May 7, 2019 4:00pm
The following announcement is provided by Family Action Network.
“Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration”
Monday, May 20, 7:00 PM
Evanston Township High School Auditorium
1600 Dodge Ave., Evanston, 60201
Emily Bazelon (image from www.familyactionnetwork.net)
Evanston Township High School will host “Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration” with Emily Bazelon on Monday, May 20, beginning at 7:00pm, in the school auditorium, located at 1600 Dodge Ave. The event is free and open to the public, suitable for ages 12 and up.
Faith in the American criminal justice system has long been contingent on the idea that there is a fair contest between two equal adversaries, the prosecution and the defense. But this system has lost its equilibrium, and with it, its power to protect the innocent. Prosecutors today enjoy unprecedented power in the courtroom. Most of the time, it is the prosecutor who controls the outcome of a case instead of the judge. They answer to almost no one and make most of the key decisions, from choosing the charge to setting bail to determining the plea bargain. Prosecutors also often decide who goes free and who goes to prison, even who lives and who dies.
The system wasn’t designed for this kind of unchecked power, and in Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, Emily Bazelon reveals how this is the underreported cause of enormous injustice—and the missing piece in the mass incarceration puzzle. Bazelon shows how prosecution in America is at a crossroads and details both the damage prosecutors can do and the second chances they can extend if they choose to. She follows a wave of reform-minded district attorneys, elected in some of our biggest cities as well as in rural areas in every region of the country, who are determined to improve the system.
Bazelon is a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine and the Truman Capote Fellow for Creative Writing and Law and a lecturer at Yale Law School. Her previous book is a national bestseller Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy. Before joining the Times Magazine, Bazelon was a writer and editor at Slate, where she co-founded the women’s section “DoubleX.” She is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.
Bazelon will be interviewed by Maria Hawilo, JD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Law in the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
Guests should plan to arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the event to find parking and seats. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible. Parking is available in the lot across from the main entrance, off of Dodge Avenue, or in the lots behind the high school. Parking is also available along Dodge Avenue according to posted City of Evanston signs.
The May 20 presentation is sponsored by Family Action Network (FAN), in partnership with James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, North Shore Country Day School, and the YWCA Evanston/North Shore. For more information about FAN events and sponsors for the 2018-19 presentations, visit www.familyactionnetwork.net.
