{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Justice Impact Show","title":"The Truth Heals: Preparing for Sentencing with Brad Rouse","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3470,"description":"Brad Rouse on mitigation, recovery, and telling the truth in sentencing narratives\nJP Maroney speaks with Brad Rouse, a mitigation consultant with a background in theater and storytelling, about how he helps defendants tell accurate, human narratives at the most consequential moment of a case. Brad also shares his own path through addiction, arrest, and a year at MDC Brooklyn, and why that experience now drives his nonprofit work for people who cannot afford this kind of support.In this episode, they discuss how narrative work can support sentencing, plea negotiations, clemency, and recovery while still staying grounded in facts. The conversation also explores why Brad avoids AI in this work, how he thinks about innocence, and why he believes the process should lead to healing, not just a lower number.\nKey topics\nBrad explains how his own arrest and addiction changed his worldview and made him rethink how he saw people in the federal system.\nHe describes MDC Brooklyn as a place that, despite being harsh, helped him get off drugs, begin healing, and reconnect with life.\nBrad shares how individual staff members, doctors, psychologists, corrections officers, and faith leaders made a real difference to him while incarcerated.\nHe connects his theater background to mitigation work, saying both require helping someone tell a true story that reaches an audience.\nIn his view, a strong narrative does not manufacture sympathy, it organizes truth so a judge, prosecutor, or victim can understand the full person.\nHe says the best narratives balance accountability for the conduct with context about what came before, what was lost, and what comes next.\nBrad argues that good narratives can help in sentencing, plea negotiations, probation interviews, pardon and clemency requests, and family communication.\nHe rejects AI for this work, citing authenticity, privacy, discoverability, and the need for a human ear on sensitive conversations.\nHe explains why he shifted from firm-based...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/nhl0jt9yc9bMTB_w4VRpw7Z_uzhEePkeYKE_stSpF8g/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82MTA0/ZTY5NzVmYzAxZTk2/YTUwMTcwYTBlMTAx/MDM4Yi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}