22: The Broken Gavel

In Eps 22 of With(in), Co-hosts Denise Presson and Andrew Draper ponder the question of sentencing laws, how do we give justice to the victims and also hold space for the humanity of the perpetrators of those crimes with the same hands? Their discussion lands on the fact that cookie-cutter laws only take into account the crime, and not the reason behind the crime, or even the will of those who have been harmed. With(in) Producer Terry W. Mosley Jr. gets to spend some time with John Sherman, a formerly incarcerated man who spent 34 years in prison for murder, and who tells us that he will spend the rest of his life building a legacy for the man who lost his life at his hands. Finally, Dr. Ashley Hamilton, Executive Producer for With(in) and Executive Director of the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative speaks with Kristin Nelson, Director of The Powell project, and a Harvard Law School graduate. Kristin speaks with conviction about current sentencing laws, some of the history of sentencing laws in our country and specifically about life without parole.