2023 Decriminalizing Race & Poverty Symposium

Join us for the 2023 Decriminalizing Race & Poverty Symposium at Georgia State University College of Law. This in-person event aims to foster an open dialogue and explore innovative solutions to address the intersection of race and poverty within the criminal legal system.

We have pulled together a slate of experts-lawyers, scholars, and activists-to tackle this year’s theme: In the Shadow of Reform: Fighting When the World Is on Fire

Our panelists will explore state and community responses to gang violence, financial investment in the carceral system and alternatives, health equity for system-impacted people, right to counsel, sentencing and mass incarceration, and more. Further, we are thrilled to host a keynote by Loyola University’s Dr. Norman C. Francis Distinguished Professor of Law Andrea Armstrong on Dismantling Carceral Secrecy.

Prof. Armstrong is an interdisciplinary scholar, integrating incarceration law with history, health policy, and the arts. She is the lead investigator for the Deaths Behind Bars in Louisiana project, supported by Arnold Ventures and in partnership with the Promise of Justice Initiative and Voice of the Experienced. In 2019, she received a three-year Interdisciplinary Research Leader grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shared with the Voice of the Experienced and LSU Center for Healthcare Value and Equity, to examine the effects of incarceration on health service use in Louisiana, currently a global and national leader in incarceration rates. Prof. Armstrong has also served as an appointed member of the Louisiana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and on several Louisiana legislative study committees on issues related to incarceration practices. She has also worked with museums, local artists, and philanthropic foundations to translate incarceration law and policy into spaces and mediums that are accessible to the general public.