Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration By: Emily Bazelon

Author: Emily Bazelon
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

A renowned journalist and legal commentator exposes the unchecked power of the prosecutor as a driving force in America’s mass incarceration crisis – and charts a way out.

“An important, thoughtful, and thorough examination of criminal justice in America that speaks directly to how we reduce mass incarceration.” (Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy)

“This harrowing, often enraging book is a hopeful one, as well, profiling innovative new approaches and the frontline advocates who champion them.” (Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted)

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • The New York Public Library • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews 

The American criminal justice system is supposed to be a contest between two equal adversaries, the prosecution and the defense, with judges ensuring a fair fight. That image of the law does not match the reality in the courtroom, however. Much of the time, it is prosecutors more than judges who control the outcome of a case, from choosing the charge to setting bail to determining the plea bargain. They often decide who goes free and who goes to prison, even who lives and who dies. In Charged, Emily Bazelon reveals how this kind of unchecked power is the underreported cause of enormous injustice – and the missing piece in the mass-incarceration puzzle.

Charged follows the story of two young people caught up in the criminal justice system: Kevin, a 20-year-old in Brooklyn who picked up his friend’s gun as the cops burst in and was charged with a serious violent felony, and Noura, a teenage girl in Memphis indicted for the murder of her mother. Bazelon tracks both cases – from arrest and charging to trial and sentencing – and with her trademark blend of deeply reported narrative, legal analysis, and investigative journalism illustrates just how criminal prosecutions can go wrong and, more important, why they don’t have to.

Bazelon also details the second chances they prosecutors can extend, if they choose, to Kevin and Noura and so many others. She follows a wave of reform-minded DAs who have been elected in some of our biggest cities, as well as in rural areas in every region of the country, put in office to do nothing less than reinvent how their job is done. If they succeed, they can point the country toward a different and profoundly better future.

“Bazelon, cogent and clear-eyed as ever, lays out a welcome double-barreled argument: A prosecutorial shift toward mercy and fairness is crucial to healing our busted criminal justice system, and it’s already happening.” (Sarah Koenig, host of Serial)

524K	Charged - 001 - Charged.mp3
472K	Charged - 002 - Dedication.mp3
544K	Charged - 003 - Epigraph.mp3
21M	Charged - 004 - Introduction.mp3
21M	Charged - 005 - Part 1, Chapter 01.mp3
15M	Charged - 006 - Chapter 02.mp3
22M	Charged - 007 - Chapter 03.mp3
27M	Charged - 008 - Chapter 04.mp3
31M	Charged - 009 - Chapter 05.mp3
23M	Charged - 010 - Chapter 06.mp3
29M	Charged - 011 - Chapter 07.mp3
30M	Charged - 012 - Chapter 08.mp3
22M	Charged - 013 - Part 2, Chapter 09.mp3
27M	Charged - 014 - Chapter 10.mp3
22M	Charged - 015 - Chapter 11.mp3
12M	Charged - 016 - Chapter 12.mp3
24M	Charged - 017 - Chapter 13.mp3
33M	Charged - 018 - Chapter 14.mp3
9.7M	Charged - 019 - Epilogue.mp3
1.3M	Charged - 020 - Author's Note.mp3
684K	Charged - 021 - Credits.mp3
366M	total