Join Us Today! From Ferguson to Dallas to Charlotte: Racial Justice and Policing in America

Date & Time Dec 09 2016 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Speaker(s)
Full Agenda Below
Audience Open to the Public

 

“From Ferguson to Dallas to Charlotte: Racial Justice and Policing in America” will convene a diverse and distinguished panel to share their unique perspectives on the recent policing crises that have and continue to occur across the United States. More than two years after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the relationship between law enforcement and African American citizens remains one of the most important issues facing our country today.

This timely policy forum is designed to bring together prominent voices, with the goal of illuminating common ground and inspiring attendees to continue the conversation in their own communities. The discussion will challenge our collective and individual thinking — likely asking more questions than it will answer.

The following research scholars, former and current senior-level law enforcement, activists, policymakers, students and community members will examine issues critical to ensuring that law enforcement and communities work together to guarantee the safety and well-being of all. Through panels focusing on communication relations and accountability, issues of racial justice, profiling, human rights and effective law enforcement will be explored.

From Ferguson to Dallas to Charlotte: Racial Justice and Policing in America
December 9, 2016

8:30 a.m.

Registration and Breakfast

9:00 a.m.

Welcome and Setting the Stage
Ben Jealous, Former President and CEO, NAACP; John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor, Princeton University

9:30 a.m.

Keynote Presentation           

10:15 a.m.

Break

10:30 a.m.

Panel Discussion: Community Relations — Building Community between Police and Citizens
Moderator: Elisabeth Donahue, Princeton University

11:30 a.m.

Panel Discussion: Role of Activism in Effecting Change
Moderator: Ben Jealous, Princeton University

12:30-1:30 p.m.

Lunch

1:30-2:30 p.m.

Remarks and Keynote Presentation

  • Introduction of Tone Bellamy by Stefanie R. Karp, Princeton University

  • Remarks by Tone Bellamy, Stone Hill Church of Princeton

  • Keynote Presentation: Charles H. Ramsey, Former Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department; Fellow, Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, Drexel University
     
2:30 p.m.

Panel Discussion: Accountability of the Police and the Citizens
Moderator: Ben Jealous, Princeton University

3:30 p.m.

Break

3:45 p.m.

Keynote Presentation

4:30 p.m.

The Role of Policy Moving Forward

Introduction by Rochelle Calhoun, Princeton University

Closing Remarks

Elisabeth Donahue, Princeton University 

5:30 p.m.

Reception

Speakers:

Karen Anderson is the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina. Anderson began her career as a corporate litigator in Washington, D.C. — first with Nixon, Hargrave, Devans and Doyle (now Nixon Peabody, LLP) and then with Dickstein, Shapiro and Morin (now Dickstein Shapiro, LLP). She moved into nonprofit management as the associate director of Prairie State Legal Services, a legal services organization serving low income and elderly clients throughout northern and central Illinois. She has since worked with and for a number of nonprofit organizations (including the University of Denver, Red River Theatres, Urban Peak homeless shelter and the New Hampshire Public Defender), leading or consulting on in-house initiatives in strategic development and planning, financial controls, business analysis, information technology integration, staff development and risk management. Anderson is a sought-after adviser on shaping organizations’ infrastructure to meet institutional goals. A native of Jamaica, Anderson was raised in Rochester, New York. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the University of Chicago Law School, and studied philosophy at Edinburgh University.
 
Antonio (Tone) Bellamy was born and raised in the beautiful slums of Trenton, New Jersey. He is a graduate of Trenton Central High School and currently enrolled at Cairn University, where his ambition is to be the first in his family to earn a college degree. As a former gang member-turned-minister, he skillfully connects with people from the block to the boardroom. Bellamy has served in various community-strengthening capacities throughout the greater Mercer County area for the past 10 years, including speaking at events addressing the need for healthy relations between cops and community. From 2008 to 2010, he served as policy council board chairman for the Children’s Home Society of New Jersey, where he provided contextualized advice on how to best serve needy families. In addition, he serves as an elder and facilities associate at Stone Hill Church of Princeton. He is also a local music artist who uses hip-hop as a medium to offer hope to hurting people. Bellamy is passionate about lovingly engaging the most misunderstood, misrepresented and marginalized people in our society, the street, the strays and the stressed. Whether it’s coaching local little league baseball teams, serving in the local church, inspiring people at hip-hop concerts or conveying a speech to an audience at a prestigious university, he desires to leave a legacy of loving people. Of all the roles he serves in, the most rewarding by far is being a husband to his beautiful wife Diane and their three children: Promise, age 8; Serenity, age 6; and Joshua, age 3.
 

