For this episode, we visit the wondrous folks who run OnPoint NYC, an overdose prevention center. They base their work in the principles of harm reduction, which we explore in this episode. And we also talk to Toni Smith, the New York State Director at Drug Policy Alliance. Together they explain the futility and danger of trying to control addiction by punishing people for drug use.

Gun violence is horrifying, and each life lost to a gun is a tragedy. Most interventions involve creating punishments for gun possession or use. That can sound like common sense, but in reality, it's a racialized practice. And it's not been that effective for keeping people safe from guns. Are there better ways to prevent gun violence? For this episode, we go to Queens to talk with the fine folks at Community Capacity Development. They have time-tested ideas about the causes and antidotes to gun violence. They're doing the work in Queensbridge, one of the biggest public housing projects in North America. Let's listen to them.

This is the Problem with Punishment Podcast – Spoiler Alert! The problem with punishment is it doesn’t work. But the bigger problem is that we turn to punishment in every aspect of our lives. From our families to our neighborhoods, our boroughs, our city, we keep expecting punishment to make things better when for the most part, it makes whatever problem we’re addressing worse. Every time punishment fails, it hurts. Some people have taken the pain of that failure, and turned it into purpose.

We’re talking to a range of New Yorkers who have experienced firsthand the failure of punishment and who have found or created something better to do instead. From gun violence to child abuse to drug addiction, New York can lead the way in actually solving some of our most pressing problems. 

But first, we have to talk about the Problem with Punishment.