Events

Upcoming Events

Urban Crime in Brazil: Appreciating the Police and Individual Community Characteristics in Understanding Violence

Tuesday, November 10 at 12:00 p.m.
Allison Dining Room, 5th Floor of Taubman Building, Harvard Kennedy School

• Claudio Beato, Lemann Visiting Scholar at the David Rockfeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University and a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Minas Gerais Federal University (UFMG) in Brazil

Professor Beato will be discussing violence in urban metropolitan areas in Brazil. He will discuss how community characteristics can explain differences in crime rates in urban contexts, the control mechanisms in these communities, and the connections with gang activities. Professor Beato will talk too about the role of the police and their strategies and management that may affect the Brazilian policing context. He will explore some environmental dimensions in the spatial distribution of crime in the Brazilian cities.

Claudio Beato is a Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Minas Gerais Federal University (UFMG) and now he is the Lemann Visiting Scholar at David Rockfeller Center at Harvard. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Rio de Janeiro Institute for Graduate Studies. He has been a visiting professor at the Center for Brazilian Studies, Oxford University, England and is currently the coordinator of the Center for Studies in Criminality and Public Security at the UFMG and a Researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brazil. He has authored numerous works on the subject of criminality, violence and public policy on security.
He has been a consultant to many international entities including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interamerican Development Bank, World Bank and Colombian Government. He has created important projects in the area of homicide control and integrated management of public safety that now guide public policies and are being implemented in different cities in Brazil.

Lunch will be provided

Redrawing the Lines: Accountability and Effectiveness in Increasingly Diverse Police Departments

Wednesday, November 18 at 5:30 p.m.
Bell Hall, 5th floor, Belfer  Building, Corner of JFK and Eliot Streets

• Dick Lehr, Author of The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston’s Racial Divide and Professor of Journalism, Boston University
• Ronald Davis, Chief of Police, East Palo Alto, CA
• Malcolm Sparrow, Professor of Practice of Public Management and Faculty Chair of the Executive Program on Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies, Harvard Kennedy School and former Detective Chief Inspector, British Police Service

In the past year, officials examining problems in such locales as Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Maywood, California have all contended that their work was greatly hindered by a police "code of silence" in which officers refused to speak candidly about the misdeeds of their colleagues. How common is this problem and, more importantly, how can it be addressed in ways that do not undermine police officers' ability to do their job in effective and appropriate ways?

Cosponsored by the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, and Harvard’s Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management

Film Screening: The Truth About Crime

POSTPONED--We will holding this screening in February 2010. Check back soon for the new date.

Join us for a discussion with award-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Graef.

The Truth About Crime is based on a unique event: taking two weeks in an average British city to find out just how much crime happens in that period. The filmmakers called it a "Crime Audit." They ask how likely we are to be a victim, how effective the criminal justice system is at dealing with these crimes, and looks at different ways to prevent such crimes happening in the first place.

Past Events

2009

November 3
Rising Crime and Crime Reduction Strategies in Twenty-First Century Japan

• Taisuke Kanayama, Director, Police Policy Research Center, National Police Agency (Japan)

Sponsored by the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations of Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management

October 29
Beyond the Beer Summit: Understanding the Role of Race in American Policing

• Chief Anthony Batts, Oakland Police Department
• Professor Tracey Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law, Yale Law School
• Professor Christopher Stone, Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
• Professor Ronald Sullivan, Director, Harvard Criminal Justice Institute, Harvard Law School
  
  

This summer, national and global news organizations focused for a few days on a relatively minor conflict between a Cambridge police officer and Harvard professor Skip Gates. The arrest of Professor Gates on a charge of disorderly conduct became a subject of debate around the world after President Obama answered a question about it at the end of a news conference otherwise focused on health care reform, and it disappeared from public discussion almost as quickly after President Obama, Vice President Biden, the police officer, and the professor shared some beers at the White House.

This two-hour colloquium reconsidered that incident and the pent-up demand for a serious conversation about race and policing that it tapped. We considered racial disparities in arrests for minor crimes, concern over racial profiling, and other ways that issues of race inform and shape policing in the United States. How should we understand the apparent need for a conversation about race and policing? And what is being done, beyond the beer summit, to resolve these issues and concerns?

Cosponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management (HKS) and the Criminal Justice Institute (HLS).

September 23
Diverse Opinions: Public Safety After the Supreme Court's New Haven Decision

• Edward A. Flynn, Commissioner, Milwaukee Police Department, former Commissioner, Springfield Police Department and former Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety
• Linda Kaboolian, Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; author of Win-Win Labor Management Collaboration in Education
  

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of white firemen in New Haven has important implications for hiring and promotion decisions in the nation's police and fire departments. In the wake of that decision, how can public safety agencies in increasingly diverse communities be effective, accountable, and responsive to the sometimes contradictory legal and political constraints on hiring and promotion decisions?

Cosponsored by Harvard’s Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, The Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston

April 22
Brown Bag with Visiting Scholar Andrew Papachristos--
Six-Degrees of Criminal Justice: Connecting Research and Policy Using Social Network Analysis

Andrew Papachristos, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UMass, Amherst and a visiting scholar at the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Andrew is a researcher and policy analyst of urban neighborhoods, street gangs, violent crime, gun violence, organized crime, and social networks. His current research combines ethnographic and quantitative techniques to explain the network dynamics responsible for the social contagion of gang murder in Chicago over nearly two decades.  Andrew is also currently involved in the evaluation of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program in Chicago and has just completed data collection on a four-neighborhood study of how illegal and pro-social networks of probationers and parolees influence offending patterns, interpersonal violence, gun markets, and perceptions of neighborhood social order.

Sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Criminal Justice PIC

April 16
Joining Forces to End Gang Violence
A panel discussion on efforts underway in Los Angeles to curb gang violence

• Bill Bratton, Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department
• Lee Baca, Sheriff, Los Angeles County, California
• Connie Rice, Director of the Advancement Project Los Angeles and a prominent civil rights activist and lawyer
• Christopher Stone, moderator

In the past ten years approximately 300 people have died in the state of California due to natural disasters. During the same ten year period a gut-wrenching 5,752 people, including innocent bystanders, have been killed in Los Angeles County alone as a direct result of gang violence. The problem has become so severe, that epidemiologists and public health experts are starting to see it as a public health disaster – a disease, if you will – that has reached epidemic proportions. Gangs are becoming a permanent feature of inner city life in most major US cities.

Today in Los Angeles County, there are over 1000 gangs and more than 80,000 gang members. From January 1, 2004 to May 31, 2007, there were 6,656 gang-related shootings and 10,094 gang-related robberies. The epidemic of gang violence has spread and is infecting communities across America. The causes of gang violence are complex, but certainly a large part of the problem is due to the lack of communication and coordination between law enforcement, schools, churches, social service providers, juvenile justice programs, and other programs and organizations operating under the auspices of the LA City Council, the Mayor’s Office, The Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles County. Over $958 million is spent annually on this myriad of programs, but the gang problem just gets worse.

However, there is a bright light at the end of this long dark tunnel. It is an innovative strategy that totally eliminated gang homicides in the neighborhood where it was tried. The "Summer of Success" program was coordinated by the Advancement Project’s Connie Rice who partnered with the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and former Los Angeles City Council member Martin Ludlow, who was able to secure the funding for the program. The "Summer of Success" program connects the resources of scores of public and private agencies for a nine–week neighborhood-based, gang violence reduction program. Working together, law enforcement, parole boards, local churches, schools and other social service providers centered their efforts on assisting at-risk young people. The program was a virtual powerhouse of teamwork and the results were stunning. Homicides dropped to zero while other violent crimes dropped 20 percent.

This panel discussion focused on the issue of gang violence and the potential for this program to help resolve one of our nation’s most pressing problems.

April 13
Brown Bag--Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform: Lessons for the Federal Government from Colorado’s Commission

Peter Weir, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety and member of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice

There is growing support for a new federal commission to consider comprehensive reform of criminal justice in the United States from sentencing disparities to policing strategies and victim rights.  The state of Colorado created its own Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice more than a year ago with a similarly broad mandate.  Peter Weir, who heads that commission as the Governor’s Director of Public Safety, discussed Colorado’s experience and the lessons it holds-- both opportunities and dangers.

Sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Criminal Justice PIC

March 16
Correcting the Approach: Managing Prisons Effectively in Challenging Times

• Harold Clarke, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Correction
• Respondent: Christopher Stone, Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice
  

Three decades of increasingly tough sentencing and incarceration laws have led to serious prison overcrowding and soaring public expenditures for corrections. A focus on drug treatment, housing and other reentry programs might reduce recidivism, which in turn would ease overcrowding and reduce costs. But making such changes is extremely difficult because it requires either new spending or reallocating existing funds and staff.

Sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston

March 2
Brown Bag--Innovations without Borders: Justice and Social Innovation in Global Context

• Carol Shapiro, Founder and President of Family Justice

For more than 30 years, Carol Shapiro has been an innovator in the field of criminal justice. She has devised and collaborated on numerous initiatives to more effectively address crime prevention, addiction, prerelease, reentry, and related issues. Much of her work has centered on improving public safety and family well-being by integrating a strength-based, family-focused approach in fields such as law enforcement, addiction, mental health, domestic violence, and housing. In her role as founder and president of Family Justice, Carol serves as an adviser to many governmental and citizen-sector initiatives. She also provides technical assistance and consulting services to federal, state, and local governments, not-for-profit organizations, and the media about policy, planning, and implementation of social justice reform initiatives.

Since its founding in 1996, Family Justice has emerged as a leading national nonprofit institution dedicated to developing innovative, cost-effective solutions that benefit people at greatest risk of cycling in and out of the justice system. Through advocacy, education, and research, Family Justice offers a range of systemic interventions that address complex issues of people living in poverty, such as substance abuse, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS. By providing extensive training and support to government agencies and community-based organizations, Family Justice helps families unlock their potential to lead healthier and more productive lives.

Sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation

March 3
Brown Bag--Grassroots Innovations in the Criminal Justice Sector

The Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management hosted a brown-bag lunch with two young, dynamic civic innovators who are developing imaginative community-based responses to criminal justice challenges in Boston.

Talia Rivera is the Executive Director of Villages Without Walls, a Dorchester-based program dedicated to engaging gang-involved youth in community building, the development of life skills, and conflict resolution. Talia has been involved in youth work for over a decade, serving as a Streetworker for both the City of Boston and Ten Point Coalition Streetworker Programs. Hailing from the South End, Talia brings an unrelenting passion to working with youth who are most involved in street life and urban violence.

Bobby Constantino is the Founder and Executive Director of The Clapham Set, an organization that works with proven-risk ex-offenders escaping other programs in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury. A former prosecutor assigned to Dorchester and Roxbury courts, he left the criminal justice system to focus on more effective prevention and intervention models. He sits on the board of the Church Home Society and the Massachusetts Society for Aiding Discharged Prisoners, has had various columns on youth violence published in the Bay State Banner, Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Dorchester Reporter, and writes a popular blog about his experiences living and working in the Quincy Street neighborhood of Dorchester.

Sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Criminal Justice PIC

February 24
From Prison to Work: Reentry Programs that Reduce Reincarceration and Restore Former Prisoners’ Place in the Community

• Mindy Tarlow is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a large New York-based nonprofit corporation that provides employment services to men and women returning from prison and detention to New York City.
• Bruce Western is Professor of Sociology (FAS) and Director of the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of Punishment and Inequality in America.

Most of the more than 600,000 people who return to their home communities after serving state prison sentences end up back in the criminal justice system. Breaking this cycle could both improve public safety and help state and local governments address unprecedented budget woes. One promising approach is to focus on providing immediate, meaningful employment for formerly incarcerated people, such as programs run by New York’s Center for Employment Opportunities.

Sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston

2008

December 1
Reforming Juvenile Justice: Lessons from Missouri's Award-Winning Program

• Tim Decker, Director, Missouri Division of Youth Service
• Gary Stangler, Executive Director, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
• Zuline Gray Wilkinson, Vice President for Clinical Multi-Cultural Family Practice, The Home for Little Wanderers
• Moderated by Julie Wilson, Harry Kahn Senior Lecturer in Social Policy and Director, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Recognized as "the guiding light for reform in juvenile justice" by the American Youth Policy Forum, the Missouri Division of Youth Services (DYS) has developed a promising new philosophy in treatment of youth offenders. Instead of more common punitive practices, DYS takes a theraputic approach, viewing youth as a direct product of their experiences and capable of turning their lives around through a step-by-step process of change.