LaTanya Buck currently serves as dean for diversity and inclusion within the Office of Campus Life at Princeton University. Buck is a member of the campus life leadership team, and is responsible for providing a vision and integrated programs for diversity, equity and inclusion to enhance campus life mission and goals, as well as to contribute to the achievement of the University's diversity goals.  Buck supervises the directors of the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Center; and Women's Center. She is a member of the campus-wide Senior Diversity Practitioners Group and is one of the several administrators who receive and respond to reports of bias. Additionally, she oversees the university-wide Campus Conversations on Identities initiative. 

 
W. Rochelle Calhoun became vice president for campus life at Princeton University in September 2015. Prior to Princeton, she had served since 2008 as the dean of students and vice president for student affairs at Skidmore College. At Princeton, Calhoun oversees a staff of more than 300 people in six campus units. Calhoun received a bachelor’s degree in theater arts and politics from Mount Holyoke College and a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater from Columbia University. She began her career in college administration at Mount Holyoke College in 1986 as an assistant dean of students responsible for working with students of color and cultural organizations. In subsequent student affairs positions, and as ombudsperson and director of diversity and inclusion, she continued this work with a broader institutional focus. She has been involved in numerous community organizations over the years, including serving as a conversation facilitator and steering committee member for the Saratoga Springs Community-Wide Conversation on Diversity, and currently is a board member and mentor for the Sponsor-A-Scholar Program in Saratoga Springs.
 
Charlene A. Carruthers is a black, queer feminist community organizer and writer with over 10 years of experience in racial justice, feminist and youth leadership development movement work. She currently serves as the national director of the Black Youth Project 100, an activist member-led organization of black 18 to 35-year-olds dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all black people. Her passion for developing young leaders to build capacity within marginalized communities has led her to work on immigrant rights, economic justice and civil rights campaigns nationwide. She has led grassroots and digital strategy campaigns for national organizations including the Center for Community Change, the Women’s Media Center, Color of Change and National People’s Action, and served as a member of a historic delegation of young activists in Palestine in 2015 to build solidarity between black and Palestinian liberation movements. Carruthers is the winner of the New Organizing Institute 2015 Organizer of the Year award and has served as a featured speaker at various institutions including Wellesley College, Northwestern University and her alma mater Illinois Wesleyan University. Carruthers also received a Master of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. Carruthers was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago where she currently resides and continues to lead and partake in social justice movements. She was recently recognized as one of the top 10 most influential African Americans in The Root 100. Her inspirations include a range of black women, including Ella Baker, Cathy Cohen and Barbara Ransby. In her free time, Carruthers loves to cook and believes the best way to learn about people is through their food.
 
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., a long-time and influential advocate for the people of New Jersey, is currently serving her first term in the U.S. Congress. Prior to her election as representative for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, Watson Coleman served eight consecutive terms in the New Jersey General Assembly. The daughter of legendary state legislator John S. Watson, Watson Coleman has continued a family legacy of public service, fighting for women, economic and socially disadvantaged populations and other vulnerable groups in our society. Watson Coleman shattered racial and gender barriers to become the first African American woman to serve as majority leader of the New Jersey General Assembly, and the first African American woman to serve as the chair of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. Her election to the House of Representatives makes her the first African American woman to represent New Jersey in Congress. Watson Coleman has led the call for reforms to prisoner reentry programs, fighting tirelessly to shut the revolving door of recidivism for individuals who have returned from incarceration. During her time as majority leader, Watson Coleman convened a year-long series of public hearings on the topic while shepherding through to passage legislation on prisoner rehabilitation and release, which The New York Times called “a model for the rest of the nation.” Watson Coleman graduated from Thomas Edison State College. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and an honorary member of the Girl Scouts of America. She is also a Deaconess at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, New Jersey.
 
