Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Treating Ebola, Broken Windows Policing, and Hate-Watching TV
The American doctor being being treated for ebola has been helped by an experimental drug. Should everyone with the disease have access? An LA Times investigative report finds that PTSD claims have exploded. What’s going on? The puritanical view of sex on “The Bachelorette.” And more…
By Madeleine Brand • • 52m ListenToday on Press Play, the American doctor being being treated for ebola was given an experimental drug that seems to have improved his condition. Why isn’t everyone with the disease getting this treatment? Is the VA over-treating PTSD? New evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in Texas for setting fire to his home and killing his children. The death of a man put in a chokehold by an NYPD officer has New York re-examining the Broken Windows policing policy -- how is it doing here in LA? And what’s data-driven sentencing: good idea/bad idea? Finally, on our weekly TV roundup, Netflix releases another season of “The Killing,” and a strangely puritanical view of sex on “The Bachelorette.”
Banner Image: Broken windows in abandoned cinema, illustrating the Broken Windows Theory by: Spitzruten
In this episode
6 storiesTreating Ebola
An American doctor who was infected by ebola in Africa is now being treated in America. But before he left Africa, he was given an experimental drug that seems to have greatly improved his condition. Why isn’t that drug available to everyone infected with the disease?
Read the story8 minPTSD Claims
An LA Times investigative report finds that PTSD claims have exploded - and that many of those cases could be exaggerated or made up entirely. But is it better to over-treat PTSD than under-treat the condition?
Read the story8 minTexas Death Row Innocence
Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted of killing his three daughters in Texas in 1992. He was charged with setting a house fire that killed the girls. And he was executed for the crime in 2004. But a jailhouse informant who was instrumental in convicting Willingham has now recanted his testimony.
Read the story9 minBroken Windows
When a New York man died during an altercation with police on July 17, outrage across the city erupted. And now that the man’s death has been ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, many are taking a step back to look at the broader policies that may have led to his death - the “Broken Windows” philosophy in particular.
Read the story8 minData-driven Sentencing
Attorney General Eric Holder recently came out against a practice called data-driven sentencing, saying that it results in racial disparities. States are increasingly using data-driven sentencing - a model that tries to predict the chances of a criminal reoffending - to determine the length of sentencing.
Read the story7 minTV Roundup
Fans of “The Killing” stayed home this weekend to binge on the latest season, released in its entirety by Netflix on Friday . But are there actually any fans of “The Killing” left? And a show predicated entirely on sex, “The Bachelorette,” has a weirdly puritanical view of it.
Read the story8 min
