Ep. 5: 500 Names

[Contains explicit content] Decades ago, you sent hundreds of people to prison. And to this day, you know a lot of those sentences weren’t fair. How do you make things right? As a federal judge in the mid-90s, Nancy Gertner’s hands were tied by laws that forced her to come down severely against drug offenses – especially when crack cocaine was involved. We often think of judges as all-powerful in their courts. But in this episode, we look at how anti-crack laws forced judges to consider cold sentencing formulas, instead of human beings. Today, Gertner is finding ways to undo some of that damage.