Everyday Injustice

In Episode 334 of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald speaks with Massachusetts criminal defense attorney Ernie Stone about the growing importance of trauma-informed criminal defense and why understanding clients’ life experiences is essential to effective representation. Drawing on nearly two decades of legal practice, Stone argues that what is often called “trauma-informed” lawyering should simply be considered good lawyering, emphasizing that attorneys must understand how trauma shapes communication, memory, decision-making, and trust. The conversation explores the prevalence of trauma among people involved in the criminal legal system and the challenges attorneys face when clients struggle to tell their stories in a linear fashion or respond predictably under stress. Stone explains that criminal charges themselves can be traumatic events, particularly for individuals already facing housing instability, mental health challenges, substance use disorders, or other forms of adversity. He discusses how lawyers can better serve clients by recognizing trauma symptoms and adjusting their communication strategies accordingly. Greenwald and Stone also examine the rise of holistic defense models that combine legal representation with social services, housing assistance, mental health support, and other interventions designed to address the root causes that often bring people into repeated contact with the justice system. While acknowledging resource limitations facing public defender offices across the country, Stone argues that investing in supportive services is both more humane and more cost-effective than relying on incarceration as a substitute for social policy. The episode concludes with a broader discussion about empathy, legal education, and professional responsibility. Stone contends that understanding trauma should be viewed as an ethical obligation for attorneys, much like technological competence has become a professional requirement. For listeners interested in learning more, he recommends The Body Keeps the Score as an accessible introduction to trauma research. Together, Greenwald and Stone make the case that a more trauma-informed approach can improve outcomes not only for defendants, but for the justice system as a whole.

On this week’s episode of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald speaks with Dr. Elizabeth Ostler, founder of the Communal Theater Company and creator of the upcoming play “SisterPlay,” a deeply personal work inspired by the death of her sister Lisa while detained in the Salt Lake County Jail. Ostler recounts how her sister, who struggled with addiction for years, died in custody in 2016 after repeated pleas for medical attention were ignored. Through court records and wrongful death litigation, Ostler learned the extent of the neglect her sister endured while suffering from a perforated ulcer and sepsis-like symptoms inside the jail. She explains how transforming that experience into theater became both a painful and healing process, allowing her to finally tell a story she could not previously discuss publicly. The conversation expands into a broader examination of incarceration, medical neglect, punishment versus accountability, and the importance of restoring dignity to incarcerated people. Ostler and Greenwald discuss how dehumanization fuels systemic abuse inside jails and prisons, while emphasizing the role storytelling and art can play in fostering empathy and reform. Ostler argues that incarcerated individuals should be viewed as vulnerable populations deserving care and humanity, not merely punishment. The episode also explores the potential of theater programs and restorative justice approaches within correctional settings. Ostler shares details about “SisterPlay,” which premieres in New York this September, and discusses her hope of eventually bringing the production into prisons and jails themselves. Greenwald highlights the shared mission between journalism and theater: humanizing people too often reduced to stereotypes within the criminal legal system.

In Episode 329 of Everyday Injustice, the podcast features a wide-ranging and deeply probing conversation with UCLA professor Terrence Keel, a leading scholar examining the intersection of race, science and public institutions. The discussion centers on his new book, The Coroner’s Silence, which investigates how death investigations—particularly in cases involving police custody—can obscure rather than illuminate the truth. Drawing from years of research and analysis of hundreds of autopsy reports, Keel argues that official records often contain narratives that deflect responsibility away from law enforcement and toward the bodies of those who have died. Keel explains that his work was partly inspired by national reactions to the killing of George Floyd, particularly the controversy surrounding the autopsy findings that created ambiguity about the cause of death. That moment raised broader questions about how medical examiners frame deaths in less visible cases—those without video evidence or public scrutiny. According to Keel, these patterns are not isolated but systemic, revealing how forensic language, institutional relationships and embedded biases can shape outcomes in ways that undermine accountability. Throughout the episode, the conversation expands beyond individual cases to examine structural issues within the death investigation system. Keel highlights how medical examiners and coroners, often portrayed as neutral scientific authorities, operate within political and bureaucratic frameworks that may influence their conclusions. He points to conflicts of interest, including situations where law enforcement agencies are directly involved in or present during autopsies, raising serious concerns about independence and transparency. These institutional dynamics, he argues, contribute to a broader failure to accurately document deaths in police custody. The episode ultimately situates these findings within a larger critique of the criminal legal system, emphasizing how gaps in mental health care, housing and social services have led to increased reliance on policing as a default response. Keel underscores that many of those who die in custody are among society’s most vulnerable, and he calls for systemic reform that includes independent oversight, improved transparency and a rethinking of public safety itself. The conversation offers both a sobering assessment of current realities and a framework for understanding how institutional practices shape public narratives about justice and accountability.

