Amanda Knox: 'I Have Felt Utterly Exploited' by True Crime

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

Today's guest is Amanda Knox, an activist, writer, and host of the podcast Labyrinths. In 2007, while studying abroad in Italy, Knox was accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in what the lead prosecutor claimed was a bizarre sex game gone wrong. Despite mishandled DNA, a coerced confession, and a lack of credible evidence, Knox was convicted and spent nearly four years in an Italian prison before being exonerated in 2015. Her case was a media spectacle that sensationalized every aspect of her life.

Reason's Billy Binion talks with Knox about her views on true crime after her story became one of the biggest examples of the modern era. They also discuss the psychological impact of being imprisoned for something she didn't do; what Knox thinks the U.S. criminal justice system gets right and wrong; and how she reacts to people who still believe she's lying. What's more, she shares a fascinating tidbit about her relationship with the lead prosecutor on her case—something that will be featured more in her new book Free, which is available for preorder.

0:00—Introduction
1:10—Coping with a wrongful conviction
6:29—Life in prison
15:28—Knox's coerced confession
19:52—Knox's second conviction and failed retrial
25:55—The attempt to find "normalcy"
31:45—"Foxy Knoxy" and the vicious press
34:40—The need for greater media literacy and transparency
39:54—'The Single Victim Fallacy' and grieving Meredith Kercher
49:19— Italian vs. American criminal justice systems
53:26—The criminal justice reform movement
55:27—Police deception should be banned
58:36—Unrepentant prosecutors and Sandra Hemme
1:04:13—Prosecutor of Knox's case and her new book Free
1:08:11—Knox's relationship to True Crime
1:18:05—Knox's podcast Labyrinths and skeptical approach

• Video Editor: Ian Keyser

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