Why We Should Close All Prisons & Legalise Drugs - Chris Daw QC - #211

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Oh, howdy, friends. Welcome back. My guest today is Chris Daw QC, and we're talking about the UK justice system, particularly just how broken it is, as far as Chris is concerned. He thinks it's totally fucked. He thinks that we need to close all prisons, that children can never be criminals, that we need to legalize drugs, and that no one is either good nor evil. Now, I know that that sounds like the dreamy journal writing of a teenager that's just discovered Karl Marx, but Chris is a Queens Council barrister. So he knows his law. You can put it that way. He's worth his salt and is highly regarded. The BBC use him as a commentator on lots and lots of law issues going on in the UK. It's a compelling argument. I provide the counter narrative today, and he's got an answer for pretty much everything that I could throw at him. So I'll be very interested to hear what your thoughts are on this. Immediately, the sort of visceral responses, fear of the other, criminals need to be locked up, don't we need to punish them, blah, blah, blah. But if the goal is to have a society in which crime is minimized and well-being is maximized, I think it's pretty difficult to make an argument against what Chris is saying here. In other news, this episode of the podcast is brought to you by The Protein Works. I am going to be using an awful lot of their products as I need to keep my vitamins and minerals up over the coming weeks and months as I start to regrow my Achilles tendon. So I will be using their vitamin D3, their daily multivitamins, their omega-3s, and you can see all that and more at theproteinworks.com/modernwisdom. It's a good way to, I often get asked what supplements I take or I advise using and everything that I use is on there. You can one-stop shop, have a look under the hood, see what I'm putting into my body, see some of the things that I'm putting into my body, most of the things. And they're all on the proteinworks.com/modernwisdom. And if you use the code MODERN35, you will get 35% off everything, not just the stuff that I recommend, but the rest of the site as well. The foods that they make, like there was some point, I don't know, within the last 10 years, where supplement companies turned a corner and stopped just making supplements, like providing you with protein powders and creatine and things like that, and actually started making the best quality fitness foods that are available. So their protein crunkies are kind of like a protein granola bar with chocolate and fruit in, and they're unbelievable. They're nicer than a normal granola bar and they've got 17 grams of protein. Their superfood bites are these sort of cold, rolled little cubes of seeds and fruit, which they're just like crack. As soon as you open a packet of them, you're going to end up finishing it. So yeah, go and have a look. All the stuff that I like, the flavors that I enjoy are on there. And obviously, as I keep talking about it, you do need it. If you're not using a super greens powder, you need to get on it. It is the easiest way to maximize the micronutrients that you're getting and to bolster your fruit and vegetable intake in one easy drink per day.
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What's QC stand for?

**Chris Daw** (3:43)
QC sounds for Queens Council, so one of Her Majesty's Council, which is a special kind of barrister, lawyer, and we're appointed to kind of basically be the elite of the elite, when it comes to being a lawyer, basically, and even though I say so myself, which I do.

**Chris Williamson** (3:57)
Are you the SAS of the?

**Chris Daw** (3:59)
We are. They bring us in when it gets messy.

**Chris Williamson** (4:02)
You're the wetwork black squad sent in under the cover of darkness.

**Chris Daw** (4:07)
You've got it. We're the Navy SEALs. You've got to go under water. You've got to get through mud. It's basically anyone who's in the proper, proper shit, we're the ones who are supposed to dig them out. The deepest kind and the smelliest kind.

**Chris Williamson** (4:21)
I love it. I absolutely love it. OK, so justice is on trial today. I want you to give the opening speech. Approach the microphone, please, Chris Daw QC, and give us the opening speech. Why is justice on trial?

**Chris Daw** (4:37)