The Justice Forum – Reimagining Justice: Narratives of Inclusion

The Justice Forum – Reimagining Justice: Narratives of Inclusion

How do we change the current criminal justice system, one defined by mass incarceration, a paradigm of punishment, and racial discrimination? Changing how we achieve justice through policing, courts, jails, prisons and reentry must include changing the public narrative about people who become involved with the criminal justice system. We must move away from the current narratives that pathologize people and their behavior and provides little consideration for the current and historic marginalization of low income communities and communities of color.  This immense undertaking involves examining current and historical narratives about justice, crime, safety, punishment, race, class, and gender among others. This roundtable discussion will bring together a diverse group of thinkers to examine the current prevailing narratives, as well as explore opportunities for how these narratives might be transformed towards a more inclusive framework. The roundtable will include discussants from a variety of backgrounds and experiences including psychology, journalism, history, law and those who have been directly impacted by mass incarceration and the prevailing narratives.

About The Justice Forum

Issues of mass incarceration and justice are complex and cut across many systems, structures, cultures and communities. As such, the efforts and dialogues around changing the current criminal justice system must also cross disciplines, structures, cultures and communities. The Justice Forum provides a space for leading thinkers in justice work from a variety of disciplines and experiences to collectively examine some of the most critical justice issues today. The Forum seeks to create a space for cross pollination of ideas and perspectives and contribute towards the efforts to rethink our current policies and practices in criminal justice. The Justice Forum is sponsored by The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.

Panelists

Geraldine Downey

Director, Center for Justice at Columbia University and Professor of Psychology, Columbia University

Frances Negrón-Muntaner

Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University

Robin McGinty

Researcher, Center for Institutional and Social Change
Doctoral Student, CUNY Graduate Center

Carl Hart

Associate Professor of Psychology, Columbia University

Directions to The Heyman Center