Jerry “JD” Mathis on Reentry, Shame, and Finding a Voice On this episode of the Everyday Injustice podcast, host David Greenwald speaks with Jerry “JD” Mathis, an award-winning author, PEN America Writing for Justice Fellow, and formerly incarcerated writer whose work centers on mass incarceration, reentry, and the redemptive power of storytelling. Mathis’ life arc—from decorated National Guard soldier to federal prison camp to acclaimed writer—offers a stark case study in how a single mistake can permanently alter a life, and how narrative becomes a way to survive what comes after. Mathis recounts how, at age 20, he was convicted in federal court for his role in covering up the theft of a machine gun from his National Guard unit, a crime that resulted in a two-year prison sentence while the primary offender was never charged. Once celebrated as a top gunner and model soldier, Mathis found himself publicly branded, prosecuted as a dangerous figure, and thrust into a criminal legal system that treated him not as a young person who made a grave error, but as a permanent threat. The punishment, he explains, did not end with his release. The conversation centers on reentry as what Mathis calls the “hidden punishment” of incarceration: the long afterlife of stigma, unemployment, restricted housing, and social exclusion that follows people long after they leave custody. Drawing on his own struggles—and comparative models like Norway’s—Mathis argues that the United States systematically undermines public safety by making successful reentry nearly impossible. Rather than addressing trauma, addiction, or the structural causes of harm, the system relies on exclusion and moral judgment, pushing people further to the margins. Ultimately, Mathis describes how writing became a way to reclaim a stolen narrative. Through the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship, he finally found the language to tell his story without shame—first to the public, and then to his daughters. That act of storytelling, he says, was not only personal catharsis but political intervention: a refusal to let prosecutors, headlines, or stigma define who he is. The episode is a powerful meditation on punishment, identity, and what it actually takes to rebuild a life after prison.

On this episode of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald speaks with Tracy Miller, a veteran prosecutor whose career inside one of the nation’s largest district attorney’s offices ended not with honors, but with retaliation, isolation, and a landmark lawsuit. Miller spent 25 years at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, rising to senior leadership and building one of the country’s largest gang prevention programs, before becoming one of several employees who reported sexual harassment by a politically powerful insider. What followed, Miller explains, was not institutional self-correction but institutional protection. Despite multiple reports, a county investigation, and widespread internal knowledge of the misconduct, the alleged harasser was promoted while those who spoke out faced marginalization. Miller recounts being stripped of her office, pushed into a conference room during the final days of her career, and denied the basic dignity routinely afforded to departing senior staff. The experience, she says, revealed how easily stated commitments to justice collapse when power is threatened. Miller ultimately filed suit against Orange County, a decision she describes as deeply painful and disorienting, akin to “suing herself” after a lifetime of public service. When the case finally went to trial in 2025, the sitting district attorney spent days on the witness stand, an extraordinary public reckoning for an office tasked with enforcing the law. For Miller, the trial was not just about damages, but about forcing the truth into the open in a system accustomed to silence and deference. In the conversation, Miller reflects on vulnerability, courage, and the double standard prosecutors impose on victims while often failing to protect their own. She frames her case as part of a larger struggle over accountability inside the criminal legal system, where misconduct persists not only because of bad actors, but because too many others look away. Now working as an executive coach and consultant, Miller sees truth-telling as both a professional obligation and a form of resistance—and hopes her story helps others understand they are not alone.

