In chapters 25–29 of Judged, the child welfare system reveals its true mechanics. Foster children are subjected to relentless testing and layered diagnoses, while parents are handed case plans that require full compliance—and full-time availability. The result is a system that demands parents give up their jobs to prove fitness, quietly transforming “reunification” into an unattainable ideal rather than a genuine goal.

Judged is currently free on all platforms. This series uses the book as a springboard to talk about justice, race, family, and the systems that fail us—and the ones we fight to change.

About Politics of Justice: Politics of Justice is a long-form video series where I revisit my novels and unpack the personal history, legal realities, and systemic issues woven into the fiction. These conversations explore justice, race, family, power, and the cost of survival—on the page and in real life.

About Aime Austin: I’m Aime Austin, a legal thriller author and former trial lawyer. I write the Casey Cort and Nicole Long series, stories centered on women navigating broken systems and the moral complexity of justice. My work blends fiction, lived experience, and legal insight.

Find Me Online: Website: https://aimeaustin.com Substack: https://legalthrillerauthor.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legalthrillerauthor/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@legalthrillerauthor TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@legalthrillerauthor Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/aime-austin Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/legalthrillerauthor

Listen & Subscribe: This series is also available in video form on YouTube.The Politics of Justice

In this episode of Politics of Justice, I revisit Chapters 17–24 of Judged, where the focus shifts away from courtroom drama and into the quieter mechanics of power. These chapters trace Sheila Harrison Grant’s internal calculations as she manages appearances, alliances, and expectations within a tightly knit political ecosystem—one where nothing looks overtly corrupt, but very little is accidental.

We see how Sheila understands the system not as an abstract ideal, but as a set of levers: relationships to maintain, favors to remember, risks to anticipate. Her authority rests as much on perception and restraint as on formal rules, and the narrative lingers in her private justifications rather than her public actions.

In counterpoint, Casey Cort continues to operate on the margins of that same system, increasingly aware of how local politics shapes outcomes long before cases reach any formal decision point. The contrast isn’t between right and wrong, but between visibility and insulation—between those who absorb consequences and those who never have to explain themselves.

In the video, I talk about why these chapters matter, how Sheila’s self-concept as a “clean” actor sustains her power, and how local politics—more than ideology or law—quietly determines whose careers advance and whose stall.

Judged is currently free on all platforms. This series uses the book as a springboard to talk about justice, race, family, and the systems that fail us—and the ones we fight to change.

About Politics of Justice: Politics of Justice is a long-form video series where I revisit my novels and unpack the personal history, legal realities, and systemic issues woven into the fiction. These conversations explore justice, race, family, power, and the cost of survival—on the page and in real life.

About Aime Austin: I’m Aime Austin, a legal thriller author and former trial lawyer. I write the Casey Cort and Nicole Long series, stories centered on women navigating broken systems and the moral complexity of justice. My work blends fiction, lived experience, and legal insight.

Find Me Online: Website: https://aimeaustin.com Substack: https://legalthrillerauthor.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legalthrillerauthor/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@legalthrillerauthor TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@legalthrillerauthor Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/aime-austin Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/legalthrillerauthor

Listen & Subscribe: This series is also available in video form on YouTube.The Politics of Justice

It’s Caitlyn O’Leary! I think she’ll be my fourth SEAL author! Today, we finally find out what makes SEALs so arresting! This episode is sponsored by Audible. (Click my link for many great offers from Audible.) My recent audiobooks: Julie Chan is Dead, and Beautiful Ugly.

Let’s chat. I have *so* many questions.

You can find Caitlyn: Website/Blog: caitlynoleary.com Instagram: @caitlynoleary_author Facebook: @CaitlynOLearyAuthor FB Group: Caitlyn O’Leary’s Crew