This week I interviewed Jean Peters Baker, who served as the elected prosecutor of Jackson County (Kansas City), Missouri from 2011 to 2025. Jean grew up on a small Missouri farm with a father who was violent. The system of the 1970s did nothing to help Jean’s family – that is why she became a prosecutor, and that experience gives her a unique insight into the complexities of domestic violence and the challenges in prosecuting those cases, all of which she is exceptionally forthright about in this episode. We also discuss Jean’s decision to prosecute a Catholic bishop, the police officer she charged over the objections of powerful people in her state, the three former colleagues she fired within weeks of taking office, the death threats that followed her through much of her tenure, and why she declined to sign “reform pledges.” In short, Jean’s tenure (and as a result, this episode) is packed with interesting anecdotes and a lot of heartbreaking takeaways about the state of our politics and, at times, our criminal justice system. But I do think you’ll leave inspired, and not completely depressed, because of Jean’s strength in the face of a lot of adversity and hardship.