SXSW 2021

Wrongful Convictions and Criminal Justice Reform

Description:

Today's greatest injustices are happening in our criminal justice system. The subject of wrongful convictions -- where a person is convicted of a crime committed by someone else -- has entered the mainstream consciousness. But what people don't realize is that more than one-third of all exonerations involve people convicted of crimes that never even occurred. Join Jessica S. Henry, former NYC public defender turned professor and author of "Smoke but No Fire: Convicting the Innocent of Crimes that Never Happened," to examine these no-crime wrongful convictions, what they say about criminal justice today, and how we can foster real and impactful change in the criminal justice arena.


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Takeaways

  1. People are wrongly convicted far more often than anyone realizes because of systemic flaws in the criminal justice system.
  2. The criminal justice system overly targets poor people and people of color, in ways that cause no-crime wrongful convictions.
  3. Innovative responses to crime -- including how we define crime in the first place -- can create meaningful change as we reimagine justice.

Speakers


Organizer

Jessica Henry, Professor, Montclair State University


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