Life of the Law

*/ ?>

Latest Episodes:

80: Live Law Nashville – Blood, Sweat, and Tears Apr 05, 2016

Show notes

Hosted by Hal Humphries, our live show, Blood Sweat and Tears explores music and the law in “Music City”.

We host live storytelling events that are unlike any other. All across the country, our Live Law shows showcase the stories of lawyers, judges, storytellers, and everyday people share their experiences and encounters with the law.

So Not all stories about the law fit snugly into one of our feature investigative reports. Some stories have to be told live, in front of an audience, no editing and no backing out.

This week we take you to Nashville, for BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS and stories about the blues, jazz, songwriters and a cabin in the woods.

Harold Bradley a musician and studio entrepreneur helped create the "Nashville Sound" and served as President of Local American Federation of Musicians. Why do musicians need a union? Listen and find out.Loren Mulraine earned his JD at Howard University of Law, worked as a contracts attorney for the FAA, then moved to Nashville to practice entertainment law. A songwriter and gospel recording artist, Mulraine is a professor of Belmont School of Law.John Allen earned a scholarship to study classical guitar at Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music then headed to Music Row after college. He's worked at Capitol Records and bug Music and is now Vice President at BMG Chrysalis.Inspired by Beatles bassist Paul McCartney, Alison Prestwood followed her musical dreams to Nashville and became a session bass player, cutting her teeth recording with Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins. But when Music Row's fortunes flagged, she took up another instrument... the law.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

BONUS: A Conversation on Eugenics and the Law Mar 29, 2016

Show notes

Last week, we published STERILIZED, Reporter Jess Engebretson's disturbing story of Rose Brooks and Lewis Reynolds, two of more than 60,000 men and women forcibly sterilized in the United States by doctors working in state hospitals. The doctors and nurses who performed the vasectomies and salpingectomies weren't breaking the law.

Throughout the 20th Century, state legislators passed laws that allowed these surgical procedures. It was all part of the early 20th century eugenics movement. But, you might ask, how could this happen? How could the law deny tens of thousands of men and women the right to have children?

Life of the Law invited scholars who have studied eugenics to join us in the studios at KQED in San Francisco to talk about eugenics, past and present.

Osagie Obasogie is Professor of Law at UC Hastings San Francisco, author of Blinded by Sight.

Marcy Darnovsky is Executive Director at the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley.

Alexandra Minna Stern is Professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan.

Milton Reynolds is Senior Program Associate at Facing History and Ourselves.

PRODUCTION NOTES

This Bonus Episode was produced by Nancy Mullane and Jonathan Hirsch. Special thanks to Osagie Obasogie, Marcy Darnovsky, Alexandra Minna Stern, and Milton Reynolds for their contribution to this production.

This episode of Life of the Law was funded in part by grants from the Open Society Foundation, the Law and Society Association, the Proteus Fund and the National Science Foundation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

79: Sterilized Mar 22, 2016

Show notes

Beginning in 1907, states in the US began to forcibly sterilize over 60,000 Americans -- people considered by scientists to be “unfit” -- the mentally ill, the disabled, the morally suspect. Now, a few states are trying to figure out what they owe to the program's survivors.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

78: Revolution in a Cornfield Mar 08, 2016

Show notes

In Kansas, public schools are at the heart of a debate about how much money the state should budget for education -- a debate that comes down to a fight over nothing less than the balance of power among the three branches of government.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

77: Harris County Feb 23, 2016

Show notes

All over the country, critics argue that ID laws discourage voter participation--particularly among poor and minority voters. This is particularly true in Texas, which passed a voter ID law in 2011. By 2050 the state’s population is expected to double--and most of that growth will be come from the Latino community. How are all of these voter ID laws impacting who votes today in the US, and who will have access to the polls in the future?

This episode of Life of the Law is sponsored by Squarespace.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

76: Juggalos Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

In 2011 the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center released their Gang Threat Assessment, which listed Juggalos as a “loosely affiliated hybrid gang.” Juggalos, who are more commonly known as fans of horrorcore rap and the Insane Clown Posse, say that this designation has been unfairly attributed to them based on the actions of a few violent outliers in the community. In 2014 the Juggalos teamed up with the ACLU to sue the FBI to remove the gang classification. This case, Parsons v U.S. DOJ, is still making it’s way through the courts. But what does this mean for an average Juggalo who is now a gang member? And how does a group of fans become a gang?

Life of the Law Episode 76 "Juggalos" was sponsored by Squarespace and Casper.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

75: UnDACAmented Jan 26, 2016

Show notes

In 2012, the Obama Administration signed a memo addressing all branches of the Department of Homeland Security, which granted undocumented immigrants who migrated as minors to the United States a renewable deferral of deportation. It’s called Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals. DACA, for short.

Luis Perez Morales is one of those children. He crossed the border with his family when he was 8, and has been living in the U.S. since then. When he heard about the program, Perez Morales scheduled an appointment with an immigration attorney to apply for DACA. An encounter with Border Patrol agents, a week before his scheduled meeting with an attorney, changed everything.

Life of the Law Episode 74 "UnDACAmented" was sponsored by Squarespace.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

74: Overruled Jan 11, 2016

Show notes

In the U.S., juries are often seen as democracy in action. Twelve men and women are asked to hear an entire case, and ultimately, decide another person’s fate. But in Alabama, the jury’s decision between life and death is only a recommendation.

Life of the Law Episode 74 "Overruled" was sponsored by Squarespace.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

73: “A whole ‘nother world” – Live @ San Quentin Dec 25, 2015

Show notes

On Saturday night, Dec 5, 2015 more than 200 people filled the pews of the Catholic chapel inside San Quentin State Prison for a first-ever uncensored storytelling event behind the prison walls. Together, inmates and volunteers, officers and staff gathered to hear stories about the all-too-secret, often misunderstood community that sustains each of them inside and outside the prison walls.

For two storytellers, Troy Williams and Watani Stiner, the night would be the first time they would return to San Quentin after being released a year earlier following decades as inmates.

Like those in the audience for Live @ San Quentin, this special episode offers the chance to hear the voices and stories too often silenced by imprisonment.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

72: Outside The Walls Dec 15, 2015

Show notes

“I didn’t go to prison because I was a saint. I went to prison because of my lifestyle. Since the age of 13 I was a gangbanger, and did what gangbangers do. I’m 49 years old now. After 20 years of a life sentence, I got paroled. That was a year ago. My name is Troy Williams and this is a diary of my first year as a free man.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected