Josie DuffY Rice
Josie Duffy Rice is a lawyer, journalist, essayist, and fellow at Type Media Center, as well as one of the nation’s leading experts on the power of the prosecutor’s office and prosecutorial misconduct. As senior reporter for The Appeal, she covers prosecutors, prisons, and other criminal justice issues. She hosts a podcast called Justice in America with Clint Smith. She is also currently a senior strategist for the Justice Collaborative.
Josie has been focused on criminal justice reform for ten years. In that time, she’s worked for some of the leading reform organizations including The Bronx Defenders, the Advancement Project, the Center for Court Innovation, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Justice Collaborative. A graduate of Harvard Law School, much of her advocacy work has focused on voting rights and criminal justice policy. In 2015, she began reporting on prosecutors for Daily Kos, where she was the only national reporter focused exclusively on prosecutors in the nation.
Her writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Slate, Gawker, Ebony, Rewire, Interactive One, and Spook Mag, among others. She has also been featured in The Nation, New York Magazine, and Scalawag.
Recent Highlights
The Abolition Movement
What we talk about when we talk about addressing the savage roots of policing: justice and safety for everyone.
By Josie Duffy Rice in Vanity Fair.
What Does It Mean to Defund or Abolish the Police?
Trevor Noah speaks with panelists about the recent progress of the Black Lives Matter movement, the call to defund the police, and community-based alternatives.
Featuring Mychal Denzel Smith and Josie Duffy Rice on The Daily Show.
Sentenced To Life At 16 In Slaying Of Man Who She Said Pulled A Gun on Her
In 1996, Michele Benjamin was sentenced to life without parole for killing a man who she said solicited her for sex and menaced her with a weapon in New Orleans.
By Josie Duffy Rice in the Appeal.
Judicial Elections
Mass incarceration doesn’t just happen. One under-examined factor is the relationship between judges and corporate money/big business interests.
Fellow Josie Duffy Rice co-hosts a discussion on Justice in America.
Shout Out to Criminal Justice Reformers
As the Justice in America Podcast returns for a second season, our fellow Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith III talk to Colorlines about the activists and organizations fighting to remake the nation’s criminal justice system.
By Josie Duffy Rice in Colorlines.
How to Punish Voters
The prosecution of individual voters for fraud is a trend that seems intended to intimidate. By Josie Duffy Rice in the New York Times.
The Gospel According to Pusha T
The artist raps about cocaine with effortless dexterity. But in lionizing the antics of the dealer, he fails to fully comprehend the life of an addict. By Josie Duffy Rice in the Atlantic.
Cyrus Vance and the Myth of the Progressive Prosecutor
Mr. Vance’s willingness to ignore possible wrongdoing by powerful people is a serious issue. But his biggest failures have not been the cases he won’t prosecute, but rather the ones he does. By Josie Duffy Rice in the New York Times.