Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, is a powerful new podcast hosted by WNYC’s Kai Wright (There Goes the Neighborhood, The United States of Anxiety) and produced by the Narrative Unit at WNYC together with WNYC Studios.
Through a combination of reporting and first person testimony, the podcast follows the lives of several youth who are currently navigating the juvenile justice system. Caught aims to hold up the humanity, identity and individual experiences of these young lives while also documenting a system that all too often criminalizes the behavior of certain youth.
We launched the podcast with a special event at The Greene Space at WNYC, featuring a series of conversations with poet and scholar Clint Smith; organizer, educator and founder of Project NIA, Mariame Kaba; Caught reporter Jared Marcelle; Marlon Peterson, host of the podcast Decarcerated, which looks at journeys to success of formerly incarcerated individuals; and more guests below.
This Caught live was hosted by acclaimed veteran battle rapper and activist Mysonne “The NY General” Linen.
About the Host and Guests
Mysonne Linen, known as “The General” to his fans, is an independent hip hop artist and criminal justice reform activist from the Bronx, NY. Known for his introspective style, brutally honest and socially conscious lyrics, this experienced MC proves that struggle can be the catalyst for leadership. Find him on Twitter @mysonne and Instagram @mysonnenygeneral.
Clint Smith is a writer, teacher and doctoral candidate at Harvard University studying education, incarceration and inequality. Previously, he taught high school English in Prince George’s County, Maryland where, in 2013, he was named the Christine D. Sarbanes Teacher of the Year by the Maryland Humanities Council. Clint is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion, an Individual World Poetry Slam Finalist, and author of the poetry collection Counting Descent. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Boston Review, American Poetry Review, Harvard Educational Review and elsewhere. Find him on Twitter @clintsmithIII and Instagram IG: @clintsmithiii.
Mariame Kaba is an organizer and educator active in numerous social movements for prison abolition, racial, gender, and transformative justice. She is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with a vision to end youth incarceration, and a co-founder of numerous organizations including the Chicago Freedom School, Love and Protect, and most recently Survived & Punished.
Marlon Peterson is a writer, social justice advocate, and host of the podcast, Decarcerated, which highlights the journeys of success of people who have been incarcerated. Marlon openly shares that he was incarcerated during his 20’s for his involvement in a crime as a teenager. He is the co-founder of H.O.L.L.A. (How Our Lives Link Altogether), a youth empowerment program based in Brooklyn, NY, and founding program coordinator of Youth Organizing to Save Our Streets (YO SOS), a program designed to train teens to be anti-gun violence youth organizers in his Brooklyn hometown. In 2015 Ebony Magazine named him one of America’s 100 most influential and inspiring leaders in the Black community. He is a Soros Justice Fellow, Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar, Fall 2016 TED Resident, and an inaugural recipient of the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity (AFRE) fellowship. His TED Talk, “Am I not human? A call for criminal justice reform,” has over 1 million views. Find him on Twitter @_MarlonPeterson.
Jared Marcelle is a reporter for Caught.
Linda Ricard is 19 years old from Bronx, NY, and is a youth producer for the Echoes of Incarceration Project, where she creates documentaries and journalism stories about the impact of mass incarceration on youth. As a part of the Echoes project she enjoys cinematography and editing, and her favorite films are poetry films. As a part of Osborne Associations Youth Action Council she successfully lobbied legislators in Albany to implement child-sensitive arrest protocols. She has focused on Raise the Age campaigns, and advocates on behalf of her incarcerated brother.
Jalon Jones is 19 years old and from Brooklyn, NY. Jalon is also a youth producer for the Echoes of Incarceration Project, which he joined in 2016. He is an aspiring singer/songwriter and has also found an interest in cinematography. Jalon has also been a part of the Osborne Association where he traveled to Albany to speak to lawmakers on the Proximity Bill which seeks to relocate incarcerated parents to make them closer to their children.
Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice is supported, in part, by the Anne Levy Fund, Margaret Neubart Foundation, the John and Gwen Smart Family Foundation, and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