Choosing Yourself Before Life Forces the Choice On the latest episode of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald speaks with Hakeem McFarland, a motivational speaker, wellness coach, author, and the founder of the Choose Yourself Movement, a philosophy built around reclaiming identity, integrity, and purpose in a culture driven by external validation. McFarland’s message is direct and uncompromising: before chasing achievement, status, or approval, people must first confront who they are when no one is watching and take responsibility for the systems that shape their daily lives. McFarland traces the origins of his work to repeated personal breaking points marked by grief, loss, addiction, and incarceration, culminating in a period of enforced solitude that forced him to confront himself without distraction or numbing. Rather than framing transformation as a sudden epiphany, he describes it as a disciplined process built through small, repeatable actions—sleep routines, mindful consumption, accountability, and habits that prioritize delayed gratification over instant relief. Choosing oneself, he argues, is not an abstract affirmation but a measurable practice rooted in what a person consistently does for their own well-being. At the center of this philosophy is the Choose Yourself Movement, a community designed as what McFarland calls an “integrity loop,” where participants publicly commit to personal goals and support one another in following through. Through weekly meetings, challenges, retreats, and daily accountability, the movement seeks to disrupt cycles of self-neglect and avoidance by replacing them with structure, honesty, and shared responsibility. McFarland emphasizes that community is not about motivation alone, but about creating conditions where excuses become harder to sustain. In the conversation, McFarland also reflects on authenticity as the foundation of lasting change, arguing that people often struggle because they are living versions of themselves shaped by conditioning rather than conviction. The episode explores why guilt, fear of judgment, and consumption-driven habits keep people stuck, and how confronting discomfort—rather than avoiding it—is essential to reclaiming agency. For listeners navigating burnout, identity loss, or a sense of stagnation, the discussion offers a stark but grounded challenge: no one is coming to save you, but the tools to begin are already within reach.

Women are now the fastest-growing population in the criminal legal system, yet policy, practice and public understanding continue to lag behind that reality. On this episode of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald speaks with Stephanie Akhter, director of the Women’s Justice Commission at the Council on Criminal Justice, about why women’s involvement in the system is rising, how their experiences differ from men’s, and what meaningful reform actually requires. Akhter brings a perspective grounded in direct practice and national policy work. Trained as a social worker, she began her career working with people returning home from prison before moving into state-level reentry policy, philanthropic criminal justice reform, and ultimately the launch of the Women’s Justice Commission. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes that women entering the system are often driven there by circumstances—trauma, poverty, housing instability, untreated mental health needs and coercive relationships—rather than by violent criminal behavior. The discussion explores why women are not simply a smaller version of men in the system. Akhter explains that women experience higher rates of trauma and victimization, are more likely to be primary caregivers, and generally present lower public safety risk, yet are processed through a system largely designed without them in mind. As a result, reforms that have reduced incarceration for men have often failed to benefit women, even as women now account for roughly one-quarter of all adult arrests nationwide. The episode also looks forward, examining where change is possible. Akhter outlines the Commission’s focus on reducing women’s system involvement where safely possible and improving outcomes when women do enter the system, from pretrial decisions to sentencing and reentry. The conversation highlights trauma-informed, gender-responsive approaches and growing recognition among justice professionals that real public safety depends on helping people leave the system healthier and more stable than when they entered it.

On this episode of Everyday Injustice, we sit down with journalist and author Nell Bernstein, one of the nation’s leading voices on youth incarceration and the failures of the juvenile punishment model. Bernstein is the author of Burning Down the House and her newly released book, In Our Future We Are Free: The Dismantling of the Youth Prison. Her work challenges the mythology around “dangerous youth,” exposes the long-term harm of locking children in carceral environments, and reframes what true public safety looks like in America. Bernstein’s journey into youth justice began in the 1990s, during the height of the so-called superpredator era — a moment defined not by data, but by fear, racism, and political opportunism. She tells us how young people she worked with in San Francisco were funneled into arrests, courtrooms, and detention for low-level behaviors — not because they posed a threat, but because the system was built to criminalize them. What began as court accompaniment and juvenile hall visits evolved into decades of reporting, advocacy, and storytelling grounded in humanity rather than stereotype. In the conversation, Bernstein points to one of the most staggering realities: youth incarceration has dropped 75% nationwide since 2000, and more than two-thirds of youth prisons across the country have closed — including California’s entire state-run youth prison system. Yet at the same time, a backlash is underway. Politicians and media are reviving superpredator-style narratives, and several states — including California — are now pushing to try more children as adults. Bernstein warns that progress isn’t linear and the narratives driving fear often outpace the facts. This episode is both sobering and hopeful. Bernstein reminds us that youth incarceration is not inevitable — it is a policy choice driven by fear, inequity, and political gain. The alternatives already exist, and they work: community safety comes not from cages, but from education, support, housing, stability, and belonging. For anyone questioning whether change is possible, Bernstein’s message is clear — transformation has already begun. The question now is whether we will defend it.