Hello! I’m Josie.

I’m a journalist, writer, law school graduate, and podcast host whose work is primarily focused on prosecutors, prisons, and other criminal justice issues. My writing has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Slate, among others. I was also a writer on the FX show The Premise.

I got my start in print journalism, but have also spent a good chunk of my career doing audio work. I was the host, co-writer, and co-executive producer of the Peabody-nominated podcast Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, which The New Yorker named as one of the top 3 podcasts of 2023 and New York Magazine called one of the year’s best podcasts. We won an Ambie for Best History Podcast, a “People’s Choice” Webby for Best Podcast Writing, and three Signal Awards, including a Gold Award for Best History Limited Series and two Listener’s Choice awards for Best Host (me!) and Best Limited Series.

In 2024 I released two new podcasts. I hosted the first season of Corruption Uncovered, the inaugural podcast by Roc Nation’s social justice and philanthropic arm, Team Roc. That project looked at rampant police corruption in Kansas City, Kansas, launched in December 2024. I also released The 30 Year Project, a limited series I developed in partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice, which explores the history, impact, and mythology of the infamous 1994 Crime Bill. I’m the former co-host of What a Day, Crooked Media’s daily news podcast. I also wrote and co-hosted three seasons of Justice in America, which I created with Clint Smith. I’ve also been a consulting producer on a number of other audio projects, including Campside Media’s hit Suspect.

Until May 2021, I was President of The Appeal, a news publication that publishes original journalism about the criminal justice system. I’ve been on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, All In with Chris Hayes, and others, and a guest on podcasts like You’re Wrong About, 5-4, Call Your Girlfriend, The Dig, 92Y, Why Is This Happening?, Citations Needed, and Slate’s Political Gabfest among others. I was also a correspondent on the Al Jazeera program Fault Lines, where I investigated Tennessee’s extreme sentencing laws for juveniles.

I’m a contributing editor at Balls and Strikes, a website that provides critical reporting and commentary on courts, judges, and the legal system. And I spend a lot of time working with organizers, lawyers, nonprofits, and news outlets, helping them think differently about issue coverage, narrative strategy, and effective communication.

I received my bachelor’s from Columbia before attending Harvard Law School. I’m currently a Senior Fellow at Type Media, and was previously a 2020 New America Fellow and a Civic Media Fellow at University of Southern California’s Annenberg Innovation Lab.

I live in Atlanta with my husband, Zak, and our two kids.