Fighting Crime

Mental illness does not mean that someone will resort to criminal behaviour, but unfortunately it is over represented in prisons and jails. Some criminal activity can in part due to difficult life circumstances for people with mental illness and a lack of treatment, and these individuals can be vulnerable to returning back inside after release if they don’t have the care that they need. At the same, jails and prisons aren’t the best places for someone suffering from mental illness: the staff aren’t trained to provide this care and incarceration can exacerbate some conditions, which means it’s also expensive to take care of someone inside. So how can we ensure people get the support they need so they don’t end up in jail or prison, and to help keep them away upon release? And which methods also have the best outcomes for us all when it comes to budgets and public safety? Our host Cristina Quinn speaks to experts to find out more. This is the final episode of the first season of Fighting Crime. We will be back with Season 2 soon. If you’d like to share ideas on topics for us to cover, or anything else, contact us at [email protected] Guests: David Phillips, Economist, University of Notre Dame Vikki Wachino, Executive Director, HARP (Health and Reentry Project) Amy Watson, President, CIT International John Wetzel, Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections 2011 - 2021 Fighting Crime is an Indio Media Production for Arnold Ventures © 2026 Arnold Ventures. All rights reserved.

America’s prison population is greying fast; it’s estimated that by 2030 up to a third will be geriatric prisoners. And with age often comes health issues and the need for specialist medical care. But prisons aren’t built to provide this nor are prison staff experts in giving this care. Which means that it can cost several times more to treat these individuals in prison than if they were released into specialist nursing facilities.  Before people worry about the threat to public safety of releasing elderly prisoners so they can get better and cheaper care in nursing homes, consider that people generally age out of crime, and recidivism rates for this group are far lower than for younger people who are released.  The situation is however made complicated by the fact that many nursing homes don’t accept people who are formerly incarcerated. Our host Cristina Quinn visits one of the nursing homes that does take in formerly incarcerated individuals, this being iCare’s 60 West facility in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and finds out more about  their work, and the potential benefits for us all of having elderly prisoners in such a place.  Guests  Thomas Picard, Resident, iCare’s 60 West facility Mary Price, Senior Counsel, FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) David Skoczulek, President of Business Development and Communication, iCare Health Network Jess DeRing, Director of operations, MissionCare Health Scott Semple, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Corrections 2014-19 Gary Bozette, Resident, iCare’s 60 West facility

Could the same drug curbing your appetite also curb crime? GLP-1s like Ozempic aren't just reshaping waistlines. Research suggests they could blunt cravings for alcohol, drugs, and even impulsive violence. We visit a halfway house running a pilot treatment program and meet the researchers hoping GLP-1s could transform how America fights addiction and crime... Sources: Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist use and violent crime among US adults; Daniel Semenza, George Thomas (2026) GLP-1 Addiction Treatment Pilot Program; Open Doors and the Center for Addiction Science, Policy and Research (ongoing) The potential role of GLP-1 receptor agonists in substance use disorders – a systematic review; K M Völker, B L H Prechtl, N L Bormann, D S Choi (2026) Fighting Crime is an Indio Media Production for Arnold Ventures © 2026 Arnold Ventures. All rights reserved.

Around a fifth of American women report being raped in their lifetimes, and figures for sexual assault are even higher. One survey shows that a staggering 13.1% of college aged men say they’ve committed rape. What drives men to sexually assault women and how can we target men to prevent these crimes? At the same time, convictions for these crimes are extremely low. One reason for this is the reporting process can be traumatic, and so around 80% of women never report their assault or rape. However with little reporting crime experts also have less data to understand who to target to reduce rape and assaults. So how can we encourage more victims to report, and what are steps we can take to combat these crimes and to keep women and girls safe? If you have been a victim of sexual assault and would like support, you can reach out to the National Sexual Assault Hotline at RAINN.org. Guests: Jens Ludwig, Economist, University of Chicago Jess Ladd, Co-founder of The Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault Kennedy Johnston, Economics PhD student, Texas A&M University

Police officers across the country are reporting high levels of burn out, with many quitting the force after only a year or two. But when stress and fatigue are part of the nature of the job, what can those on the frontline of public safety do about it?  We hear how the power of human connection, sleep training and artificial intelligence are being used to try and make their shifts more manageable. Sources:  Elizabeth Linos , Krista Ruffini, Stephanie Wilcoxen. Reducing Burnout and Resignations among Frontline Workers: A Field Experiment,, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 32, Issue 3, July 2022.  James, L., James, S., & Atherley, L. (2025). The Seattle Police Fatigue Training Experiment. Applied Police Briefings, 2(2), 25–27.