Destiny Crockett is a senior in the English department at Princeton University, earning certificates in African American studies and gender and sexuality studies. Crockett is a founding member of the student activist group the Black Justice League, and she has also dedicated her time at Princeton to mitigating K-12 educational disparities inside and outside of Princeton. After she graduates from the University, Crockett plans to earn a doctoral degree in African American studies and become more involved in justice work for black girls in K-12 schools.
 
Ronald L. Davis was appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder in November 2013 to head the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The COPS Office is responsible for advancing community policing nationwide and supporting the community policing activities of state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies. To date, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to fund the hiring of more than 125,000 officers and deputies and provide a variety of knowledge resources including publications, CDs, training, technical assistance, conferences and webcasts. In December 2014, President Obama appointed Davis to serve as the executive director of the newly created President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The president charged Davis and the task force with developing concrete recommendations to improve community trust in the police while enhancing public safety. Davis’ appointment follows eight years of serving the city of East Palo Alto as chief of police. Before becoming chief, Davis served 20 years with the Oakland police department where he rose to the rank of captain and served in assignments including police academy director, criminal investigations commander, patrol commander and inspector general. He possesses a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Southern Illinois University, and he has completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
 
Elisabeth Hirschhorn Donahue is the associate dean for public affairs and communications at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, overseeing the School’s public affairs programming, communications, alumni events and public relations initiatives. Prior to becoming associate dean, she served as the executive director/associate editor of “The Future of Children,” a joint project of the Woodrow Wilson School and the Brookings Institution, and as a lecturer at the School teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on poverty and family policy issues. She is a lawyer with both federal and state public policy, communications and advocacy experience. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.
 
Ezekiel Edwards is the director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Criminal Law Reform Project. He has sought to advance criminal justice reform through strategic litigation and advocacy aimed at ending mass incarceration, challenging law enforcement abuses of power, promoting racial justice and advancing drug law reform. As both director and previously as staff attorney, Edwards has worked on cases and campaigns on a wide variety of issues, including ending abusive police and prosecutorial practices, reforming indigent defense systems, ensuring and expanding right to counsel, advocating for and protecting the decriminalization of drug laws, challenging juvenile life without parole sentences and reducing excessive sentencing. Edwards has written briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in cases covering a wide array of Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment issues. Prior to joining the ACLU, Edwards was a staff attorney at the Innocence Project and a leading national expert on eyewitness identification reform, a public defender at the Bronx Defenders, a criminal justice fellow at the Drum Major Institute of Public Policy and an investigator at the Capital Defender Office in New York. Edwards earned his Juris Doctor degree at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a Public Interest Scholar, and his bachelor’s degree with honors at Vassar College.
 

Paul J. Fishman was nominated by President Barack Obama as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey in June 2009; he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 7, 2009 and sworn in on October 14, 2009. As U.S. Attorney, he is responsible for overseeing all federal criminal investigations and prosecutions and the litigation of all civil matters in New Jersey in which the federal government has an interest.  Mr. Fishman supervises a staff of approximately 145 attorneys and 115 support personnel in Newark, Camden, and Trenton. In addition to his service as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Fishman is a member of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys ("AGAC"). He served as Vice-Chair of the AGAC from 2009-2011, and Chair from 2011-2012. Created in 1973, the AGAC represents the voice of the U.S. Attorneys and provides advice and counsel to the Attorney General on policy, management, and operational issues affecting the offices of the United States Attorneys across the country.

