21: Carissa Byrne Hessick

21: Carissa Byrne Hessick

Author: Jennifer Taub & Politicon LLC April 16, 2023 Duration: 1:12:37
Jen speaks with Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick about her remarkable book, Punishment without Trial: Why Plea Bargaining is a Bad Deal. Her book goes beyond just showing why plea bargaining is a bad deal. She also shines a light on several other types of punishments without trial. These are pre-trial detention, civil forfeiture, and assorted fees from pre-trial, booking and diversion programs. 

Punishment without Trial shares the stories of heroes trying to address the inequities in the system and what they are up against, namely others trying to keep things the same or make them less just. We learn about how the search for truth and meaningful consequences is no longer the focus of the criminal justice system. Pressuring accused people into plea bargains is about valuing efficiency over due process.

Carissa teaches at the UNC School of Law and has a VERY fancy title –– the Anne Shea Ransdell and William Garland “Buck” Ransdell, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law. She is also director of the Prosecutors and Politics Project. 



Contact Booked Up:

You can email Jen & the Booked Up team at: BOOKEDUP@POLITICON.COM or by writing to: 

BOOKED UP 
P.O. BOX 147
NORTHAMPTON, MA 01061


Get More from Carissa Byrne-Hessick
Twitter | Website | Author of PUNISHMENT WITHOUT TRIAL


Get More from Jen Taub:
Twitter | Website | Author of BIG DIRTY MONEY 



For anyone who’s ever finished a great book and immediately wanted to dissect it with a smart friend, Booked Up with Jen Taub is that conversation. Hosted by author and legal commentator Jennifer Taub, this podcast digs into the ideas, arguments, and narratives shaping our world, all through the lens of what we’re reading. It’s less a formal book review and more a lively, critical exploration. Episodes weave together themes from politics, culture, and current events, treating books as vital source material for understanding the bigger picture. You’ll hear Taub’s insightful commentary and analysis, often drawing connections between an author’s work and the real-world issues it illuminates. The discussion feels urgent and relevant, whether tackling a new release or a classic with renewed significance. Listening to this podcast is like joining a book club where the conversation is always sharp, informed, and unafraid to challenge conventional wisdom. It’s for readers, thinkers, and anyone curious about the power of stories to explain our complicated present.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 59

Booked Up with Jen Taub
Podcast Episodes
18: Book Club: SPARE [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:19
This family has more money than God. Why in the world can’t they get some therapy? A Grandmother who never hugs her grandchildren? A father who does not hug his son after telling him his mother was killed? No, our book i…
17: The Sum Of Us Heather McGhee [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:04
Heather McGhee joins Jen this week to talk about the newly released, young reader edition of her best-selling book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Heather’s book helps show how…
16: Ruth Ben-Ghiat [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:49
This week, my guest Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert in authoritarianism, democracy protection, and propaganda and author of the bestelling book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. Ruth is both a professor of Histor…
15: Mary Trump [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:26
You may think that Mary Trump needs no introduction, because you believe you know who she is in relation to a certain distasteful someone who shares her surname. Or you have read her first bestselling book: Too much and…
14: Martin Luther King Jr.’s  “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:48
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” To help honor Blac…
13: How We Win The Civil War with Steve Phillips [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:01
This week best-selling author Steve Phillips opens up about the very recent loss of his remarkable wife Susan Sandler and their shared goals on how to move America toward a multi-racial democracy. In the dedication to he…
12: Servants of the Damned by David Enrich [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:29
This week Jen speaks with David Enrich about his nationwide bestseller, Servants of the Damned, praised by David Cay Johnston in the Washington Post as “A powerful and important picture of how mega law firms distort just…
11: Lisa Guerrero [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:33
This week, Jen’s guest is the award-winning journalist Lisa Gurrero, on to talk about her new book Warrior: My Path to Being Brave. Lisa is a pioneer in the field of sportsbroadcasting enduring verbal abuse and sexual ha…
10: Book Club: January 6th Committee Report [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:43
Who knows? One day perhaps we will look back on this episode of Booked Up to find out that Donald Trump has faced a different kind of booking. Or at least an indictment. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Today for ou…
9: Hamlet’s Heirs with Linda Charnes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:16
Dr. Linda Charnes –– Professor of English, European Studies and Gender Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington where she has taught since 1989–– joined Jen to talk about Hamlet, Talionic Law (aka retributive eye-for-a…