Peter Moskos

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino angered police groups with comments he made at a rally against police brutality in New York. Hear about the consequences and general attitudes toward police.

One year after the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, there's been a big push for a national conversation on race and policing. WNYC's Brian Lehrer actually hosted one. 

Some police officers are taking a back seat and trying to be more "hands off" in response to the wave of negative attention from police-related shootings.

The death of Freddiey Gray sparked rioting in Baltimore, much like the chokehold death of Eric Garner prompted massive protests here in New York.

This weekend in Baltimore, thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding answers from police over the death of Freddie Gray. 

Peter Moskos, assistant professor of law and police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a former Baltimore City police officer, and author of In Defense of Flogging, says flogging might improve our current (flawed) criminal justice system.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that California's overcrowded prison system violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court ordered California to transfer or release thirty thousand inmates over the next two years. But California isn’t the only state with a high rate of incarceration. The U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Peter Moskos thinks that Americans are in denial about the brutality of our prison system. And he has a provocative idea about how to change it. He's the author of the new book "In Defense of Flogging" and an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

While in grad school, sociologist Peter Moskos also became a police officer in a troubled neighborhood in Baltimore. He describes his life as an academic-turned-cop in his new book, Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District.

While in grad school, sociologist Peter Moskos also became a police officer in a troubled neighborhood in Baltimore. He describes his life as an academic-turned-cop in his new book, Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District.