Mr. Fishman has spent much of his professional career in public service.  After graduating from law school, he clerked for the Honorable Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  He was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1983 to 1994, during which time he served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, Chief of Narcotics, Chief of the Criminal Division, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney.  From 1994 to 1997, he was a senior adviser to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States on a variety of law enforcement, policy, legislative, national security, and international matters, as well as on specific investigations and prosecutions. In addition to his public service, from 1998 - 2009 Mr. Fishman was a partner in the law firm of Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman, where he headed the firm’s white collar practice and also handled complex civil litigation.  He graduated magna cum laude in 1978 from Princeton University and cum laude in 1982 from Harvard Law School, where he was the Managing Editor of the Harvard Law Review.  In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law by Seton Hall University Law School.

 
Abigail Gellman is a senior history major pursuing a certificate in African American studies. For nine months before her freshman year, Gellman participated in Princeton’s Bridge Year Program in Senegal, volunteering at several organizations that supported vulnerable children and immersing in the local language and culture while living with a homestay family. At Princeton, in addition to her coursework and time spent singing with her coed a cappella group, Gellman cares deeply about addressing the injustices of the carceral state and seeking to make America’s criminal justice system more equitable and humane. Gellman is the co-president of Princeton’s Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR), for which she leads meetings, oversees research and advocacy projects and organizes an annual conference. Gellman also corresponds with someone in solitary confinement, tutors incarcerated people weekly at a youth correctional facility through the Petey Greene Program and co-taught a six-week résumé-building and interview preparation course at a women’s prison in 2015. Gellman also worked on dialogue programming as an intern at the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding for two years. After her freshman and sophomore years, she took advantage of Princeton’s resources to return abroad through the French department’s Aix-en-Provence language immersion program and the International Internship Program, through which she worked for the Women’s Microfinance Initiative in Uganda. She received an Arthur Liman Undergraduate Fellowship to work as an investigative assistant at Brooklyn Defender Services last summer, where she investigated cases to help defend indigent clients, canvassing for video surveillance and interviewing complaining witnesses. She is considering law school and intends to pursue a career in social justice and criminal justice reform.
 
Benjamin Todd Jealous, former president and CEO of the NAACP and current partner at Kapor Capital — where he has been an adviser for multiple tech startups working to close gaps of access, opportunity and participation for everyday Americans — serves as the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and visiting lecturer in public and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. Jealous, in addition to serving as partner at Kapor Capital, also is currently a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he has contributed to developing policy solutions that ensure equity and opportunity for all Americans. Jealous was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2013 and received the 2012 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship, which is given to an individual who has challenged the status quo through distinctive, courageous, imaginative and socially responsible work of significance. Jealous is co-author of the book “Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading, and Succeeding,” named a best-seller by The New York Times and The Washington Post. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Columbia University and a Master of Science in comparative social policy from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
 

Stefanie Karp, who has an extensive law enforcement background as a lawyer, investigator and university official, is director of operations for the Princeton University Department of Public Safety and is responsible for the department's day-to-day operations and second in command to Executive Director of Public Safety Paul Ominsky. Karp clerked for a judge in the criminal division of the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia until 1995, when she became a deputy attorney general in the drug prosecution and forfeiture division of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. In 1996, she became a narco tics agent for Pennsylvania's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and Drug Control. From 1998 through 2000, Karp worked for LexisNexis in New York City as a senior business information consultant and an account manager focusing on investigative, corporate and legal clients. Karp joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2000 as a senior associate specializing in fraud prevention, detection, investigation and deterrence. She returned to Philadelphia in 2002 as a syndicator in the financial services group at AON Risk Services, Inc., of Pennsylvania. In 2003, she became an assistant district attorney with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. In June 2008, Karp became director of operations and external affairs for the Division of Public Safety at the University of Pennsylvania, acting as chief of staff.

