Frequently Asked Questions…
Amy has long been interested in the issues of social justice and systematic inequalities. These two issues, combined with her interest in mental health, naturally intersected with the field of criminal justice. Her current work and research focuses on wrongful convictions, the processes by which they occur, prisoner reentry and education, and the lives of offenders post-exoneration.
Meghan's mother allowed her to watch crime shows at a young age with her instead of cartoons. Great job mom. But seriously, Meghan aspired from that early age to work as a criminal attorney. She later changed her mind about law school but still pursued a position in law enforcement and later in academia. Her research has focused mainly on issues involving bail reform, plea bargaining practices, and sex offender policies.
Amy has a master's degree in forensic psychology and began her work in the mental health field, which lead in part to her interest in criminal justice. She got her PHD in Criminal Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a focus on Policy Analysis.
Meghan has a master's in criminal justice and worked as a federal probation office in the Southern District of New York before earning her PHD in Criminal Justice, also at John Jay, with a focus on Deviance.
Amy and Meghan actually went to John Jay around the same time but Meghan was two years ahead of Amy in her education. When Meghan graduated, she was hired as the program director of the newly established Criminology program, which Meghan helped to build from the ground up. Amy graduated two years ago and it happened that Meghan was looking to hire someone to help her build the program. Amy was a perfect fit and although we became friends, it was really the beginning of our podcast relationship that solidified their best friend status!
Always a hard question because in our opinions, almost all areas need to be reformed but for Amy, the elimination of the felony murder is paramount. Also reform to police practices, including interrogation and eyewitness identification, that lead to tunnel vision and wrongful convictions. Additionally, we should decriminalize certain offenses that lead to over incarceration and remove barriers to prisoner reentry.
For Meghan, limiting prosecutorial power is very important. The scales need to be balanced and they currently are not. This problem was severely exacerbated by the introduction of mandatory sentences for drug crimes and other offense. Eliminating cash bail is essential, as well as reducing our reliance on incarceration and finally, the appeals process is nearly impossible to prevail in. It's time to redesign the system to make it a place where justice truly happens.
Amy loves memoirs of any type while Meghan reads about crime, fiction and non-fiction, all the time.
PS: We also have a reading list on our website as well as a Bookclub on Patreon!
For Amy, it would probably be Cindy James or Diane Schuler.
For Meg, probably the same but throw in Melanie McGuire also!