Alexandra Natapoff (@ANatapoff), Law professor at U.C. Irvine, criminal law scholar, and author, joins us to discuss her book, “Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal.” What is a misdemeanor, and how is it different from a felony? The “unprincipled,” hodge-podge nature of US misdemeanor law. The alteration to a person’s rights merely getting arrested creates. How Stop-and-Frisk fed the problem. Racial and class oppression and the misdemeanor system. Ferguson, MO and the monetization of poverty by law enforcement. How the legal system causes fees to pile up for the accused. Reform and the practice of testing a policy’s fairness “from behind a veil of ignorance.” The importance of local criminal justice reform alongside more visible federal reform efforts.