390. Alec Karakatsanis with Erin Papworth: Copaganda—How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News

390. Alec Karakatsanis with Erin Papworth: Copaganda—How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News

Author: Town Hall Seattle May 24, 2025 Duration: 1:27:06

From left to right: Headshots of Alec Karakatsanis (with short brown hair + beard) and Erin Papworth (with long dark hair and blazer)What if everything you thought you knew about crime and punishment was shaped by those who profit from it? Join us for a discussion with civil rights attorney and author Alec Karakatsanis as he examines "copaganda"—the deliberate manipulation of public perception by police, prosecutors, and the media. Despite historically low crime rates, the United States imprisons far more people than it did just decades ago, driven by a sprawling and profitable punishment industry. Karakatsanis will explore how media narratives fuel fear, distort public policy, and divert attention from systemic harms, challenging us to reconsider who truly benefits from these widespread misrepresentations.

Recognized by Teen Vogue as "one of the most prominent voices" on the criminal legal system and a featured guest on shows like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Breakfast Club, Karakatsanis brings his legal expertise, trenchant political analysis, and humorous personal storytelling to delve into one of the most critical topics in our society today.

After beginning his career representing people accused of crimes who could not afford an attorney, Alec Karakatsanis founded the Civil Rights Corps, an organization that challenges systemic injustices in the U.S. legal system. In the last decade, the organization's work has freed hundreds of thousands of people from illegal confinement in jail cells, reunited hundreds of thousands of families, returned tens of millions of dollars to marginalized communities, and advanced inspiring alternatives to punishment as a means of preventing and addressing social harm. He was named the 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Public Justice for designing and litigating landmark constitutional challenges to cash bail and modern debtors' prison practices across the United States. The author of Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System and Copaganda (both from The New Press), he lives in Washington, DC, with a community of wonderful friends, family, weird paintings, a garden, and his rock collection.

Erin Papworth, MPH, is a serial entrepreneur, executive, and ex-fintech founder, with a robust background in healthcare, finance, and technology. After leading multi-million dollar health programs in West and Central Africa, Erin co-founded Nav.it, a U.S.-based AI-driven financial wellness app. Nav.it was acquired by The Fintex Group (TFG) in Q1 2025. She is now the CEO of luupo, Inc, a subsidiary of TFG, bringing the mission of more inclusive consumer banking to TFG's global banking and payments network. Erin is an avid traveler, startup advisor, and maintains connections to research institutes, primarily documenting the outcomes of investing in diverse entrepreneurs and social enterprise.


Recorded live from a historic venue in the Pacific Northwest, the Town Hall Seattle Civics Series podcast brings the stage to your headphones. Each episode captures a vital conversation from Town Hall Seattle's ongoing programming, where experts, activists, and thinkers grapple with the ideas shaping our collective life. You’ll hear historians reframe our past, legal scholars dissect constitutional questions, and community organizers explain the mechanics of emerging movements. This isn't just theoretical discussion; it's a direct engagement with the policies and cultural shifts that touch our neighborhoods and the wider world. Tuning in feels like finding a seat in a thoughtful, often provocative public forum. The series operates on a belief that an informed community is an empowered one, and this audio archive makes that process accessible to anyone, anywhere. By focusing on the substance of live civic dialogue, this podcast provides the context and depth often missing from daily headlines, fostering a deeper understanding of how society functions and changes.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Town Hall Seattle Civics Series
Podcast Episodes
356. Dr. Rajiv Shah with Eric Liu: Charting a Course for Change [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:34
Ever wondered how a leader orchestrates large-scale change on a global scale? In his new book, Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens, Rajiv J. Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation and former administra…
355. Barbara McQuade with Jenny Durkan: In Search of Truth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:51
The subject of disinformation is a well-known part of political rhetoric, but it has implications even outside of the sphere of democracy. From the electoral system to schools; from the workplace to hospitals, the conseq…
354. Michael J. Gerhardt: The Law of Presidential Impeachment [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:09
Have you ever wondered how impeachment really works? As a witness and consultant in the impeachment trials of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, legal scholar Michael J. Gerhardt has collected a lifetime of scholarly researc…
352. Boldt at 50 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:20:50
Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Boldt Decision, a pivotal moment in civil rights history and tribal sovereignty. Centered around Charles Wilkinson's posthumously acclaimed work, Treaty Justice, a panel will discu…
351. Ijeoma Oluo with Michele Storms: Be a Revolution [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:28:07
Ijeoma Oluo's #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want To Talk About Race (book tour event at Town Hall in 2019), offered a vital guide for how to talk about important issues of race and racism in society. In Mediocre: T…
350. Tamara Payne with Glenn Hare: The Life and Legacy of Malcolm X [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:35
In 1990, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Les Payne embarked on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X. His goal was ambitious: to transform what…
349. Tim Schwab with Ashley Fent: The Problem with Philanthropy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:28:48
Journalist Tim Schwab is no stranger to investigative journalism that scrutinizes power structures and questions how private interests intersect with public policy. With funding from a 2019 Alicia Patterson Fellowship, S…
348. Ganesh Sitaraman with Paul Constant: Why is Flying so Miserable? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:16
It is among the most classically joked about modern grievances, air travel. Between flight cancellations, delays, lost baggage, increased prices, crammed planes, and the general downtrodden gloom that accompanies flying,…
347. Betty Houchin Winfield: Pioneering Women in Academia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:11
Starting in 1967, when fewer than 1% of women completed any education beyond four years of college, the Washington State University (WSU) Sociology Department dared to hire three female faculty members who became lifelon…