Bad Faith Episode 501 Promo - The Prison-Industrial Complex Comes to DC (w/ Alec Karakatsanis & Bianca Tylek)
Aug 18, 2025
Alec Karakatsanis, a civil rights lawyer and author of *Copaganda*, teams up with Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises and expert on the prison industry. They dive into the private prison lobby’s role in escalating authoritarianism and the crackdown on immigrants. The discussion reveals how crime narratives influence political action in D.C., misinformation shapes public perception, and how political polarization affects our view of state power. A thought-provoking conversation on the intersection of crime and politics!
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Media Panic Overrides Local Democracy
- Media-driven crime panics can override local democratic decisions and normalize harsher policies.
- Longer prison sentences do not reduce crime yet are used to justify federal intervention and political theater.
Carjacking Penalty Was Mostly Symbolic
- Alec explains the origin and context of the carjacking penalty change in D.C. as largely symbolic and historically rooted.
- He points out the term 'carjacking' was popularized during earlier crime panics in the 1990s.
Federal Override Validates Far-Right Narratives
- Federal actors used a minor local code change to justify overruling Washington, D.C.'s democratic process.
- That intervention validated far-right narratives and was celebrated by hardcore opponents of local autonomy.
