Justice Voices is a podcast featuring “stories that need to be told, voices that need to be heard” regarding crime and criminal justice issues.

The program’s founder and host, David Risley, is a former career federal prosecutor and former Director of Public Safety Policy in the Illinois Governor’s office (for more information, see his personal website).

The program features the stories and voices of people with lived experience with crime and the criminal justice system, including such topics as reentry to community and family life after prison, healing from the trauma of being the victim of crime and trauma leading to commission of crime, the prison experience, effective policing, and community efforts of prevent and combat crime.

For many episodes, Mr. Risley is joined by co-host Lynard Joiner. The two originally met on opposite sides of the law on opposite sides of a federal courtroom, with Mr. Risley as prosecutor and Mr. Joiner as defendant. Now, they are good friends and collaborators on this and other projects.

After serving 17 years in prison, Mr. Joiner founded and is CEO of Shifting Into New Gear (SING), a nonprofit organization through which he provides mentoring and resource navigation services to citizens returning to Springfield, Illinois after release from prison. He is also author of the book, LJ’s Cocoon: Going to Prison Saved My Life.