Racial disparities continue to define the American criminal justice system. African-American males, in particular, are still incarcerated at alarming rates. Surprisingly, criminal justice experts have reached little consensus on why these disparities continue to infect the criminal justice system so thoroughly.
On August 29, DePaul's Center for Justice in Capital Cases in collaboration with the University of Iowa College of Law will host a symposium to consider new perspectives on why racial disparities continue to be a defining characteristic of American criminal justice. One such perspective, based on the concept of “implicit racial bias,” posits that people automatically and unintentionally rely on racial stereotypes across the entire spectrum of decision making, starting with policing and continuing all the way to parole. The symposium will analyze the implicit bias approach, mass media perspectives on race, and will conclude with a forward-looking roundtable discussion.
Criminal justice experts to speak at the symposium include:
- Judge Mark Bennett, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa
- Herschella G. Conyers, Clinical Professor of Law, University of Chicago
- Emily Hughes, Professor and Bouma Fellow in Law, University of Iowa
- Justin D. Levinson, Professor of Law and Director, Culture and Jury Project, University of Hawaii at Manoa
- Andrea D. Lyon, Associate Dean for Clinical Programs and Director, Center for Justice in Capital Cases, DePaul University College of Law
- L. Song Richardson, Professor of Law, University of Iowa
- Robert J. Smith, Assistant Professor of Law, UNC Chapel Hill
The symposium is free and open to the public. For additional details, please see the DePaul Law events calendar.