The social justice podcast where bold conversations spark real-world change.
TUNE IN TO HEAR… prominent, knowledgeable, and inspiring experts from across the spectrum of social justice. We ask the tough questions, share in-depth stories, and dig into the nuances of today’s most pressing issues. From ending mass incarceration to fighting poverty and discrimination, our episodes go beyond the surface, delivering thoughtful dialogue with a dose of optimism and hope. Join us as we push the boundaries, challenge the status quo, and work toward a more just and equitable world—one conversation at a time.
Episode 1: Why Are Public Defenders Uniquely Suited for State Assembly Office?
On this episode of Beyond the Box, Doug Lasdon interviews Eli Northrup, who is running for the open New York Assembly seat that represents Doug's district in Morningside Heights. Northrup has the unusual distinction of having worked as a public defender before jumping into the race, and they discuss the reality of bail reform (not the bogeyman featured in the press); making New York a sanctuary state for immigrants; the important role state governments play in pushing back against federal ove...
7 May 2025
Episode 3: How Do We Reform A Criminal Legal System That No One Trusts?
On this episode of Beyond the Box, Doug and Johnny talk with Chesa Boudin, the former crusading District Attorney of San Francisco who briefly became the contested face of criminal legal reform. “Historically prosecutors have been all too happy to do the dirty work for the real estate industry, for the political elites, for the economic elites, and that means that we have a system of justice where people don’t trust law enforcement, they don’t trust the courts or the integrity of crimin...
23 Apr 2025
Episode 2: What Does It Take to Make Real News in a Fake News World?
On this episode of Beyond the Box, Doug and Johnny talk with Molly Greene, the Strategy and Legal director of The Appeal. If you’re not familiar with The Appeal, they are essential reading in our increasingly post-fact world. The Appeal is “a nonprofit news organization that envisions a world in which systems of support and care, not punishment, create public safety. The Appeal’s journalism exposes the harms of a criminal legal system entrenched in centuries of systemic racism. We equip...
9 Apr 2025
Episode 1: How is a Leader Made in NYC?
How do you go from being an incarcerated teenager from the Bronx, to a nationally recognized thought leader on criminal justice reform? Doug Lasdon talks with Johnny Perez, his new cohost for Beyond the Box Season 2, about growing up in the Bronx, being incarcerated, becoming a leader in the social justice community, working at and joining the board of UJC, and being the Director of NRCAT’s U.S. Prisons Program – oh, and being a great photographer as well! https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
10 Mar 2025
Special Episode: What Is Brad Lander's Vision for NYC?
Beyond the Box Special Episode: What Is Brad Lander's Vision for NYC? And interview with NYC Comptroller (and Mayoral Candidate) Brad Lander The City Comptroller is a position of tremendous power, tasked with managing the city's fiscal health and rooting out corruption, fraud, and abuse across the entire city government - yet few people can even spell Comptroller, let alone know how important it is. Brad Lander, our current Comptroller, worked for affordable housing and community development ...
3 Jun 2024
Who’s Turning Prisons Into Profits? A Conversation with Bianca Tylek.
Who are prisons really serving? A small group of companies are turning huge profits off of every aspect of life on the inside, from food to phone calls to transportation - and we’re not just talking about for-profit prisons. Doug Lasdon talks with Bianca Tylek, founder of Worth Rises (formerly: the Corrections Accountability Project at UJC). Worth Rises is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry, ending the exploitation of those it touches, exposin...
3 Jun 2024
Episode 6: Who’s Turning Prisons Into Profits?
Who are prisons really serving? A small group of companies are turning huge profits off of every aspect of life on the inside, from food to phone calls to transportation - and we’re not just talking about for-profit prisons. Doug Lasdon talks with Bianca Tylek, founder of Worth Rises (formerly: the Corrections Accountability Project at UJC).
Worth Rises (https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fworthrises.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7CSStapleton%40urbanjustice.org%7C2f3d25f947cb4f08ba1f08dc20e1dfd6%7Ce019315d64db4797a82e3bbf8ada5585%7C0%7C0%7C638421401698710573%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=9cTVNG%2Fzyip%2B0%2BfS8%2BoZiPvdNxLuPXTRTV1cDXZxEaI%3D&reserved=0) is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry, ending the exploitation of those it touches, exposing the commercialization of the criminal legal system, and protecting & returning the economic resources extracted from affected communities.
https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
20 May 2024
What Does It Mean to Be a Hero? A Conversation with Cory Booker.
Is a hero the radical fighting the system, or the person who dedicates their life to transforming it from the inside, or the person who throws their body on the line to rescue their fellow humans? U.S Senator Cory Booker is a hero by every one of those definitions, and he joins Doug Lasdon on Beyond the Box to discuss getting his start at UJC, finding his career path from there, and rescuing people from burning cars (no, really!)https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
20 May 2024
Episode 5: What Does It Mean to Be a Hero?
Is a hero the radical fighting the system, or the person who dedicates their life to transforming it from the inside, or the person who throws their body on the line to rescue their fellow humans? U.S Senator Cory Booker is a hero by every one of those definitions, and he joins Doug Lasdon on Beyond the Box to discuss getting his start at UJC, finding his career path from there, and rescuing people from burning cars (no, really!)
https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
6 May 2024
Who Watches the Watchers? A Conversation with Albert Fox Cahn.
Who has their eye on the cameras, the cookies, the tracking apps, and the million other devices that are watching you, right now, and selling your data? Doug Lasdon talks with Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (and graduate of the UJC Social Justice Accelerator). S.T.O.P. fights to end discriminatory surveillance, challenging both individual misconduct and broader systemic failures. They craft policies that balance new technologies and age-old righ...
