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Rethinking America's Criminal Justice System, With Lessons From Abroad

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In Pollsmoor Prison in South Africa, author Baz Dreisinger talks with a prisoner at a restorative justice workshop. (Courtesy of Baz Dreisinger)
In Pollsmoor Prison in South Africa, author Baz Dreisinger talks with a prisoner at a restorative justice workshop. (Courtesy of Baz Dreisinger)

The U.S. incarcerates more than 2 million people, a quarter of the world’s prison population.

The Obama administration has taken steps to reform the criminal justice system, most recently commuting the sentences of individuals convicted of nonviolent drug crimes.

Other countries based their prisons on the U.S. systems, but some are changing their programs.

Author and educator Baz Dreisinger toured prisons in nine countries — from Rwanda to Bangkok to Norway — and wrote about her experiences in her book "Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World." Here & Now revisits her conversation with host Robin Young.

You can hear our original conversation with Dreisinger from February 2016, and read an excerpt from her book, here.

Guest

Baz Dreisinger, associate professor of English at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She's also founder and academic director of the Prison-to-College Pipeline program. She tweets @bazdreisinger.

This segment aired on September 2, 2016.

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