CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains detailed discussion of domestic violence, child death, and systemic failures in the criminal justice system.

On March 13, 2024, eleven-year-old Jayden Perkins was stabbed to death in his Chicago apartment while trying to protect his mother from her abuser. He was a sixth grader. Four foot two. Cast as Nemo in his school play. A kid who noticed when people were hurting and walked toward them. He ran toward the danger that morning, and it cost him his life. The man who killed him had a two-decade criminal history built almost entirely on violence against women. He had been released from prison the day before the attack, after the Illinois Prisoner Review Board made its decision without running a standard background check. The electronic monitoring required by his release conditions was never attached. A  ...