Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
While seasons one and two told the stories of specific, extraordinary cases, season three sets its sights on the mundane. This time, the team at This American Life and Serial took on telling the story of criminal justice in Cleveland over the course of a year. The reporters follow little cases: a bar fight, a drug bust, individuals who break parole. It tells …
There are millions incarcerated in American prisons, even many juveniles who were sentenced to long terms alongside adults. We talk to guests about how and why this happens, whether it should continue, and what life is like for young people behind bars.
As technology evolves, more and more of us are relying on credit cards, debit cards and even apps like Venmo or Zelle to make payments. Gone are the days of physically cashing your check, now almost all of us use all direct-deposit. So what is the future of cash? We talk to one expert who lays out some of the nefarious uses of bills and coins.
Sexual offenders have to live by a very particular set of rules. They can’t live near playgrounds, they’re on a registry for life. These rules exist to make everyone safer. But they also can limit a reformed criminal’s ability to reintegrate into everyday life and be productive members of society.
Thanks to online shopping, internet banks and social media, our information has never been more vulnerable to theft. We explore what exactly is in all of those privacy agreements we often agree to without reading, and how we can try to reclaim our privacy in a digital world.
We have all heard of polygraph machines or ‘lie detectors.’ But are they truly reliable? Their results are inadmissible in court and yet some investigation agencies still use them. We talk to historian and author John Philipp Baesler about the polygraph’s history and its questionable use in our modern world.
The financial world was shocked when the FBI began investigating Wall Street big shot Steve Cohen and his company SAC Capital. We discuss what they were looking for, what they found, and what it all means going forward.
True crime stories fascinate us, but they can also have a big impact. We look at true crime and specifically, Michelle McNamera’s book, I’ll Be Gone in The Dark
Our guest discusses what con men are like in real life, some of the most famous cons from the past, and the techniques that make us all vulnerable to being swindled.
Netflix has a new binge-worthy show called Dark. The German-language show involves time travel, family drama, a small town, and a lot of mind-bending sci-fi.
We talk to two leading experts about the software and hardware helping police and lawyers find the right criminals and get them convicted.
Most of us rely on our debit cards, finding it easier to not use cash for transactions, however, the United States Treasury still printed up to 80 billion dollars of paper money last year. Where is all this money going? What is it being used for?
Author Don Winslow talks about how he tries to accurately portray issues like police shootings of unarmed black men, law enforcement corruption, and more.
We talk to Tanya Erzen, a professor of religion, what role prison ministries play in the lives on inmates.
With new gadgets and programs being invented every day, the technologies used in solving crimes are changing constantly.
We talk to a journalist who has tried to erase her digital footprint, and an attorney who deals with online privacy about protecting your person information online.
Our guests discuss how gossip websites operate and how to protect yourself from false and embarrassing information that appears online.
New York Times reporter Dan Barry discusses his latest book about a tragic situation in 1974 where mentally challenged men were pressed into servitude.
Two gun specialists talk about the history of guns in the U.S. and give suggestions on how to strengthen gun laws to promote safety and still guarantee American gun owners’ rights.
We talk to a professor who has studied the effect that extremely strict school rules have on the students and the teachers who are made to enforce them.
Should children be tried as adults and sent to adult prisons? Our guests discuss so many people are incarcerated and how juveniles should be given another chance.
We talk to a journalist to find out just how extensive the legalized marijuana industry is now, and how it could grow in the future.
Films like The Sting, Oceans’ 11, and American Hustle show con artists as charismatic heroes out to help the little guy get his due. Well, our guest says that they are charismatic, but they’re hardly heroes. She’ll explain the personalities of the con man and woman, tell us some of the techniques they use to trick their victims, and warn us that anyone – …
Often it’s young people and immigrants who are forced to work in the sex industry or in sweatshops, restaurants and hotels with little pay, horrible hours and horrible living conditions.
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