Kim Wehle on the President’s Pardon Power.”
Kristen Discola: author of Redefining Murder, Transforming Emotion: An Exploration of Forgiveness after Loss Due to Homicide. S1E10: “Forgiveness After Murder, with Dr. Kristen Discola.”
Season Two
Rachel Barkow: author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration and Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration. S2E2: “Unpacking the Pardon Process with Law Professor and National Clemency Expert Rachel Barkow.”
Danielle Sered: author of Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair. S2E6: “Restorative Justice: A Smart Alternative to Prison.”
Ashley Nellis: co-author, with Marc Mauer, of The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences. S2E7: “A Matter of Life, with Dr. Ashley Nellis, Sentencing Scholar.”
Ruth Greenberg: one of those people I interviewed for reasons that had nothing to do with books. The Massachusetts attorney known as the “Mama of Medical Parole” is also the author of Be Your Own Detective. S2E8: “Meet Ruth Greenberg, the Massachusetts Mama of Medical Parole.”
Season Three
Amanda Carrasco: author of Becoming the Brave One, a memoir about abuse, homicide, healing, and restorative justice. S3E1: “What if Justice Meant Healing Instead of Punishment?”
David Carrillo: author of Kiko: From Life Without Parole to Life with Purpose. S3E5: “Meet David Carrillo, the First Incarcerated College Professor in the United States.”
Emile Suotonye DeWeaver: author of Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future. S3E9: “Writing His Way Out: Emile Suotonye DeWeaver on Abolition and Imagination.”
April Barber-Scales: author of several books, including her memoir Fenced In: Fighting for Freedom. S3E10: “Sentenced to Life Without Parole as a Child.”
Felix Rosado: author of Justice from the Inside Up: A Restorative Justice Education Facilitator’s Manual. S3E11: “Death by Incarceration: Felix Rosado on Life Sentences and Restorative Justice.”
Nikki Mammano: author of Breaking Good, her memoir about addiction, crime, prison, recovery, and second chances. S3E12: “Breaking Good, with Author Nikki Mammano.”
Season Four
Damon “Sharuka” Venable: author of A Beautiful Pain, his memoir about the decades he spent in prison and the transformation that took place there. S4E1: “A Beautiful Pain: Accountability and Transformation with Damon ‘Sharuka’ Venable.”
Justine van der Leun: author of Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival. S4E4: “Criminalized Survival: Justine van der Leun on Abuse, Imprisonment, and Unreasonable Women.”
Courtney Teasley: author of the Disrupt the CJ-SOO: The Easy Way to Learn Your Rights legal-literacy books. S4E5: “Attorney Courtney Teasley on Legal Literacy and Championing Justice.”
Dawn Jackson: author of From Incarceration to Advocacy: A Life Reclaimed. S4E6: “When Survival Is Punished: Dawn Jackson’s Journey from Prison to Clemency.”
Valena Beety: author of Pink Crime: Fighting the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity. S4E7: “Pink Crime: Criminalizing Motherhood, Abortion, Pregnancy and Queer Identity.”
Emily Galvin Almanza: author of The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America and the new middle-grade novel Andromeda Diaz and the Reasonable Doubt. S4E8: “The Price of Mercy, with Emily Galvin Almanza on Public Defense, Justice, and Andromeda Diaz.”
I’ll be back later in September with more justice news in focus.
Until then, happy listening… and happy reading!