How to Believe in Both Justice and Policing

How to Believe in Both Justice and Policing

In this episode of Cardinal Direction, host Jessica Dobrinsky is joined by Brianna Neufer, Chief Operating Officer at Americans for Public Safety, to unpack one of the most polarized issues in American life: public safety. Brianna shares how her work across the criminal justice landscape, from managing national strategy and grants at Stand Together to helping launch a new organization focused on policy and elections, has shaped her view that public safety is not a partisan talking point, but a foundational public obligation. Together, they discuss how communities can rebuild trust between citizens and law enforcement, why constitutional protections are essential to a fair justice system, and what practical reforms can reduce crime while strengthening the rule of law, including risk-based pretrial detention, smarter policing strategies, and more effective rehabilitation behind bars.

The Conservative Case for Criminal Justice Reform

Host Jessica Dobrinsky sits down with Beverly Sharpe, a former federal prison officer and administrator who spent 30 years inside the corrections system before turning her experience toward reentry and reform through West Virginia’s REACH Initiative. Together, they explore what happens after the sentence ends, when people returning home face hundreds of “collateral consequences” that block housing, work, education, and even basic stability, often setting them up to fail before they’ve had a chance to start over. Sharpe explains how REACH operates like a “triage nurse” for reentry: meeting people where they are, mobilizing a statewide network of reentry councils and community partners, and cutting through red tape to solve urgent needs in real time. The conversation also digs into the school-to-prison and foster-care-to-prison pipelines, the role employers and the faith community can play in restoring dignity, and why second chances are not soft on accountability—they’re essential to safer, stronger communities.

Second Chances: Life After Incarceration

In this episode of Cardinal Direction, host Jessica Dobrinsky sits down with Vikrant Reddy, senior fellow at Stand Together Trust, to explore one of the most consequential and complicated issues in American life: how we punish, how we forgive, and what justice actually requires. Drawing on his experience launching the Right on Crime initiative at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Reddy explains how criminal justice reform can resonate with conservatives and libertarians, especially through the lens of overcriminalization, in which regulatory violations can land ordinary people in the criminal justice system. The conversation moves from big-picture principles to practical takeaways for states like West Virginia. Reddy argues that public safety and constitutional rights are not competing priorities, but mutually reinforcing ones—and that effective reform starts with “swift and certain” accountability rather than simply harsher sentences. They also discuss policing, rural-versus-urban realities, and why opioid and drug policy challenges should not default to an ever-expanding criminal justice response.

The Frontline Crisis, Teacher Training

In the final episode of Cardinal Direction’s civics mini-series, host Jessica Dobrinsky sits down with Tiffany Hoben to unpack a problem hiding in plain sight: teachers are expected to deliver strong civics instruction even when many never received deep content training themselves. They explore the difference between teacher prep and effective professional development, why knowledge should come before “action civics,” and how civics, history, economics, and geography work best when taught together. The conversation also tackles a harder reality in West Virginia classrooms: without basic expectations for civility and discipline, it is nearly impossible to build the habits of civil discourse that healthy civic life requires.

Standards, Curriculum, and the Battle for Content

In this episode of Cardinal Direction, host Jessica Dobrinsky sits down again with Tiffany Hoben, Director of Education, Partnerships, and Strategy, to unpack the real battle in K–12 education: not just how we teach, but what we teach. They walk through the difference between standards, curriculum, lesson plans, and instruction, and explain how each piece shapes what students actually learn about civics, government, and economics. Using side–by–side examples from West Virginia and Florida, Jessica and Tiffany explore what happens when standards are vague, key landmark Supreme Court cases disappear from K–12 expectations, and complex ideological debates are introduced before students even learn basic concepts like supply and demand. They also discuss how to “spiral” content across grade levels, what good civics standards should look like, and how states can build a more coherent, content–rich path from kindergarten through graduation.