Law School Panel Tackles Race and Justice in America
Dean Garry W. Jenkins moderated a panel discussion on issues of race and justice in America with former U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner and Lecia Brooks, outreach director at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The hour-long talk, co-sponsored by the Law School, was part of the Institute for Advanced Study's yearlong 1968-1969 presentation and discussion series, co-presented by Northrop and the University Honors Program. A capacity crowd was on hand for the event, held in Room 25 of Mondale Hall.
In his introduction, Jenkins noted the inherent contradiction in the fact that when the words “Equal Justice Under the Law” were inscribed on the U.S. Supreme Court building in 1932, Jim Crow laws were still in force in the southern United States. While the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s swept away legalized discrimination, a major disconnect still exists between our ideals of equality and the reality, he pointed out.
Gertner, who now serves as a professor of practice at Harvard Law School, discussed changes in the criminal justice system in the 1980s, which she said transformed it from a system of rehabilitation to retribution. Decisions about what geographical areas to target, what drug-related crimes to vigorously pursue, and whom to incarcerate all led to profound racial disparities in the criminal justice system, she observed.
Brooks discussed how disparate policies and practices impact real people in real ways. “There are stories behind these people,” she said.
Gertner observed that as a judge, mandatory minimum sentences tied her hands, so there was not much she could do from the bench to effect real change in racial disparities in incarceration. She went on to say that giving judges more discretion alone is not the answer to criminal justice reform. “You need a plan,” she said.
A lively audience question and answer exchange followed, which included discussion of victim involvement in sentencing decisions, restorative justice, and the importance of shifting public opinions on issues of criminal justice.
