Serial Podcast Analysis - Episode One

Mikayla Baldwin

Intro to Criminal Justice

February 4, 2023

Episode two of the serial podcast, spoken by Sarah Koenig, is all about a judge

named Daniel Gaul. A man named Emmanuel spoke throughout the episode because he

moved to Cleveland specifically to learn from and report on this judge. When in the

courtroom, Gaul speaks to the family of the defendant. In the first example, Gaul is in

the courtroom with a kid named Tarrell. Gaul asks if his mother is with him and

proceeds to ask how she is. Then, he asks if anyone else is with her and his sisters were

there as well. He also asked how they were. While talking to Tarrell, he references Gaul

family and turns his “lecture” into something more personal; like it’s your mother or

father ending an argument between siblings. However, Gaul goes on to stereotype

Tarrell when talking about his father, who divorced Tarrell’s mother when he was five.

Gaul continuously asks if his siblings are fully related, insinuating that Tarrell’s mother

has different “baby-daddies''. Gaul goes on to shame Tarrell for having a child at 18 and

proceeds to scold him for saying that he works, although he’s in jail. In the end of this,

Tarrell is given four years of probation. The catch is, if Tarrell has another child out of

wedlock, that will be a technical violation of his parole. Now, I understand having your

own opinions and beliefs, but being in such a position of power and stereotyping the

people who come into your courtroom is absurde. Of course Gaul has seen many cases of

the same thing, a black kid without a father gets into trouble, but in no way is that the

same case for everyone; judges should know that best. Lastly, telling him that he can’t
have another kid out of wedlock is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. I agree that kids

should not be having kids, but if he is over 18, he can make his own decisions. Many

people never get married yet want children. I feel like probation could have been

enough, but adding the “no kids” part was personal. What makes this whole situation

worse, is that he did it two more times that day. Even if it is stupid for them to, people

can ave kids whenever they choose, especially when they are over 18.