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Cleveland attorney Rebecca Maurer discusses 'Serial' podcast in blog

Rebecca Maurer maintains "SerialLand," which views the podcast from both a legal and local perspective.
Credit: Tyler Carey, WKYC

Serial has become one of the most listened-to podcasts in the country, and this season, it is focusing on Cuyahoga County and its criminal justice system.

One Cleveland attorney has since gained notoriety from her blog about the podcast. Rebecca Maurer maintains "SerialLand" (a play on "The Land"), which views the podcast from both a legal and local perspective. Maurer sits down with WKYC's Sara Shookman each Monday for a conversation on the series.

Watch their latest discussion here:

"For anyone, espcially in the legal world, we know that criminal justice is a huge issue," Maurer, who's been a fan of the show since its groundbreaking first season, said. "The opportunity to have a national platform that was going to come to our town and specifically dive into issues here, that seemed like an excellent opportunity."

Maurer posts "responses" to each episode on SerialLand, which she spends a great deal of time researching both online and at local libraries. For instance, her latest post following Episode 5—which focuses on things like "the most powerful people in the [Cuyahoga County] Justice Center" and even a filmed altercation on an RTA bus—talks about different philosophies behind criminal punishment, restorative justice (which focuses on "healing" following criminal acts), the history of Cleveland's public transit system, and even the best places in the area to get a ham sandwich.

"It's really taken off," she said. "What surprises me about that is the hunger and interest from the city to connect all these different threads that are happening, and to think through how we got to where we are and where we're going to go from here."

Through it all, Maurer admits she is one of those people that loves Cleveland "despite its flaws, maybe even because of its flaws." She feels even with some of the issues being raised in Serial, it shouldn't be seen as a "black eye" for the city.

"For [some] of us, it can be hard to think, 'What is the nation thinking about us, yet again?'" she said. "I'm hoping to turn that on its head...I think it's time for us to be looking at ourselves honestly in the mirror, even if it means looking at the difficult issues."

To read Rebecca's latest posts, log on to SerialLand.com.

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