In this episode we interview Dr. Danielle Harris, a friend and colleague based at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, whose work focuses almost exclusively on desistance from sexual offending. What we know from the research is that recidivism rates, or reoffense rates, for people who sexually offend is quite low. In fact, studies consistently find that sexual recidivism rates for those who sexually offend are low.

To commemorate the one year anniversary of the podcast, for the next month we’ll be talking to scholars about how the past several months have shaped them as we start the new semester. Several of our guests do have tenure, but these times dictate amplifying as many voices as possible. These episodes will be part of a larger project, title TBD, bringing scholars together to discuss issues facing the profession.

On this episode, Professor Rebecca Earle and I discuss early forms of social control in the Americas. Professor Earle studies the history of food and focuses on the Spanish conquest. She describes what “policing” might have looked like in 1492 and how the diets of European and Native populations were used as a tool of statecraft. We also discuss the creation of race during the early conquest and how we are living with those consequences today.

In this Episode, we sit down with Alexa’s mom, Stacey Branchini, for a intimate, unscripted and candid conversation about the impact of a criminal trial on a survivor and their family. Often referred to as “the second rape”, the criminal trial is often just as traumatizing as the assault itself. This is evident in our decision to invite Stacey to talk with us, because as we worked on writing this episode Alexa was unable to remember many o f the details from after her rape. Including Stacey provides a unique perspective of this process and also highlights how trauma due to the rape impacted Alexa’s ability to recall certain events around that time.