George L. Kelling is professor emeritus in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, professor emeritus at Northeastern University and formerly a fellow in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Kelling has practiced social work as a child care worker and a probation officer, and has administered residential care programs for aggressive and disturbed youths. In 1972, he began work at the Police Foundation and conducted several large-scale experiments in policing, most notably the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment and the Newark Foot Patrol Experiment. The latter was the source of his contribution to his most familiar publication in The Atlantic, “Broken Windows,” with James Q. Wilson. During the late 1980s, Kelling developed the order maintenance policies in the New York City subway that ultimately led to radical crime reductions. Later he consulted with the New York City Police Department as well. These experiences led to his book, “Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities,” which he has published with his wife, Catherine M. Coles. Kelling has worked in or consulted with many of the major police departments in the United States. His most recent book is “Policing in Milwaukee: A Strategic History.” He has two children and four grandchildren. Kelling is a graduate of St. Olaf College with a bachelor’s degree, a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Master of Social Work, and a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a doctoral degree.

Ari L. Maas is a Woodrow Wilson School Master of Public Policy student and a captain in a major metropolitan police department with over 13 years of experience. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Rutgers University and a Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School. He is a member of both the New York State Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association and has received numerous commendations for actions performed in the line of duty.
 
Kimberly Jade Norwood clerked for U.S. District Judge Clifford Scott Green of Pennsylvania. She then joined the law firm of Bryan Cave, LLP in St. Louis as a litigation associate. She joined Washington University in 1990. At the law school, Norwood has focused her research on black identity; colorism; implicit bias; and the intersection of race, class and public education in America. She has also created and developed a unique service learning program for which she has won several awards (both local and national) that allows law students to receive law school credit and high school students to receive mentoring and guidance for a possible future career in the law. The experience also involves actual court exposure before judges in their respective courtrooms. She is both editor and contributor to the book “Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Post-Racial America.” Norwood served as a commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Diversity and Inclusion 360 Commission where she also co-chaired the Commission’s Implicit Bias Committee. She served as a member of the Missouri Supreme Court Municipal Division Work Group and is currently a commissioner on the Missouri Supreme Court Racial and Ethnic Fairness Commission. A 2015 recipient of the Washington University Distinguished Faculty Award, she also was appointed in 2016 as part of the Monitoring Team for the DOJ v. Ferguson Consent Decree.
 
Paul L. Ominsky  was appointed executive director of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) at Princeton University in 2010 and DPS became CALEA accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies in 2015.  His responsibilities include directing the tactical and strategic focus of DPS, overseeing a staff of 150 full, part-time, and casual professionally trained sworn and non-sworn personnel, and overseeing the safety of approximately 5,200 undergraduate students, 2,500 graduate students, and more than 6,000 faculty and staff.
 
Kathleen O’Toole was appointed chief of the Seattle Police Department in June 2014. She is a career police officer and lawyer who has earned an international reputation for her principled leadership and reform strategies. In 2012, O’Toole completed a six-year term as chief inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, an oversight body responsible for bringing reform, best practices and accountability to the 17,000-member Irish national police service. Prior to serving in Ireland, O’Toole rose through the ranks of local and state policing in the United States. During her police career, she served as superintendent (chief) of the Metropolitan District Commission Police and lieutenant colonel overseeing special operations in the Massachusetts State Police. She was later appointed Massachusetts’ secretary of public safety (1994) and Boston police commissioner (2004). She was the first woman appointed to all of these senior positions. During her tenure, crime dropped dramatically throughout the state and the quality of life improved significantly, particularly in urban neighborhoods. O’Toole earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and a Juris Doctor degree from New England School of Law. She is in the process of completing her doctoral thesis at the Business School of Trinity College, Dublin. Her doctoral thesis focuses on change management in large police organizations. She is a life member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and has served as a member of the Committee on Terrorism since 1999.
 
