Jerri Clark’s son Calvin was in college when his erratic behavior began, eventually leading to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. His run-ins with law enforcement convinced Clark that medical and legal systems have very little tolerance for individuals with serious psychiatric issues. She shares her brief but spectacular take on why mental illness 'should never be a crime.'

At age 17, Terun Moore was convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole. But in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled such sentencing of minors unconstitutional. Now on parole after 19 years, Moore is enrolled in community college and working with the People's Advocacy Institute, which aims to reduce violence in Jackson, Mississippi. He offers his brief but spectacular take on second chances.

"There are literally...teenagers wasting away behind bars because adults can't figure out how better to serve them," says Ko Bragg, a reporter in Jackson, Mississippi, who focuses on how the media covers juveniles charged as adults. She says that experience can make a child feel that they are irredeemable. Bragg gives her Brief but Spectacular take on justice and journalism in Mississippi.

Prison reform is a major topic within the national political conversation. For many incarcerated people, the path to jail begins in the teen years; at any given time, roughly 50,000 young people are held in juvenile prisons. Johnnie McDaniels, former executive director of the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center, shares a brief but spectacular take on the "revolving door" of juvenile corrections.