All are invited to attend an open lecture by Guest of the IIAS, Carol Steiker, on 7 May 2023.
LECTURE ABSTRACT
For the past decade or so, criminal justice reform in the United States has been having a moment. After decades of massive increases in incarceration rates around the country, advocates for serious rethinking of harsh criminal justice policies have begun to find more receptive audiences at the federal, state, and local levels. However, the 2016 presidential election brought into office a new administration that embraced the much more punitive perspective on crime and punishment of earlier eras. The 2020 presidential election brought a Democratic administration back to office—but in conjunction with a very conservative Supreme Court and a closely divided Congress. The divisions in Washington are reproduced in many places around the country at the state and local levels. How might the momentum of criminal justice reform be maintained in this era of retrenchment and political polarization? Looking back at some of the drivers of change over the past decade offers helpful guidance for the future—not just for this particular moment of flux, but for the inevitable future fluctuations to come. I catalog six aspects of the current criminal justice reform moment that can be thought of as tools for promoting continued reform efforts, even in an era of deep political division. Each of these tools is of limited power by itself, and all have possible downsides. But wielded thoughtfully and in tandem, they can build sturdy vehicles for propelling forward the essential and unfinished project of criminal justice reform.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Professor Carol Steiker is the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where her scholarship and teaching range from substantive criminal law to criminal procedure to institutional design, with a special focus on capital punishment. From 2015-2020, Professor Steiker served as Co-Director of Harvard’s Criminal Justice Policy Program, which worked with local, state, and national partners on criminal justice reform projects. Through her scholarly work and engagement with law reform, Professor Steiker seeks to bridge the theory/practice divide in the broad field of criminal justice.
Registration deadline: Sunday, April 30th, 2023
The lecture will start at 6pm, and will be followed by a reception.
Location: Lecture Hall 130, Feldman Building, Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