Charles H. Ramsey was appointed police commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department in January 2008 by Mayor Michael A. Nutter. He retired in January 2016 after serving eight years as commissioner and leading the fourth largest police department in the nation. Commissioner Ramsey has over 46 years of knowledge, experience and service in advancing the law enforcement profession in three different major city police departments, beginning with Chicago; then Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia. Commissioner Ramsey has been at the forefront of developing innovative policing strategies and leading organizational change for the past 24 years. He is an internationally recognized practitioner and educator in his field, and is the immediate past president of both the Police Executive Research Forum and the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association. He is the only law enforcement professional to have served as president of both prominent organizations at the same time and is the only police professional to receive the Leadership Award from three major law enforcement organizations: the FBI National Executive Institute, Police Executive Research Forum and the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association. In December 2014, following several high-profile incidents involving police use of force, President Barack Obama chose Commissioner Ramsey to serve as co-chair of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. In recognition for his contributions to the field of policing and public safety, he has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from four universities. Commissioner Ramsey has lectured nationally on community policing as an adjunct faculty member of both the Northwestern University Traffic Institute’s School of Police Staff and Command and Lewis University, and is seen as an expert in the area of policing and homeland security. He is currently a distinguished visiting fellow of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University and serves as an adviser to several police departments including Chicago; Cleveland, University of Cincinnati; and Wilmington, Delaware. He also has worked with the Police Executive Research Forum and police departments in the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian police on the West Bank.
 
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an assistant professor in the department of African American studies at Princeton University. Taylor is the author of “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation,” an examination of the history and politics of black America and the development of the social movement Black Lives Matter in response to police violence in the United States. Taylor has received the Lannan Foundation’s Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book. Taylor’s research examines race and public policy including American housing policies. Taylor is currently working on a manuscript titled “Race for Profit: Black Housing and the Urban Crisis of the 1970s,” which looks at the federal government’s promotion of single-family homeownership in black communities after the urban rebellions of the 1960s. Taylor looks at how the federal government’s turn to market-based solutions in its low-income housing programs in the 1970s impacted black neighborhoods, black women on welfare and emergent discourses on the urban “underclass.” Taylor is interested in the role of private sector forces, typically hidden in public policy making and execution, in the “urban crisis” of the 1970s. Taylor’s research has been supported, in part, by a multi-year Northwestern University Presidential Fellowship, the Ford Foundation and the Lannan Foundation. Taylor received her doctoral degree from Northwestern University in 2013.
 
Heather Ann Thompson is an award-winning historian in the department of Afro-American and African studies, the Residential College and the department of history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has just completed the first comprehensive history of one of the world’s most important prisoner rights rebellions, “Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy,” which has received numerous favorable reviews and has been profiled on television and radio programs across the country. It was just named a finalist for the National Book Award, as well as listed as number three in the top 10 books of 2016 by Publishers Weekly. Thompson has written on the history of policing, mass incarceration and the current criminal justice system for The New York Times, Newsweek, Time magazine, The Atlantic, Salon, Dissent, NBC.com, New Labor Forum and The Huffington Post, as well as for the top scholarly publications in her field. She served on a National Academy of Sciences blue ribbon panel that studied the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in the United States and has given congressional staff briefings on this subject. Thompson is also the author of “Whose Detroit? Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City” and the editor of “Speaking Out: Activism and Protest in the 1960s and 1970s.”
 
Chuck Wexler is executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), an organization of law enforcement officials and others dedicated to improving the professionalism of policing. Currently, Wexler is leading a project to reform police agencies’ policies, training and equipment regarding police use of force, based on the idea that the sanctity of human life is at the heart of the mission of policing. As part of this effort, PERF has released a set of Guiding Principles on Use of Force, as well as a training guide to help police agencies put the principles into effect. In addition to national policy and practice studies, Wexler has directed projects with local police departments in Minneapolis; Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis; Los Angeles; Kingston, Tanzania; the Middle East; Jamaica; London; and other locations to develop violence reduction strategies and improve the delivery of police services. Wexler earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a doctoral degree in urban studies and planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2006, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his work with British and American police agencies.
 
Asanni York is an undergraduate student at Princeton University. He is currently enrolled in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and is obtaining certificates in African American studies, gender and sexuality studies and American studies. He is the co-president of the Black Student Union on campus, as well as a member of the Black Justice League and is involved in activist work around LGBT issues. He is interested in prison abolition work, law reform for previously incarcerated people, as well as severing the school-to-prison pipeline.