If you have not listened to act two of this episode (555) of This American Life I would like to recommend it. Why and when do we change our minds? One thing is certain – it is not easy to change ones own mind nor ones habits and certainly not to change someone else’s mind or habits. Reporter Joe Richman visits a program in Richmond, CA that is trying a controversial method of reducing gun violence in their city: paying criminals to not commit crimes. Sounds crazy, but the even crazier part is…it works. The criminals change.

To figure out how, Joe speaks to guys participating in the program, and to Sam Vaugn, a man whose job it is to monitor the criminals’ progress and keep them on track.