Every year some thirteen million people are charged with crimes such as jaywalking, trespassing, not buckling seat-belts, and possession of small amounts of pot. Most of those convicted for misdemeanors are poor and/or people of color, and their cases are decided in minutes, with most defendants appearing in court without a lawyer and pleading guilty, then finding themselves in a spiral of fines, revoked drivers’ licenses, lost jobs, and criminal records. In this detailed analysis of the country’s massive petty offense system, Natapoff, professor of law at the University of California, Irvine and the author of Snitching, shows that most of the people caught in the misdemeanor machine have not committed a crime. She urges a closer look at this sector of the criminal justice system and proposes reforms. Natapoff will be in conversation with Jonathan Capehart, a writer for The Washington Post's PostPartisan blog and contributor for MSNBC.