There seems to be more space – and less overlap – between conservatives and liberals on every topic these days, but justice transformation may be an exception. Is there some common ground, even common underlying values, that the different sides could come together around? Join us for a conversation with Marc Levin, Chief Policy Counsel at the Council on Criminal Justice, and founder of the Texas Right on Crime initiative, on finding middle ground on topics such as incarceration’s impact on fundamental rights, the role of restorative justice, and perhaps even agreement on shifting some current police responsibilities to other entities.
Podcast Transcript Available Here
Guest Biography
An attorney and accomplished author, Marc Levin serves as Chief Policy Counsel to the Council on Criminal Justice, a membership organization that provides a center of gravity in the field for objective analyses of research and policies. He began the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s criminal justice program in 2005 and in 2010 developed the concept for its Right on Crime initiative. In 2014, Levin was named one of the “Politico 50” in the magazine’s annual “list of thinkers, doers, and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.” Levin has authored numerous book chapters, policy papers, and articles on criminal justice policy and serves on the National Association of Drug Court Professionals Board of Directors, Aspen Institute Criminal Justice Reform Initiative Advisory Council, and the Urban Rural Action Board of Advisors.
He has testified on criminal justice policy on four occasions before Congress and before numerous state legislatures. Levin graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government and received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. Levin served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.
About Shades of Freedom
Shades of Freedom, from The Aspen Institute Criminal Justice Reform Initiative, is a new podcast amplifying and uplifting promising efforts aimed at reducing mass incarceration, and looking at the ecosystem of related inequalities that surrounds and perpetuates incarceration.
The podcast can be found on all the major platforms, including Apple, Google, and Spotify. You can also listen from the series home page or listen to the current episode at the top of this page.
The Shades of Freedom podcast, hosted by Dr. Douglas E. Wood, Director of the Criminal Justice Reform Initiative, is named after and inspired by the book Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process, by Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.
