In February, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announced that he would continue the moratorium on executions started by his predecessor, Tom Wolf. Shapiro also went a step further than Wolf, calling on the legislature to repeal the death penalty in its entirety. Marc Bookman is the executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, a former attorney in the homicide unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and the author of A Descending Spiral: Exposing the Death Penalty in 12 Essays. In this conversation, Marc explains just how dysfunctional capital punishment is i ..read more

Libraries are a critical institution for supporting the freedom to read and freedom of thought. In the United States, libraries have been terribly underfunded for years, and now they’re being targeted by extremist activists for fulfilling their fundamental mission - to promote access to ideas. Library Freedom Project is challenging that and working to maintain the library’s place in our democratic society. In this episode, we hear from Alison Macrina, director of Library Freedom Project, which works to protect “information democracy.” Resources Library Freedom Project: https://libraryfreedom.o ..read more

It's 4/20! What was once a day of counter-cultural actions has gone mainstream. But we recognize it, nonetheless, especially since there are still big issues to tackle in cannabis policy, including the fact that upwards of 20,000 people are arrested per year for marijuana possession in Pennsylvania, disproportionately Black Pennsylvanians. In this episode, we hear from Brian Brown, a cartoonist based in Philadelphia and the creator of the comic strip Legalization Nation, which is a syndicated documentary comic that delves into news stories related to cannabis. In our conversation, Brian talks ..read more

People serving extreme prison sentences or who may be out of prison but find their lives complicated and harmed by a past conviction can seek relief through clemency, the process in which a sentence is commuted or a conviction is pardoned. It's a long process that involves approval from both the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons and the governor. In this episode, we learn more about why people seek clemency, what they have to do to get it, and how the intersection of the immigration and criminal legal systems can have a devastating impact on immigrants and their families. To explain this, we hear ..read more

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its own precedents and ruled that access to abortion is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution, five justices did something that the Supreme Court has rarely done - rolled back an existing guarantee of liberty. In this emergency episode of Speaking Freely, we hear from ACLU-PA Deputy Legal Director Sara Rose and Senior Policy Advocate Julie Zaebst. Sara and Julie have been part of our team that has been responding to the Dobbs decision. In this conversation, we specifically discuss the impacts of the court’s ruling in Pennsylvania - on patients and pr ..read more

Episode 74 is part two of our discussion about cash bail. In this episode, we hear from Alex Domingos of ACLU-PA and the Dauphin County Bail Fund and Michelle Batt of the Lancaster Bail Fund. Alex and Michelle explain what a bail fund is and what role it plays in the work to end pretrial detention. As an activist in Lancaster County, Michelle also explains the impact that ACLU-PA’s lawsuit against the county over its cash bail practices has had and how grassroots advocates have been arguing for the same reforms for over a year. Dauphin County Bail Fund: https://dauphincountybailfund.org/ Lanca ..read more

There are many public policies that have fed mass incarceration in Pennsylvania and in this country, from extreme sentencing to overpolicing to duplicate offenses that criminalize a single act. One of those policy choices is the commonwealth’s overuse of cash bail. On any given day, there are more than 30,000 people in Pennsylvania’s county jails. A majority of them have been accused but not convicted of a crime. And many of them are only in jail because they’ve been ordered to post cash bail but don’t have the money to pay it. On this episode, we hear from ACLU-PA's Jessica Li, our criminal j ..read more

Happy 4/20 to all who celebrate! Since February, committees in the state Senate have held several hearings on ending prohibition and legalizing recreational cannabis, as bipartisan support for the idea slowly builds in the state legislature. So what does legalization look like? On this episode, we hear from Alison Holcomb, political director of the ACLU of Washington and campaign director of New Approach Washington, the 2012 effort to win voters' approval of a ballot initiative to legalize recreational cannabis. In this conversation, Alison explains the benefits of ending prohibition, how Wash ..read more

Students around the state returned to full-time, in-person this school year, and their return revealed yet again the need for supports that help them succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. Unfortunately, in this environment, some schools continue to rely on police to handle routine discipline. In this episode, ACLU-PA Community Advocate Ghadah Makoshi explains the programming that benefits students and prevents conflicts from occurring in the first place, the policy choices that schools are making, and who is most likely to be impacted by police presence in schools. Ghadah also discu ..read more

In theory, a probation sentence in the criminal legal system should be an alternative to incarceration. The problem? In practice, it feeds mass incarceration, with restrictive rules that set people up for failure. In this episode, we hear from Dolly Prabhu, staff attorney for Abolitionist Law Center, and Kate Parker and Byron Cotter from the Defender Association of Philadelphia. Dolly, Kate, and Byron explain how probation functions, why it's flawed, and what kind of reform is needed of Pennsylvania's probation system. (Hint: It's not in the legislation currently being debated at the PA Genera ..read more