People taking it upon themselves to solve the tiny, overlooked crimes of the world. Prologue: Host Ira Glass bikes around Manhattan with Gersh Kuntzman, in search of illegal license plates. (11 minutes) Harriot Vs Harriot: Writer Michael Harriot reexamines the DIY criminal justice system his mom invented to deal with his bad behavior as a child. (20 minutes) Alternate Side: Producer Aviva DeKornfeld talks to Caveh Zahedi about a crime he may or may not have committed, depending on who you ask. (7 minutes) Caveh Zahedi first told this story on his podcast, 365 Stories I Want to Tell You Before We Both Die. Jewel Intentions: Micaela Blei accidentally solves a crime that had been going on for a long time, right under her nose, and has to decide what to do next. She told this story onstage at The Moth. (7 minutes) Occam’s Toilet: Editor Bethel Habte examines video evidence of two parents trying to get to the bottom of a minor crime committed in their own home. (7 minutes)
A quick warning.
There are curse words that are unbeeped in today's episode of the show.
If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org Ladies and gentlemen, let's be honest about something.
Most of us, we see wrongdoing out in the world, somebody breaking the law out in the open.
Flagrantly, most of us do nothing.
No matter how many movies we've seen.
The big lesson is that it only takes one plucky, courageous person to make a stand.
We've got stuff to do, people are expecting us, we don't go to trouble.
Even if it would be so easy, if the crime that we're witnessing is minor and non violent and sort of outrageous.
So here's a good one.
I'm going to get off the bike for this one.
Well, please meet Gersh Kunstman.
Guy in his 50s, gray beard, quick with a friendly smile, riding bikes around lower Manhattan looking for illegal license plates.
What mostly happens is I'll be biking along and when you've looked at literally thousands of plates, you can see right out of the corner of your eye if something's wrong.
Often even just a fake plate will have a different glint in the sun.
In this guy's case, I could see it's a covered plate.
Covered plate meaning it's in a little frame with some sort of plastic over the plate.
Now, plate covers are illegal in New York.
This one's especially egregious because I don't know if you notice, and I'll just paint the word picture for your radio listeners, it's a shaded one shaded with some special stuff.
So if you're in the car directly behind this car, it looks normal.