New Thinking, from the Center for Justice Innovation

About New Thinking, from the Center for Justice Innovation

New Thinking is a podcast about justice—and injustice—in America. It’s about the people working to fix a justice system that falls so short of our ideals, and the people organizing to build something new in its place. It’s hosted by Matt Watkins and produced by the Center for Justice Innovation (formerly Center for Court Innovation).

Publisher

Center for Justice Innovation

Category

arts · history · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Apr 2008

Latest episode

8 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 226 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   8 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Harm Reduction Is Doing Better Than You Think

   Host [Host Name] interviews [Guest Name, Credential] about how harm reduction, a movement born from the HIV-AIDS epidemic, is transitioning from the margins to the mainstream.

2. 

   3 Mar 2026

   AI and Justice: The Neutrality Myth

   The justice system is awash in purported AI solutions—for everything from prisons to courtrooms. But how do we separate AI’s real promise from the hype? And how do we ensure the technology helps, rather than sets back, the cause of fairness and justice? Roy Austin, Jr., is the former Vice President of Civil Rights at the tech giant, Meta. He was also a prominent official in the Department of Justice under President Obama. He now heads up the Howard Law Artificial Intelligence Initiative. “We have this fantasy that there is a neutral in this world and that’s what we are aiming for,” Austin says. “But there is no neutral.” Full show notes (https://www.innovatingjustice.org/resources/ai-justice-system-neutrality-myth/) Follow the new AI and Justice Consortium (https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-and-justice-consortium-aijc) Learn more about the Center for Justice Innovation’s work on AI and the justice system (https://www.innovatingjustice.org/ai-justice/)

3. 

   14 Jan 2026

   Punishment Isn’t Safety

   Emily Galvin Almanza says, for the most part, the criminal justice system has only one setting: punishment. But punishment isn’t safety. It isn’t even accountability. Galvin Almanza makes that case in her new book, The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’s Search for Justice in America. But the book isn’t only about problems; it’s also about solutions. “We don’t have to fall prey to the worst aspects of our history,” contends Galvin Almanza. “We can build something better.” Full show notes (https://www.innovatingjustice.org/resources/punishment-isnt-safety/)

Inside a recent episode

Harm Reduction Is Doing Better Than You Think

Published 8 Jul 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Harm reduction, a recognition and understanding and even embraced by a sort of formal public health systems that harm reduction is a strategy that needs to be embraced and implemented to not just reduce deaths, but reduce, of course, HIV infection, hepatitis C infection, etc. So we've seen more and more energy coming both from community and communities locally in places where historically there had not been that space or that power to develop that work and from the sort of formal structures of public health that can actually fund it and reinforce policies and support laws to make it possible. When we look at that really significant drop in overdose deaths, I know it's impossible to pinpoint exactly what role any factor played, but it does seem logical that harm reduction must have played kind of a primary role in that. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

418,516

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

56 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

37

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

92

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Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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