A new Brennan Center report reveals that intimidation aimed at state and local officials is distressingly common: For example, 43 percent of state legislators have experienced threats within the past three years.

These threats have serious repercussions for representative democracy. Officeholders report being less willing to work on contentious issues like reproductive rights and gun control and more reluctant to continue serving. Additionally, intimidation is often targeted at groups already underrepresented in government, such as women and people of color.

Listen to a recording of our virtual discussion of this alarming trend, as well as recommendations to stem the abuse from our expert panel:

Anna Eskamani, State Representative, Florida House of Representatives

Gowri Ramachandran, Deputy Director, Brennan Center Elections and Government Program

Tom Roberts, Former Assemblymember, Nevada State Assembly

Moderator: Deirdre Walsh, Congressional Correspondent, NPR

With remarks from Letitia James, Attorney General, New York State

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Check out Brennan Center’s new report here: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/intimidation-state-and-local-officeholders

You can keep up with the Brennan Center’s work by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, The Briefing: https://go.brennancenter.org/briefing

Most of the more than 1 million Americans in prison — disproportionately low-income people of color — will return to their communities after serving long sentences with few resources and little support. Recidivism rates remain stubbornly high. The criminal justice system, then, fails to produce public safety even as core values such as equality, fairness, and proportionality have fallen by the wayside.

The new book Excessive Punishment: How the Justice System Creates Mass Incarceration, edited by the Brennan Center’s Lauren-Brooke Eisen, features essays from scholars, practitioners, activists, writers who experienced incarceration, and others. The contributors explore the social costs of excessive punishment and how to ensure public safety without perpetuating the harms of mass incarceration.

Listen to the recording of our virtual panel from earlier this month with contributors to the book:

Jeremy Travis, Senior Fellow at Columbia Justice Lab

Nkechi Taifa, President of the Taifa Group

Khalil Cumberbatch, Senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice and co-CEO of Edovo

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Find out more about the book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/excessive-punishment-how-the-justice-system-creates-mass-incarceration-lauren-brooke-eisen/20877826?ean=9780231212168

Keep up with the Brennan Center’s work by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, The Briefing: https://go.brennancenter.org/briefing

Misdemeanors, not violent offenses, dominate criminal justice. A decade of reforms has shrunk the sprawling misdemeanor system, but the prosecution of shoplifting, traffic violations, and other lesser offenses remains a burden on vulnerable communities and law enforcement resources even as public concern over physical and social disorder in public spaces spurs calls for renewed enforcement.

A new Brennan Center report zooms in on New York City as a case study for how misdemeanor enforcement has changed in recent years, offering insights into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and reform initiatives like the decriminalization of low-level drug possession. But even as overall caseloads have declined, stark racial disparities persist.

Listen to the recording of our virtual panel from earlier this month, “Misdemeanors by the Numbers.” Bria Gillum, senior program officer at the MacArthur Foundation Criminal Justice Program, and Michigan County Sheriff Jerry Clayton join Brennan Center Senior Research Fellow Josephine Hahn in a discussion moderated by the Brennan Center’s Rosemary Nidiry.

If you enjoy this program, please give us a boost by liking, subscribing, and sharing with your friends. If you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, please give a 5 star rating.

You can check out the Brennan Center’s report Misdemeanor Enforcement Trends in New York City, 2016–2022 here: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/misdemeanor-enforcement-trends-new-york-city-2016-2022

You can keep up with the Brennan Center’s work by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, The Briefing: https://go.brennancenter.org/briefing