Kenneth Polite
Lawyer and former United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division
1
APPEARANCES
1
PODCASTS
012
DEC 30
JAN 6
JAN 13
JAN 20
JAN 27
FEB 3
FEB 10
FEB 17
FEB 24
MAR 3
MAR 10
MAR 17
MAR 24
MAR 31
APR 7
APR 14
APR 21
APR 28
MAY 5
MAY 12
MAY 19
MAY 26
JUN 2
JUN 9
JUN 16
JUN 23
JUN 30
JUL 7
JUL 14
JUL 21
JUL 28
AUG 4
AUG 11
AUG 18
AUG 25
SEP 1
SEP 8
SEP 15
SEP 22
SEP 29
OCT 6
OCT 13
OCT 20
OCT 27
NOV 3
NOV 10
NOV 17
NOV 24
DEC 1
DEC 8
DEC 15
DEC 22
DEC 29
JAN 5
JAN 12
JAN 19
JAN 26
FEB 2
FEB 9
FEB 16
FEB 23
MAR 2
MAR 9
MAR 16
MAR 23
MAR 30
APR 6
APR 13
APR 20
APR 27
MAY 4
MAY 11
MAY 18
MAY 25
JUN 1
JUN 8
JUN 15
JUN 22
JUN 29
JUL 6
JUL 13
JUL 20
JUL 27
AUG 3
AUG 10
AUG 17
AUG 24
AUG 31
SEP 7
SEP 14
SEP 21
SEP 28
OCT 5
OCT 12
OCT 19
Sep 9, 2026
Running DOJ's Criminal Division with Kenneth Polite
12:38
12:55
13:39
14:26
31:42

Kenneth PoliteGUEST
I'm not in the Department of Justice now, so I can't, I can't necessarily speak, um, to, to how they frame this, this particular issue of how we communicate the, the work of US attorneys offices or communicate the work of, of AUSAs and US attorneys.

Kenneth PoliteGUEST
But I, I'll talk, uh, about the way that, you know, when I was becoming a US attorney and speaking with leadership like, you know, Eric Holder was the at- was the, the, the, the attorney general at the time, and he would always frame this as, "You are not merely prosecutors, you are community problem solvers." Right? The notion being that appreciating the, the power and authority that comes with investigating, prosecuting, sentencing, you know, leading to greater deterrence, you know, taking, taking bad actors off of the street and, and limiting their ability to replicate their criminality, all of those are important priorities for these offices.

Kenneth PoliteGUEST
At the same time, that, that is not the only way for us to achieve safety in our communities, right? And so if you know that, for example, your educational system, uh, is struggling with issues of truancy and that may be leading to, uh, to greater youth violence in your communities or it's a, it's a s- it's a symptom of, of greater youth violence in your community, perhaps instead of just prosecuting your way towards addressing that issue, you, you partner with educators, you partner with, with, with other support net- uh, systems within that community to help change the trajectory of those young people in a different way, away from criminality, away from truancy, and towards a more positive outcome.

Kenneth PoliteGUEST
If you are seeing, um, uh, other issues related to your healthcare system, for example, and how that might be affecting safety in your community, issues of transportation, issues of, of food, food security, of, uh, issues of housing, all of these are issues that in the, in the, the, the immediate kind of stereotypical fashioning of what a prosecutor, quote unquote, "can do" or a US attorney can do is clearly outside the scope.
17 MINS LATER
Jeff AsherHOST
What is the path forward here with, with AI as a tool that you want people to be able to use, but also it's important that they not make mistakes?