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Join celebrated director Lynn Novick for a preview of her new landmark PBS documentary, Crime and Punishment in America, followed by a post-show discussion with Ear Hustle podcast hosts, Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor.The new four-part, eight-hour series, executive produced by Ken Burns and Sam Pollard, tells the consequential story of criminal justice in America as it has never before been told — from the colonial era to today. The PBS extended trailer is available here, and a first look from the film is available here.
Narrated by Keith David, Crime and Punishment in America is the first documentary project to comprehensively explore the arguments Americans have had over the problem of crime, the purpose of punishment, and the meaning of justice for more than 250 years. The film offers a sweeping look at the American criminal justice system, from the origins of prisons and policing to our continued fascination with crime, and traces the contours of our imperfect system and how it influences nearly all parts of our society: the media, economics, and politics. Through the voices and testimony of those who have committed crimes, experienced incarceration, enforced the law, or lost loved ones to violence, the series explores the cost of America’s choices and the enduring tension between crime and punishment, vengeance and mercy, justice and redemption. Crime and Punishment in America will air over four consecutive nights on PBS beginning November 16, 2026, and will stream on all PBS digital platforms for four weeks.
After sharing a curated selection of clips from the eight-hour series, Novick will sit down with the hosts of the Pulitzer finalist podcast Ear Hustle, Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, to discuss the film’s making and perspectives on the American carceral system.
Lynn Novick has been making landmark documentary films about American life and culture, history, politics, sports, art, architecture, literature, and music for more than 30 years. As director and producer, she has created more than 100 hours of acclaimed programming for PBS in collaboration with Ken Burns, including most recently their six-hour series, The U.S. and The Holocaust, (co-directed and produced by Sarah Botstein), which received the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award and the Television Academy Honors Award. Novick’s films include The Vietnam War, College Behind Bars, Hemingway, Prohibition, Baseball, Jazz, Frank Lloyd Wright, and The War — these landmark series have garnered 19 Emmy nominations. Novick herself has received DuPont, Emmy, and Peabody Awards.
Ear Hustle co-host and co-founder Nigel Poor is an artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in museum collections including the SFMOMA, the M.H. deYoung Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. Nigel is a professor of photography at California State University, Sacramento. She’s also the author of The San Quentin Project (Aperture) and co-author of This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life (Crown).
Ear Hustle co-host and co-founder Earlonne Woods was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. In 1997, he was sentenced to 31 years to life in prison. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College, and completed many vocational trade programs. He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California Three Strikes Law, the statute under which he was sentenced. In November 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown commuted Earlonne’s sentence after 21 years of incarceration, citing his work on the Ear Hustle podcast. He’s also the co-author of This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life (Crown)).
Ear Hustle, the first podcast created and produced in prison, features the realities of incarceration and is made by a team in and out of San Quentin, then brought to listeners via Radiotopia from PRX. A two-time Peabody Award finalist, National Magazine Award finalist, and beyond, episodes have been downloaded by listeners across the U.S. and around the world more than 90 million times.
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