David Harris, Local Author on Criminal Justice

When a high school honors student emerges from a police confrontation outside his home bruised and beaten, and facing serious criminal charges, an American city erupts in protests. A long quest for justice begins.

A City Divided tells the story of the case involving 18-year-old Jordan Miles and the three plainclothes Pittsburgh Police officers who were charged with wrongful arrest and use of excessive force in an incident that left Miles battered. The book takes an in-depth look at the opposing stories, and at race and the fear it incites, to find answers. What happened between the police and the teen in 2010, and what went wrong? Can the courts respond with a just solution? And how can we prevent these tragedies in the future?

David Harris, a resident of Pittsburgh and the Sally Ann Semenko Chair at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, hosts the Criminal Injustice podcast, a weekly conversation about problems in the criminal justice system produced by Josh Raulerson. Harris, who has written, published and conducted research at the intersection of race, criminal justice and the law for almost thirty years, explains not just what happened but why, what the stakes are and, most importantly, what we must do differently to avoid these public safety catastrophes.