The Vera Institute of Justice’s Neil A. Weiner Research Speaker Series featured Saul Kassin, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Professor Kassin’s research focuses on the remarkable phenomenon of false confessions in criminal investigations—which are far more common than one might expect. In this podcast, Professor Kassin discusses the etiology, characteristics, and consequences of innocent people accepting responsibility for criminal acts they did not commit.
What If Disaster Strikes Here?
Jared Bozydaj is an incarcerated writer and activist. He is the co-founder of Products of Our Environment, a collaborative of scholars and artists working on issues of environmental justice and incarceration across the prison wall, which is supported by the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities. Adam Roberts, a founding member of the Attica Wri ...
Although the FCC has curbed the cost of phone calls in jails and prisons, telecom companies have found new ways to raise prices for incarcerated people.
In July, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limited the rates that prison telecommunications companies can charge for phone and video calling services in prisons and jails. Historically, those rates have been exorbitant—a 15-minute phone call could cost more than $12—making it incredibly difficult for incarcerated people to communicate wi ...
Sixty-eight people have died in LA County jails since the start of 2023.
How are people dying? Los Angeles County has not yet publicly issued causes of death for everyone who has died in county jails in recent months. However, even once autopsy reports are finalized, they don’t tell the whole story: when the coroner rules that a death is the result of “natural causes,” jail conditions can still be to blame. Researchers ...
