Beth Schwartzapfel
Host and Reporter
Beth Schwartzapfel is a staff writer for The Marshall Project. She often covers addiction and health, probation and parole, and LGBTQ+ issues. Her work has won many awards and has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and NPR. Before joining The Marshall Project, she covered the criminal justice system as a freelance journalist for more than a decade.
Recently published
What's next after Violation? Introducing a new murder mystery, 'Beyond All Repair'
If you loved Violation, host Beth Schwartzapfel has a new recommendation for you. Hosted by Beth's esteemed colleague, Amory Sivertson, Beyond All Repair is a new podcast from WBUR &...
'The fullness of time': Jacob Wideman confronts his fate
Part eight of Violation explores what time means behind bars. And listeners respond to the question: Did Jake get what he deserves?
Jacob Wideman says 'vindictive' Arizona officials violated his rights
In August, lawyers representing Jacob Wideman argued before a judge in Arizona that state officials treated him in a “constitutionally impermissible” way when they revoked his parole more than six...
What options remain for Jacob Wideman?
In the final episode of Violation, we return to thorny dilemmas about the criminal justice system: When someone commits a terrible crime, as Jake did, is there anything they can...
'No safe place': After parole revocation, what are Jacob Wideman's options?
When someone commits a terrible crime, as Jake did, is there anything they can do to prove they deserve to be free again? How does the parole system help us...
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How a parole violation sent Jacob Wideman back to prison — possibly for life
Six months after Jacob Wideman was released from prison on home arrest, his parole officer told the parole board that Jake was doing well. Soon after that routine check-in hearing...
Life on parole: How a violation put Jacob Wideman back in prison
Jake didn’t know it when he was first released, but his freedom would only last nine months — and there were people on the outside working to put him back...
Mass supervision: Out of prison, but not the system
Jake didn’t know it when he was first released on parole, but his freedom would only last nine months — and there were people on the outside working to put...
How Jacob Wideman faced his mental health struggles behind bars
Jake had many years of practice pretending he wasn’t suffering from mental health struggles in his youth, but now, he had to push those struggles even further out of sight...