Broadcasting long form interviews since 1996, Chicago-based This Is Hell! regularly produces “in-depth conversations about the forces that drive politics, and gallows humor about a world with more questions than answers.”
With a common interest in progressive ideals, social discourse, and societal change, This Is Hell! acts as a frequent platform for UC Press authors to share their research and bring their ideas to as wide an audience as possible.
Recently, This Is Hell! hosted two authors of recently published UC Press criminology titles: Andrea S. Boyles, author of You Can’t Stop the Revolution: Community Disorder and Social Ties in Post-Ferguson America, and Christine S. Scott-Hayward, author of Punishing Poverty: How Bail and Pretrial Detention Fuel Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System.
This Is Hell! Episode 1082: Five years after Ferguson
“The very sight of militarization immediately snatches the bottom out of the possibility for community policing, or an officer-friendly relationship. What it suggests is that in a blink of an eye, we can go from an idea that we can work together, to suddenly there are tanks and rifles on the ground… How do you build community with the same people who, within one encounter can easily transition into full deal militarization – with you standing on the other end, appearing to be an enemy combatant?”
This Is Hell! Episode 1088: The price of cash bail
“People who are detained pending their trial are more likely to plead guilty rather than going to trial, they’re also more likely to plead guilty earlier, and if they do plead guilty they’re more likely to be sentenced to incarceration, and if they receive incarceration sentence, they tend to be sentenced to a longer term. If you reduce the number of people who are detained, chances are you’re going to see fewer guilty pleas, fewer convictions and thus fewer sentences.”
