The judicial system in the United States has helped convict numerous people for the crimes they have committed, but it has also wrongfully convicted several people. Most of the time these wrongful convictions are a genuine mistake, but sometimes important documents are hidden or lied about to arrest the innocent. Sometimes these errors lead to innocent people spending several years of their life in jail for a crime they never committed or some spend their whole lives in a cell to never be given the justice they deserve. These injustices cause several people to have less faith in the judicial system to make the right choices.
Court Junkies is a podcast that was created by Jillian Pandac to shed light on the injustices in the judicial system by reviewing court documents, interviews and information from previous cases that have controversial results. Each episode discusses a different case where Jillian introduces new interviews and information that wasn’t originally discussed in the case to help the audience to question the integrity of the results. The first and second episode discuss a case about a daycare worker named Melissa Calusinski who was arrested for the murder of Benjamin Kingan. Melissa was working the day that Ben was found unresponsive at daycare and called medical services, but by the time they had arrived it was too late to save Ben. The autopsy report that was done on Ben showed that foul play was involved in Ben’s death because of a skull fracture that had occurred within three hours of his death. These results led to the arrest of Melissa who when pressured admitted that Ben had hit his head. Years later a mysterious phone call revealed that newly discovered x-rays had been found that never made it into trial, which showed that Ben did not have a recent skull fracture, but an old injury. The decision that Melissa is guilty still stands, but Jillian concludes the podcast by saying that she thinks Melissa is innocent and this causes all viewers to question the true story of Ben Kingan’s death.
To encourage the readers to question the cases presented, Jillian interviews close relatives, transitions with sad music and includes factual evidence from the case to allow for listeners to become invested in all the people that are involved and all the facts that are a part of the case. In the case involving Melissa the interrogations are included to show the emotion of Melissa and the intense pressure that is put on her to answer the questions that are asked. Jillian also included facts from medical professionals, such as the coroners involved in the case, to show the injuries on Ben’s body and she even included the results of Melissa’s IQ test that were much lower than average to help provoke the sympathy of viewers. Slow music is played during the transitions to continue to remind people that are listening that something isn’t right with the case being presented and that they should be encouraged to question the case. The final concluding effort to draw sympathy comes from the interviews at the recent trial. Melissa’s mom and sister both talk about how much progress the case has made and how excited they are to possibly have their loved one be free, which leads to people feeling empathy for these struggling family members. The evidence and emotions that are introduced during the podcast are intended to help viewers question the fairness of the judicial system.
All of these features are strategically placed in the podcast to gain the reader’s attention and to bring their emotions into their thought process. Jillian uses these to cause the readers to question if the judicial system is just.
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Hi Jenny! After reading your post about the Court Junkie podcast, I was intrigued since I enjoy crime shows like ones she talked about after listening to the podcast, and never realized I could get the same entertainment out of a podcast. I might have to start listening too!
Some things I noticed about your podcast were similar to the podcast I have been listening to in that the narrator gives her opinion on the situation at Hand. Jillian believed Melissa was innocent and in my podcast about ghost hunting, the narrator, after given the facts, believed that ghosts could be real. In both podcasts the narrator gives their opinion, but also presents all the evidence so that audience is able to think about what they believe.
I agree that slow music played during transitions adds a certain affect and when the producers put it in you know it has purpose and does allow the listener to reflect. I am curious as to if any action will be taken to give these people the justice they deserve. However, I think it is important for the community to have faith in judicial system since if no one did it would not work and then what would we all do? We want to have faith in the judicial system and all the police and detectives who work on these cases, so how do we find a balance in trusting in them and that they did their job, but also believe in peoples innocence?
This is an interesting idea for a podcast with lots of elements that I enjoy, and when creating my own podcast, I definitely want to incorporate some things like music, reflection time, and my own opinion as well. I think interviews and commentary from other people is a great addition to podcasts, however I do not know how of if i can include that in my own podcast.
Overall, great job and commentary and I cannot wait to hear more stories like this one!
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