164 Scholars & Counting

Defund PD? Not in Minneapolis! Per Prof. Jocelyn Simonson, historically Democrats funded America's PDs in the name of Civil Rights. Minneapolis gets to keep its police department. That's the outcome of last week's ballot vote. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for police officers "to make sure they are working directly with the community to keep us safe." In our podcast conversation, Prof. Simonson brings attention to the complexity of the term "community". What is exactly a community and who is in it? Frankly, before this podcast conversation, I was under the impression that the term community had a geographical definition, such as the community within a precinct. But I now understand that a community can be much more diverse than that restrictive definition, and it may include citizens whose voices are not heard or are ignored. The term community is important because it goes to the heart of ordinary people's participation in the criminal system, which Prof. Simonson also describes as bottom-up contestation, and it can include laws and ordinances, policing policies and courtroom watching. She also takes us through the history of America's police, how and when it was founded and when it began to receive federal funding for its growth and militarization.   

Prof. Simonson, who writes and teaches about criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, and social change at Brooklyn Law School, explores ways in which the public participates in the criminal process and in the institutions of local governance that control policing and punishment. In this episode, which was recorded prior to the ballot vote in Minneapolis, she also talks about her upcoming book on this subject.  

Listen to my interview with Prof. Simonson here: https://bit.ly/HbN-S1E39s. 

I hope you enjoy our program. 

Adel Aali

Host and producer of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠History Behind News⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ podcast and program. 

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