THE VERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE'S
SECOND ANNUAL JUSTICE ADDRESS

keynote speaker
former U.S. Deputy Attorney General 
JAMES B. COMEY

speaking to
Integrity, Public Trust, and Prosecution

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
7 – 8 PM
Harvard Club of New York City
35 West 44th Street
(between 5th and 6th Avenues)

View Invite ►

Space is limited, so please RSVP to Sasa Hezir by February 29.
Call (212) 376-3081 or e-mail events@vera.org.

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James B. Comey

As deputy attorney general of the of the United States from 2003 through 2005, James B. Comey supervised operations at the Department of Justice and chaired the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and the Presidential Board on Safeguarding Americans’ Civil Liberties. Previously, he served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and as managing assistant U.S. attorney in the Richmond Division of the Eastern District of Virginia. Mr. Comey is currently senior vice president and general counsel of Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Increases in incarceration rates are subject to diminishing returns in effectiveness in reducing crime and come at substantial cost to taxpayers, according to a recent Vera publication, Reconsidering Incarceration: New Directions for Reducing Crime. Nevertheless, reports of a nationwide increase in violent crime—the largest in 15 years—may soon have lawmakers calling for tougher measures to protect the public.

Listen to this panel discussion to learn more about the approaches and investments that policymakers and practitioners can use to help control crime without undue reliance on incarceration.

Don Stemen's report is available here: Reconsidering Incarceration: New Directions for Reducing Crime.

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Click on each speaker's name to hear that portion of the presentation. Some of the audio files were edited for the purpose of consistency, accuracy and the reduction of noise.

The panelists:

Michael P. Jacobson
Director, Vera Institute of Justice
Former Commissioner of New York City's Departments of Correction and Probation

Garry F. McCarthy
Police Director, Newark, NJ

Lawrence F. Murray
National Director of CASASTART,
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

Don Stemen
Author, Reconsidering Incarceration

For More Information Contact:
contactvera@vera.org

On December 7 in Vera’s main conference room, Dr. Barbara Parker from the University of Virginia School of Nursing presented the preliminary findings from her team’s qualitative research gathered from extensive interviews with adults who, as children, lost a parent(s) to a fatal act of domestic violence. According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 37 percent of all murders in the United States stem from intimate partner violence. In the aftermath of these homicides or homicides/suicides, many children are left behind—either one or both parents are dead or one is dead and the other is often incarcerated for years. Yet little attention has been paid and little research has been done to understand the outcomes for these vulnerable children. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Parker’s pioneering research looks into how children have coped with such traumatic loss.

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Click on each speaker's name to hear that portion of the presentation. Dr. Parker’s PowerPoint slides are posted below. It is suggested that you follow along with these slides as you listen to the audio.[Download Dr. Parker’s Power-Point File]

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Dr. Parker’s audio

For More Information Contact:

Barbara Parker
bjp8c@virginia.edu

or Nancy Cline
ncline@vera.org

6:00 – 8:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception, Silent Auction & Presentations

Thank you to all our friends and sponsors for supporting Vera's work to advance a more just society. During the evening we honored: For more information, .

At the next Mellon Speaker Series talk, Devah Pager will present results from a novel study of employer behavior that sheds light on the extent of employment discrimination against minorities and ex-offenders. Teams of male testers with equivalent resumes were sent to apply for entry-level jobs in New York City. The study's findings suggest that employer discrimination along the lines of race, ethnicity, and criminal conviction status remains a salient source of inequality in contemporary urban labor markets.

to zdinzeyflores@vera.org

With over two million people in prison, the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world, and African Americans represent approximately fifty percent of that population. As a result, the African American community is faced with an array of problems including social and psychological issues. Because African American youth are disproportionately exposed to harmful environmental and social conditions (i.e., poverty, discrimination), it is important that interventions be designed with an understanding of the vulnerability of being victimized by socially oppressive phenomena.

The purpose of this workshop is to present and synthesize the general state of African Americans — particularly youth — in the criminal justice system, outline ways of understanding criminal behavior, and discuss an intervention model for African American youth.

to kmiddlemass@vera.org

The panel examined racial inequality in the criminal justice system, the role prosecutorial discretion plays in perpetuating this inequality and what obligations a prosecutor has to combat or remedy racial bias within the system. The discussion began by tracing the start of racial profiling and other law enforcement strategies which initially infuse racial bias into the system through the active investigation of distressed urban communities.

The panel also explored the influence of minimum/maximum sentencing laws and guidelines in diminishing a judge's discretion, thereby making the prosecutor a more potent actor. It was agreed that while broad prosecutorial discretion is a necessity, the imposition of checks on the exercise of this discretion is also necessary to balance what many believe at times are racially skewed decisions. The need for additional resources for diversion and re-entry programs was advocated.

The panel covered a range of topics including Hip Hop's glamorization of incarcerated life, the entertainment industry's marketing of criminality, as well how Hip Hop's intersection with crime and incarceration reflects the disproportionately high levels at which African-American and Latino people are involved in our criminal justice system. The panel explored the values and attitudes about crime and punishment expressed in Hip Hop music and how those compare and contrast with mainstream attitudes. Furthermore, the mythology of the "bad guy" in Hip Hop culture was deconstructed within the context of the American cultural fascination with violent imagery.

In attendance were academics, members of the entertainment media, such as journalist Nelson George, and people from the public and nonprofit sectors who are interested in positively intervening in the lives of young people. The panel urged the audience, specifically youth service providers, to expand their knowledge of Hip Hop to include a variety of artists, and to help young people deconstruct the myth that criminality is an attractive path.