Administration of Justice Studies

This series presents a detailed overview of the entire jurisprudence process. 3-part series, 30 minutes each.

While this is an older film (2008), it offers a brief history of U.S. criminal justice. It covers such topics as criminal justice in colonial America, the Quakers’ penitentiary, and the development of criminology. The program explains the organization of the U.S. criminal justice system.

For decades, the state of Louisiana has been known as the incarceration capital of America. But over the past year, the state has been trying to shed that reputation with new reforms that decrease the prison population and save money. William Brangham went to find how it's playing out for former prisoners, in a story produced by Frank Carlson in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

This 8 minute video from PBS shows Menlo Park police officers demonstrating a guided meditation.

What drives people to kill? Science has spent more than 50 years trying to get inside the mind of murderers to find in what ways they are different to the rest of us—and also the ways in which they are disturbingly similar. Michael Mosley opens up the Horizon casebook to discover how scientists have used extraordinary techniques and experiments to see what goes on inside the brain of a murderer. He shows how they have created a surprisingly comprehensive picture of the different factors that can drive someone to kill. And he asks the ultimate question—will we one day be able to intervene to prevent someone becoming a killer? A BBC Production.

Following the killings of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and George Floyd in Minnesota by police in 2020, historic protests calling for law enforcement reform erupted across the United States. But just what might such reforms entail? And how should we assess the nation's criminal justice system today? In this debate, five experts tackle three pressing questions on the history and future of policing in the United States: Should we defund the police? Do police unions do more harm than good? And has policing become too militarized?