6 May 2024
Episode 4: Who Watches the Watchers?
Who has their eye on the cameras, the cookies, the tracking apps, and the million other devices that are watching you, right now, and selling your data? Doug Lasdon talks with Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (and graduate of the UJC Social Justice Accelerator).
S.T.O.P. fights to end discriminatory surveillance, challenging both individual misconduct and broader systemic failures. They craft policies that balance new technologies and age-old rights, and educate impacted communities on how they can protect their rights. Find out more. (https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stopspying.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7CSStapleton%40urbanjustice.org%7Ca429257207804c66e93308dc1b6f0354%7Ce019315d64db4797a82e3bbf8ada5585%7C0%7C0%7C638415410810292346%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=G8nWWrPPfQUSgPXykAb7GT6%2FGiCsdg12H3w4hUKD8TM%3D&reserved=0)
https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
22 Apr 2024
What’s Jail Really For? A Conversation with Sarita Daftary & Darren Mack.
Who’s really in New York City prisons, and why, and what happens to them once they’re there – and once they come back out? Doug Lasdon talks with Sarita Daftary and Darren Mack, anti-mass-incarceration advocates, the leaders of the #CloseRikers campaign, and the founding directors of the UJC Freedom Agenda project. The Freedom Agenda s a member-led project, dedicated to organizing people and communities directly impacted by incarceration to achieve decarceration and system transformation...
22 Apr 2024
Episode 3: What’s Jail Really For?
Who’s really in New York City prisons, and why, and what happens to them once they’re there – and once they come back out? Doug Lasdon talks with Sarita Daftary and Darren Mack, anti-mass-incarceration advocates, the leaders of the #CloseRikers campaign, and the founding directors of the UJC Freedom Agenda project.
The Freedom Agenda s a member-led project, dedicated to organizing people and communities directly impacted by incarceration to achieve decarceration and system transformation. Find out more. (https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffa.urbanjustice.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7CSStapleton%40urbanjustice.org%7Ca429257207804c66e93308dc1b6f0354%7Ce019315d64db4797a82e3bbf8ada5585%7C0%7C0%7C638415410810283806%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tta3r%2BkF2yaZPosftfaSDLzE8EPX0O7NryiSf7jtlmc%3D&reserved=0)
https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
8 Apr 2024
Who Feeds These Streets? A Conversation with Mohammed Attia.
Who keeps New York City running with coffee, kebabs, nuts, hats, pretzels, doughnuts, churros, Korean tacos and more – and who protects their rights when big businesses, the cops, and powerful politicians try to shut them down? Doug Lasdon talks with Mohammed Attia, former street vendor and Director of the UJC Street Vendor Project. The Street Vendor Project is a membership-based project with more than 2,000 vendor members working together to create a vendors’ movement for permanent chan...
8 Apr 2024
Episode 2: Who Feeds These Streets?
Who keeps New York City running with coffee, kebabs, nuts, hats, pretzels, doughnuts, churros, Korean tacos and more – and who protects their rights when big businesses, the cops, and powerful politicians try to shut them down? Doug Lasdon talks with Mohammed Attia, former street vendor and Director of the UJC Street Vendor Project.
The Street Vendor Project is a membership-based project with more than 2,000 vendor members working together to create a vendors’ movement for permanent change, and advocating for the rights of street vendors in New York City. Find out more. (https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsvp.urbanjustice.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7CSStapleton%40urbanjustice.org%7Ca429257207804c66e93308dc1b6f0354%7Ce019315d64db4797a82e3bbf8ada5585%7C0%7C0%7C638415410810288119%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=CG%2FGrh9P4rJZREHUlpCESWfarWZR9X17FcaF8jaKTUs%3D&reserved=0)
https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
25 Mar 2024
Where Does Sex Meet Money? A Conversation with RJ Thompson-Rodriguez.
What’s it like working in the sex industry, and who fights for the rights of those who work in the shadows of the legal economy? Doug Lasdon talks with RJ Thompson-Rodriguez, human rights advocate, lawyer, former sex worker, and current director of the UJC Sex Workers Project. The Sex Workers Project is a national organization that defends the human rights of sex workers by destigmatizing and decriminalizing people in the sex trades through free legal services, education, research, and p...
25 Mar 2024
Episode 1: Where Does Sex Meet Money?
What’s it like working in the sex industry, and who fights for the rights of those who work in the shadows of the legal economy? Doug Lasdon talks with RJ Thompson, human rights advocate, lawyer, former sex worker, and current director of the UJC Sex Workers Project.
The Sex Workers Project is a national organization that defends the human rights of sex workers by destigmatizing and decriminalizing people in the sex trades through free legal services, education, research, and policy advocacy. They aim to create a sexually liberated world where all workers have the autonomy and power to fully enjoy their human rights. Find out more. (https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fswp.urbanjustice.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7CSStapleton%40urbanjustice.org%7Ca429257207804c66e93308dc1b6f0354%7Ce019315d64db4797a82e3bbf8ada5585%7C0%7C0%7C638415410810276488%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cDtICYhgxau1HAOdXDc%2FFTmKbQd%2FvsNCvhpJF5KCIq4%3D&reserved=0)
https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
11 Mar 2024
Teaser: Welcome to Beyond The Box with Doug Lasdon
Social Justice Podcast hosted by Doug Lasdon, a veteran lawyer who has been on the side of disenfranchised NYers for over 40 years. Each episode will feature a discussion with a social justice fighter in different areas of justice.
https://urbanjustice.org/podcast
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 23 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
33
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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