Lara Bazelon — Parents, Children, and Systemic Racism

Above you’ll find my conversation with University of San Francisco law professor Lara Bazelon. She specializes in criminal law and has won exoneration for wrongfully convicted incarcerated people. We discuss systemic racism in the criminal justice system and debate the pros and cons of various reform efforts. We go into the details of Yutico Briley’s wrongful conviction case in which Lara and her sister Emily were involved (you can read Emily’s piece about it here). Then we shift gears and discuss the challenges of writing fiction. We talk about Lara’s absorbing new novel A Good Mother and my memoir-in-progress. These are pretty deep waters, as we reflect on how our writing has forced us to confront some hard questions about our roles as professionals and parents.

As always, I’m interested in your thoughts! Let me know in the comments!

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0:00 How Glenn and Lara each approach systemic racism

6:46 Lara: The Yutico Briley case exposes the roots of systemic racism

17:32 Trying to understand the equities and inequities of crime and punishment

28:20 The differing perspectives on justice involved in the Briley case

34:44 Are progressive criminal justice policies having an impact?

46:16 Lara's new novel, A Good Mother

54:37 Glenn and Lara's experiences of parenthood

1:01:08 Why Glenn really left Harvard's economics department

1:05:16 Glenn's rocky road as a father

Links

Bari Weiss’ forum on systemic racism

Glenn’s book, Race, Incarceration, and American Values

Glenn’s “intellectual obituary” of James Q. Wilson

Lara’s novel, A Good Mother

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