[00:00:00] Intro: everyone has a voice. A story to tell, some are marginalized and muted. What if there was a way to amplify those stories, to have conversations with real people in real communities, a way to help them step into the power of their lived experience? Welcome to Amplified Voice, a podcast lifting the experiences of people and families impacted by the criminal legal system. Together, we can create positive change for everyone.
[00:00:33] Jason: Hello and welcome to Amplified Voices. My name's Jason and I'm here with my co-host Amber. Good morning, Amber.
[00:00:40] Amber: Good morning, Jason.
[00:00:42] Jason: Amber, we've been talking about doing this podcast for a while. You wanna start by explaining a little bit how we came to the decision to do this and what we're trying to accomplish?
[00:00:53] Amber: Yes. So I'm really excited about the prospect of this podcast, and we came to the name of amplified voices because we often hear the phrase people give a voice to the voiceless, if you will. And I really, honestly believe that people have a voice. It's just some aren’t listened to. Some are not. So the purpose of our podcast is to really lift up those voices of individuals who have been affected by the criminal legal system. So whether that be family members, whether that be people who have been formerly incarcerated, people under community supervision, all of those individuals who have been touched in some way by our criminal legal system,
[00:01:35] Jason: right? I've listened to a lot of podcasts. There are some really good ones out there, and a lot of times the folks talking are experts, right, they’re experts in their field, they've studied it and sometimes they have lived experience. But you never hear those really in-depth conversations with folks about their own personal experience. They might be talking about somebody else, right? So what we want to do is talk to people about what their experiences have been, how things have really affected them, right?
[00:02:02] Amber: Absolutely. And some of the guests that you'll see on here some may be involved in advocacy some, you know, may be more public about their story. And some may just be folks who have never even talked about how they've been affected in a public fashion before. So those are the voices that we really want to lift up these folks, even though they're not designated experts by a piece of paper. They are experts in this lived experience, so we're very excited about the prospect of kind of sharing this with the world.
[00:02:33] Jason: And so what's our ultimate goal?
[00:02:35] Amber: So our ultimate goal in sharing these voices is really putting human faces on what are often seen as folks who are the other or their numbers or their statistics, and showing that shared humanity that we all have, and ultimately having individuals of power or the general public to really understand these things to move towards change.
[00:03:01] Jason: But I think what's interesting, You know, when you read the newspaper or you're on social media, typically you get such sensationalized news, right? So people are portrayed as one dimensional. You've got people who have caused harm, become the most evil monsters. You've got other people who have had harm done to them, and oftentimes it can be the same person, right, so life is more complicated. Life as it was in the title of Joanne Wypijewki’s new book is messy, right? We want to get into more of the nuances and really show people as human
[00:03:32] Amber: absolutely I think that human complexity is key to understanding how we all move together. We all move forward and we make communities and people whole again rather than piling harm upon harm upon harm which will never have us living in a world where everybody can live safe and happy,
[00:03:56] Jason: the conversations that we have are tough. I mean, we recorded one and you came to me just to start off and said This might not be the 1st 1 that we go out with because it might be a little too shocking for folks.
[00:04:08] Amber: Yeah, we are gonna have some tough conversations with folks who are really sharing experience that they've had and how they really felt about it. And I think it's important to note that when we say a lot in criminal legal reform, we talk about not locking people into the worst thing that they've ever done. That's something that Bryan Stevenson said and has really been widely distributed.
[00:04:35] Jason: our mutual friend David Garlock will repeat .
[00:04:37] Amber: Yes, absolutely. I really want to kind of shine that light on somebody who has experienced harm as well. We don't want to lock people into the worst thing that's ever happened to them either. So we really want to shine a light on all aspects of how people are affected by harm by crime, by the system and what that looks like.
[00:04:59] Jason: Hopefully, we actually touch some people in terms of having them tap into their own humanity and realize that when we talk about criminal justice reform, we've got to really take a look at some of the more difficult cases and take a look and not just jump in. Pile on to whatever headline virtual lynch mobs that are out there, to really try to figure out hoow do we make a better, safer place where there's room for healing for everybody?
[00:05:27] Amber: Absolutely. That's what really gets me excited about this podcast, because we will be looking at all different angles, all different folks who have been affected by the system and how that ripples out to families, communities. And just that day to day lived experience.
[00:05:45] Jason: And I'm looking forward to interviewing you and having you interview me because I know that something we're gonna do. But that's not gonna be until we're a few episodes in
[00:05:53] Amber: Absolutely all right,
[00:05:55] Jason: until next time Amber,
[00:05:57] Amber: I'll see you then
Exit: you've been listening to Amplified Voice, a podcast lifting the experiences of people and families impacted by the criminal legal system. For more information, episodes and podcast notes, visit amplifiedvoices.show.
.jpg)
