Events

The Center is a convener of community stakeholders in an effort to identify challenges and recommend solutions to the deeply entrenched inequities in our criminal justice system. Public events are an important part of stimulating and continuing these important conversations.

2024

• In partnership with the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative, the Center co-hosted a June 17 reception and screening of Ava Duvernay’s documentary, "13th," an in-depth look at the U.S. prison system and its relationship to the nation's history of racial inequality. Following the film, Maryland Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue moderated a panel featuring CCJR's Heather Warnken; Dayvon Love, public policy director for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle; and Chrissy Thornton, president and CEO of Associated Black Charities, followed by a reception sponsored by Taharka Brothers.

2023

• The Center co-hosted an event, “Criminal Legal Reform in the 2024 Maryland Legislative Session: Advocates’ Retreat,” on Oct. 27, 2023.
• The Center and the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform presented a Sept. 9, 2023 conference, "Beyond Confinement: Rethinking Corrections & Rehabilitation in Maryland," at the University of Baltimore School of Law. The conference explored innovative approaches to transforming the current system, aiming to create a more effective, humane and equitable approach to rehabilitation.
• The Center hosted an April 3, 2023 event, "Policing in the Aftermath of the Gun Trace Task Force," with panelists Michael Bromwich, lead author of the GTTF Independent Investigation Report; Police Commissioner Michael Harrison; Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue; and Ray C. Kelly, executive director of the Citizens Policing Project.
• The Center co-hosted, with UBalt Law's Center for Families, Children and the Courts, a Jan. 17, 2023 conversation with Kristin Henning, Blume Professor of Law and director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown Law. Professor Henning's book, “The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth (Pantheon/Penguin Random House, 2021), analyzes the foundations of racist policing in America and has received rave reviews in The Washington Post and The New York Times Book Review.

2022

• The Center's executive director, Heather Warnken, participated in a panel for Baltimore's Civil Rights Week Police Accountability Day, hosted by the Baltimore Office of Equity and Civil Rights on Nov. 3 at the School of Law. The topic was, "Collateral Consequences of Police Misconduct." Other panelists included Prof. Michael Pinard (University of Maryland Carey School of Law), Director Kirsten Gettys Downs (Homeless Persons Representation Project), and Deputy Commissioner Eric Melancon (Baltimore Police Department). The panel was moderated by UBalt Law alumnus J. Wyndal Gordon, J.D. ’95. 

• The Center's executive director, Heather Warnken, presented a session at the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention Annual Conference on Nov. 1, in collaboration with the University of Maryland Carey School of Law's ROAR Center and Dr. Joseph Richardson: "Overcoming Challenges between Gun Violence Survivors and Law Enforcement: Leveraging Partnerships to Enhance Dignity and Care." 

• Executive Director Heather Warnken moderated an Oct. 26 panel to discuss “Innocence Isn’t Enough”: The Intentionally High Bar to Exoneration,”in the law school’s Moot Courtroom. Guests heard from Michele Nethercott, retired founding director of the UBalt Law Innocence Project Clinic, Erica J. Suter, Center faculty affiliate and director of the Innocence Project Clinic, and George Seward, who was exonerated of his false charges in 2016. This event was sponsored by the University of Baltimore Law Review.

• Heather Warnken, executive director, testified at an Oct. 6 City Council hearing about her report outlining poor treatment of gunshot victims in Baltimore City.

• The Center hosted a panel discussion, "The Report on Racial Disparity in Prosecution in Baltimore: A Discussion on the Findings and the Path Forward," on April 26.
  Panelists were Marilyn Mosby, State's Attorney for Baltimore City; Natasha Dartigue, Deputy District Defender for Baltimore City; Dayvon Love, Director of Public Policy, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle; and report author Brian Johnson, Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland.

• Heather Warnken, executive director, spoke at an online event alongside co-authors of a new publication, “Racial Equity in Community Violence Intervention,” on Mar. 23. The panel, hosted by Open Society Foundations, discussed recommendations to reduce the barriers that make government funding for violence intervention burdensome and ineffective. View a recording of the discussion.

• The Center's executive director, Heather Warnken, was a panelist for "Expanding Pathways to Healing: A Discussion on Victim Compensation," on Mar. 14. View a recording of the discussion. View a recording of the discussion.

• The Center's executive director, Heather Warnken, moderated a UB Law in Focus webinar, "Juvenile Justice: Why Reform is Needed Now," on Mar. 2. View a recording of the discussion.

• On Feb. 22, the Center and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender hosted a discussion on the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), with the lead investigator and author of the GTTF Investigation Report, former DOJ Inspector General Michael Bromwich. View a recording of the event.