Erwin James (2013) | A Killer Can Be a Good Neighbour

Erwin James (2013) | A Killer Can Be a Good Neighbour

Author: Festival of Dangerous Ideas August 2, 2021 Duration: 1:00:21

When someone commits a crime, we want them punished. If wrongdoers go to prison more often and for longer, everyone seems happy.

But we live in a system where people do eventually come out of prison and rejoin the community. And this is where what has happened to them in prison really starts to matter. If prisons are a rank breeding ground for recidivism, where drug use is unchecked and non-violent offenders are initiated into the criminal world, do you want someone who has spent time there living near you? Or would you rather see them going straight back to jail?

As incarceration rates grow, if we want anyone who has been to jail to have a chance in life, maybe we need to look at a different approach – the kind of prison model that could make a killer a good neighbour.

Erwin James is a convicted murderer and Guardian journalist. James was released in August 2004 having served 20 years of a life sentence.

Chaired by journalist Hamish Macdonald.


For more than a decade, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas has curated a space where provocative thinking isn't just welcomed, it's the entire point. This podcast is a direct line to that stage, offering an archive of talks that deliberately unsettle comfortable opinions and interrogate the stubborn problems we often agree to ignore. Each episode captures a live conversation from Australia's original disruptive ideas festival, presenting arguments that can be exhilarating, uncomfortable, and vitally important. You’ll hear from a compelling roster of festival alumni-including leading experts, intellectual troublemakers, and visionary authors-who share perspectives that conventional discourse frequently sidelines. The discussions here aren't theoretical exercises; they grapple with the pressing and difficult issues shaping our society and culture right now. Tuning in means granting yourself access to a decade-long tradition of intellectual courage, where the core assumption is that some truths are only reached by first entertaining a dangerous idea. It’s a chance to listen as boundaries are pushed, not for shock value, but for clarity. The result is a consistently challenging and refreshing audio experience that complicates simple narratives and expands what feels possible to talk about.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Festival of Dangerous Ideas
Podcast Episodes
Claire G. Coleman (2022) | Words are Weapons [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:36
Stories define who we are, our history and they can be weaponised. Stories can erase an entire culture. History is nothing but a story. Noongar woman and author Claire G. Coleman invites you to consider that Australia ha…
Joanna Bourke (2022) | The Last Taboo [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:44
Our modern society is dependent on extraordinary levels of abuse and violence towards non-human animals. While we may love animals, we continue to interact with them in thoughtless, violent and cruel ways. We destroy the…
Frances Haugen (2022) | Unmasking Facebook [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:31
Former Facebook product manager, Frances Haugen did not set out to be a whistleblower, but when it became a question of saving lives, she knew it was time to tell the truth. On top of her concerns about mental health and…
Sisonke Msimang (2022) | Precious White Lives [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:16
Australia is professed to be the most successful multicultural society in the world. However, with our treatment of multicultural communities throughout the pandemic, a selective immigration progress and fraught ongoing…
Kevin Roose (2022) | Caught in a web [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:03
In a world where the internet saturates everything, where does the internet stop and our human selves begin? As we're nudged and pushed by an endless stream of alerts, notifications and recommendations, our attention and…