Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health
Release Date: 04/11/2018
Brennan Center LIVE
Misdemeanors, not violent offenses, dominate criminal justice. A decade of reforms has shrunk the sprawling misdemeanor system, but the prosecution of shoplifting, traffic violations, and other lesser offenses remains a burden on vulnerable communities and law enforcement resources even as public concern over physical and social disorder in public spaces spurs calls for renewed enforcement. A new Brennan Center report zooms in on New York City as a case study for how misdemeanor enforcement has changed in recent years, offering insights into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and reform...
info_outline Decoding the Trump IndictmentsBrennan Center LIVE
Listen to the recording of our in-person event from last month, Decoding the Trump Indictments. Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann, coauthors of the new book The Trump Indictments, discuss the historic charges against the former president in a discussion moderated by Brennan Center President Michael Waldman. Murray is the Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law Faculty and director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU Law. Weissmann, a professor of practice at NYU Law and a legal analyst for MSNBC, previously served as general counsel to the FBI and one of the senior...
info_outline Martin Garbus and the Cuban FiveBrennan Center LIVE
In his most recent book, North of Havana, legendary trial lawyer Martin Garbus recounts one of his most high-profile cases: the Cuban Five. In this episode of Brennan Center Live, Garbus talks to Victoria Bassetti about what this case can teach us about the U.S. justice system, American politics, and U.S.-Cuba relations.
info_outline Van Jones in Conversation with Darren WalkerBrennan Center LIVE
Mass incarceration is among the nation’s greatest moral and racial injustices. We have five percent of the world’s population, but nearly a quarter of its prisoners. In recent years, a dynamic movement for change has swept across the country. How will it survive the current political climate? CNN host Van Jones, the author of the new book Beyond the Messy Truth, will discuss his drive to cut prison populations in half – and the challenge of fighting for change in a polarized America. He will be in dialogue with Darren Walker, the President and CEO of the Ford Foundation. ...
info_outline Scott Horton Book Talk: Lords of SecrecyBrennan Center LIVE
In the last decade, national security issues have increasingly faded from the political agenda, due in part to the growth of government secrecy. In his new book, Lords of Secrecy: The National Security Elite and America's Stealth Warfare, journalist and lawyer Scott Horton explains how secrecy has fundamentally changed the way America functions. Never before have the American people had so little information concerning the wars waged in their name, nor has Congress exercised so little oversight over the war effort. Horton reminds us that publicly addressing the country’s national...
info_outlineThere are a shocking 2.2 million Americans behind bars right now, but how can we cure America of its epidemic of mass punishment? Leaders across the criminal justice movement share an array of reform ideas, including improving prison conditions, creating effective youth re-entry programs, changes to the parole model, alternatives for mental health and drug addiction issues, and models of new industries to replace the prison economy.
Speakers include Nicole Zayas Fortier, counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, Robin Steinberg, founder of the Bronx Defenders, and Judith A. Greene, a former Soros Senior Justice Fellow and criminal justice expert, both contributors to Decarcerating America, The New Press volume, edited by Ernest Drucker.
Nicole Zayas Fortier, Advocacy & Policy Counsel at the Campaign for Smart Justice, American Civil Liberties Union
Judith A. Greene, Former Soros Senior Justice fellow; Contributor, Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health
Robin Steinberg, Founder, Bronx Defenders; Contributor, Decarcerating America: From Mass Punishment to Public Health