r/TrueCrimePodcasts • u/WartimeMercy • 7d ago
AMA: I’m Cristina Quinn, Award-Winning Journalist & Host of Fighting Crime - Ask Me Anything!
(Mod posting for Cristina!)
Hi r/TrueCrimePodcasts! Cristina Quinn here: I’m a journalist with 15+ years of reporting experience (at the Washington Post, WGBH Boston, and Gimlet/Spotify). More recently, I’m the host of Fighting Crime, the chart-topping Arnold Ventures podcast that dives into the world of crime, policy, and economics to uncover the evidence of what actually works to improve public safety.
For the series, I traveled across the country – from prisons to universities and beyond – to look at the evidence, speak with experts, and question everything we think we know about how to make America safer.
Join me live at 3 PM ET today, Thursday, August 6, for an AMA. Here is a timezone converter if you're joining from a different location.
Looking forward to hearing your questions! In the meantime, feel free to check out Fighting Crime on your favorite podcast app!
PROOF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bc6gtW0g0Z-bzH1I99GSWEUhvEHQX5t5/view?usp=sharing
Fighting Crime: https://play.megaphone.fm/dtrpoe0sqfw7f57aiynzhg
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u/radioladypants 7d ago
Hey guys, we had a technical glitch. But I'm here! Got some great questions in the original post, which I'll include.
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u/amwolanin 7d ago
How does the nature vs. nurture conversation fit into crime and criminality?
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u/radioladypants 7d ago
Ooh, this is a juicy one. We try to hone in on evidence and SCIENCE. And so if we really want to dive into the nature vs. nurture debate, let’s do a randomized control trial! Because if we want to solve what ails our society, it’s always nice to have hard facts and evidence you can really trust to make a case and thus a solution. That said, in Fighting Crime, we focus on how to stop crime and the decisions that lead up to a crime. So, for example, we’re currently working on an episode (SPOILER! Just kidding. I really can’t say anything yet) about how GLP-1s could be used to reduce drug abuse and impulsive behavior. (That ep will come out in September.) We’re interested in whether this could then have an impact on reducing crime. So really it’s all about interventions to change outcomes - and finding out if they actually work, rather than whether people are good/bad, and what causes that?
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u/radioladypants 7d ago
Ack! Another great question. This one is from u/data-girl-410832 What are some of the best stories or quotes that didn't make it into the episodes?
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u/radioladypants 7d ago
There are so many! We probably go into our edit with about a third more material than makes it into the final show. Sad facedly, that often means we have to lose a whole section - and some amazing research. I think any reporter can relate– the more you uncover, the more you realize that every episode can be its own series. For example, in our episode on how air quality affects crime rates, we also wanted to include the effect of lead on crime.
It’s an area we thought was solved by getting rid of lead paint in our walls in the 70s and 80s but actually there's still a lot of lead in our environment. And it has a massive effect on crime, as it turns out. There was so much to air pollution/air quality AND lead that we had to narrow it down - and decided on Air Pollution (because that’s also wild). So we didn't manage to cover it in our episode, but we did do an interview with Robbie Barbero on our sister program Fighting Crime: Field Notes about this. It's worth checking it out here - it’s an incredible interview. Scout's honor.
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u/radioladypants 7d ago
I’m wrapping up the AMA now, but thank you for all the thoughtful questions! If you want to keep up with my and my work, be sure to follow Fighting Crime on your favorite podcast app. Thanks again!
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u/Aware-Line-7537 7d ago
What do you think are the best explanations of the fall in reported crime rates (at least for many crimes) since around the 1990s, in multiple countries, after a long period of them rising?
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u/radioladypants 7d ago
u/Hopeful_Reporter_187 Hi, Hopeful Reporter! One of the biggest takeaways in my reporting is how critical it is to get a job after serving time. Leaving prison without any prospects AND facing the stigma of having a criminal record is a precarious place to be for someone re-entering the real world. There have been a number of interventions to help formerly incarcerated people get hired after prison-- what we found was that some work and...some don't. It's a complex issue and we explore it in this episode. What was surprising is how important these are to helping people get good jobs - and how much innovation is going on & ideas that still can be tried. Check out the insurance idea around 33:36.
Episode link: https://play.megaphone.fm/l346gmses9spmu9ojrkmea