Slate Presents

We check in with Tarari and others as they complete their time in the diversion program and look toward their futures. We hear from the people inside the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office about their plans to reshape their slice of the criminal justice system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A standalone episode about one of the voices featured in our series who is introduced to listeners as an expert but who goes through his own harrowing experience with the system when he’s sent to Rikers a few days shy of completing his parole. We document his ordeal and its surprising aftermath.Additional music for this episode by Lee Rosevere.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tarari enters a diversion program which saves him from jail but puts his life — and the lives of other defendants like him — on a knife’s edge. We hear from social workers who run the program about the many ethical quandaries of trying to help their clients inside of a system built to punish them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tarari faces a very long prison sentence before he’s offered the chance at mercy — with many strings attached. An episode from Eric’s past comes back to haunt him as he campaigns for D.A. and thinks through the consequences of extending mercy to people like Tarari. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As his family and friends hustle to come up with his bail money, Tarari ends up at one of the most infamous jails in the country: Rikers Island. Eric runs for his own term as district attorney just as the demands to close Rikers heat up. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first bonus episode of Charged, host Emily Bazelon talks to producers Veralyn Williams and Alvin Melathe. Williams worked with Bazelon in the early stages of the podcast, and then Melathe took over a few months in. They discuss what it’s like being producers of color, and the racial nuances of making a podcast about crime and punishment in New York. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The mayor of New York deals with a big political problem by creating a new court in Brooklyn. Two men, born 25 years and a few blocks apart in Brooklyn, take entirely different paths to meet at that court—one as a defendant and the other as the district attorney.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For two and a half years, Emily Bazelon has been following people through a special court in New York designed to be a speedy machine for the harsh punishment of illegal gun possession. Along the way, a strange thing happened—the politics outside the courtroom started to change when a new generation of activists and insiders began challenging the old system the gun court was part of.Season 1 of Slate Presents brought you the story of Ruby Ridge, and Season 2 brings you a fight to transform one big-city justice system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen to the first chapter of the audiobook version of The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth. Narrated by January LaVoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this excerpt from the second bonus episode of The Queen, Dan Kois talks to Josh Levin about the process of writing the reporting-intensive book the podcast series is based on. They’re joined by a panel of three distinguished authors, who share their own lessons about what it takes to write a book-length investigation: David Grann, a New Yorker staff writer and the author of Killers of the Flower Moon; James Forman Jr., winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for his book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America; and Eliza Griswold, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for her book, Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock the entire season of The Queen, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/thequeenplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it possible that Linda Taylor perpetrated one of the most infamous child abductions in American history? In this excerpt from the first bonus episode of The Queen, Josh Levin talks to Paul Joseph Fronczak about how Taylor could be connected to the April 1964 kidnapping of a 1-day-old boy born to Paul’s parents, Dora and Chester Fronczak. They also discuss Paul’s search for his true identity.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock the entire season of The Queen, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/thequeenplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Linda Taylor had a tendency to emerge from out of nowhere, upend everything in her path, then vanish without leaving a forwarding address. The final episode of The Queen focuses on two different stories about the lives Taylor changed. In one case, she helped a vulnerable family escape the degradations of the Jim Crow South. In the other, she kidnapped a child and may have been responsible for her own husband’s death.This podcast is based on Josh Levin’s book, The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock the entire season of The Queen, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/thequeenplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A decade before she became known as the “welfare queen,” Linda Taylor put herself at the center of a different Chicago scandal. Upon the death of gambling kingpin Lawrence Wakefield, Taylor posed as the heir to his sizable fortune. The ensuing court proceeding was full of lies and surprise witnesses. That heirship hearing would ultimately reveal Taylor’s real identity and offer a window into her troubled past.This podcast is based on Josh Levin’s book, The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock the entire season of The Queen, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/thequeenplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 1970s, a pair of very different men fought to define Linda Taylor’s image. For presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, Taylor epitomized the brokenness of the federal bureaucracy and the broader trend of poor people getting rich off the public dime. Taylor’s defense lawyer, the civil rights attorney R. Eugene Pincham, believed she was a scapegoat, and that her actions were crimes of survival.This podcast is based on Josh Levin’s book, The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth.This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock the entire season of The Queen, but you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/thequeenplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Linda Taylor became the “welfare queen” in 1974 when the Chicago Tribune publicized her outrageous exploits. The reporter who introduced her to the world was a Pulitzer Prize winner named George Bliss. He stumbled into the Taylor story while investigating waste and fraud in the public aid system, and his fixation on a single welfare recipient may have been more damaging than he ever realized.This podcast is based on Josh Levin’s new book, The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth.Want more of The Queen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access all episodes of The Queen (and your other favorite Slate podcasts) completely ad-free. Plus, you’ll unlock subscriber-exclusive bonus episodes that bring you behind-the-scenes on the making of the show. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/thequeenplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Linda Taylor was a con artist, a kidnapper, maybe even a murderer. She was also America’s original “welfare queen,” the villain Ronald Reagan needed to create a vision of a country being taken advantage of by its poorest citizens. Josh Levin reveals the never-before-told story of a woman whose singular life was forgotten in the rush to create a vicious American stereotype.This podcast is based on Josh Levin’s book, The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth.Want more of The Queen? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access all episodes of The Queen (and your other favorite Slate podcasts) completely ad-free. Plus, you’ll unlock subscriber-exclusive bonus episodes that bring you behind-the-scenes on the making of the show. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/thequeenplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode of Standoff, our narrative miniseries on the story of Ruby Ridge, host Ruth Graham recaps the prosecution of Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, and explores how the story of the standoff became legendary among the modern far right.Get full access to Standoff: What Happened at Ruby Ridge with Slate Plus. Join to unlock the full season—plus ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Standoff show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/standoffplus for access wherever you listen.Episode Art:Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Govt/Wikipedia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Ruth Graham describes what happens for the bulk of the 11-day siege on the Weaver family property. As the surviving Weavers stayed holed up inside their cabin, their story attracted droves of supporters and rabble-rousers to rural Idaho.Get full access to Standoff: What Happened at Ruby Ridge with Slate Plus. Join to unlock the full season—plus ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Standoff show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/standoffplus for access wherever you listen.Episode Art:Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Dave Hunt/Wikipedia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ruth Graham breaks down what led to a shootout on the Weaver family property on Aug. 21, 1992, that left three people dead.Get full access to Standoff: What Happened at Ruby Ridge with Slate Plus. Join to unlock the full season—plus ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Standoff show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/standoffplus for access wherever you listen.Episode Art:Former FBI Director William Sessions holds up a copy of the "rules of engagement," that were used in the 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho during Senate hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC 22 September. Key witnesses have contradicted each other regarding the "could and should" shoot order given to snipers during the seige. AFP PHOTO. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Luke Frazza/AFP via Getty Images. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Randy and Vicki Weaver moved their family to a remote Idaho cabin. They feared their world would be destroyed in an apocalyptic confrontation with the federal government. They were right. In this first episode of our new narrative miniseries Standoff, host Ruth Graham explores the ideologies and influences that led to the deadly siege at Ruby Ridge in 1992.Get full access to Standoff: What Happened at Ruby Ridge with Slate Plus. Join to unlock the full season—plus ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Standoff show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/standoffplus for access wherever you listen.Episode Art:John Magaw (L), director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, shows weapons to US Sen. Arlen Specter, R-PA, during Senate hearings 08 September on Capitol Hill. The committee is investigating the actions of federal agencies involved in the raid in Ruby Ridge, Idaho. The weapons were those that white separatist Randy Weaver sold to an undercover ATF agent. Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Mannie Garcia/AFP via Getty Images. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.