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Talking About Race—Rethinking Crime and Punishment in Black America: A Conversation with James Forman Jr.

Talking About Race—Rethinking Crime and Punishment in Black America: A Conversation with James Forman Jr. (April 17, 2017)

Yale legal scholar and former public defender James Forman Jr. talks about his new book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, with University of Baltimore Law School Dean Ron Weich, U.S. Court of Appeals Senior Judge Andre M. Davis, and University of Baltimore Law School Professor Odeana Neal.

As Forman describes, the first substantial cohort of Black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office in the 1970s amid a surge in crime and addiction. Many worried that the civil rights victories would be undermined by lawlessness and thus embraced tough sentencing and police tactics. The policies they adopted had devastating consequences for poor Black neighborhoods.

This event is copresented with the University of Baltimore’s School of Law as part of Open Society Institute–Baltimore’s Talking About Race series.

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