Co-sponsored by HKS's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, HKS's Taubman Center for State and Local Government and HKS's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

December 3
Lunch Roundtable: "Youth Violence: Public Policy & Public Health"
A Conversation with Deb Azrael, Director of Research, Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center

Deb Azrael will discussed the Boston Data Project--an innovative collaborative project between the HYVPC and the City of Boston designed to assist policymakers in understanding the day to day lives of Boston youth by means of ongoing data collection and data surveillance. The data project captures a wide range of data relevant to policymakers, but its specific focus is youth violence and its prevention. Deb will also discussed challenges in data collection and dissemination, her experiences working in collaboration with municipal government, and careers in public health, public policy, and youth violence prevention.

Sponsored by Harvard Kennedy School’s Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the HKS Criminal Justice PIC

October 15
Putting Crime Data on the Web: Obstacles, Opportunities, and Impacts: Lessons from Chicago's Award-Winning CLEARMAP Program

• Jonathan Lewin, Commander, Information Services Division, Chicago Police Department, which was awarded an Innovations in Government Award in 2007 for its Citizen and Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting (CLEAR) program.
• Comments by Archon Fung, Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; co-author, Full Disclosure: The Perils and Promise of Transparency and author, Empowered Participation: Reinventing Urban Democracy

Co-sponsored by HKS's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, HKS's Taubman Center for State and Local Government and HKS's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

May 5
FILM SCREENING: Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite)
Harvard Film Archive

Followed by commentary and discussion with

José Padilha
Director, Producer, and Screenwriter

James Cavallaro
Harvard Law School

José Gatti
Boston University

Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite--Brazil 2007) is a semi-fictional account of the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais), the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police.  The film was made in dialogue with the book Elite da Tropa, written by anthropologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two BOPE officers, André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel, and is based on their experiences.  Soares is the former national secretary of public security in Brazil. Both the film and the book show police brutality and corruption, as well as the violence of drug traffickers, through the eyes and the voice of a policeman involved in a world where the war on crime itself becomes criminal.

Elite Squad is the second film in which Padilha and Soares have collaborated.  Padilha directed the documentary Bus 174, one of the New York Times’ ten best films of 2003, which recounts the events, causes and effects of a nationally televised hijacking. Soares provided the primary commentary about the conditions that produced one of the most notorious crimes in modern Brazilian history.

Co-sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Brazil Studies Program of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

Friday, April 4

The HBO Series

A Compelling Portrayal of an American City

  A conversation with:

DAVID SIMON
Creator and Executive Producer of HBO’s The Wire

NORA BASTON
Deputy Superintendent, Boston Police Department

GEOFFREY CANADA
President & CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone
Author, Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America

SUDHIR A. VENKATESH
Professor of Sociology, Columbia University; Author, Gang Leader for a Day

WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON (MODERATOR)
Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University
Author, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor
                                          

 Watch a video of the event online here
 

Co-sponsored by:
HBO
W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African American Research
Department of African and African American Studies
Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management
Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program
HKS Urban Policy PIC
Harvard College Black Men’s Forum 

Monday, April 14
Using PerformanceStat to Improve Public Safety at the Department of Homeland Security and New York City's Departments of Correction and Probation

• Michael Fisher, Chief Patrol Agent, San Diego Sector, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Martin Horn, Commissioner, New York City Department of Correction and New York City Department of Probation

In addition to police departments, many other entities focused on public safety have adopted the PerformanceStat approach. New York City's Department of Department of Correction has TEAMS (for "Total Efficiency Accountability Management System") which became a model for the city's Department of Probation's STARS (for "Statistical Tracking, Analysis & Reporting System"). Across the country, the San Diego sector of the U.S. Border Patrol uses BorderStat to carry out its difficult mission.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government

March 19
Institute of Politics Forum Event
Law, Order and Community in the New Ireland

• Brian Lenihan, Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Republic of Ireland

March 3
FILM SCREENING: Bus 174 (Ônibus 174)

Bus 174, one of the New York Times’ ten best films of 2003, recounts the events, causes and effects of a nationally televised hijacking. Luiz Eduardo Soares, a Visiting Scholar at the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, is featured in the documentary, as he provided some of the primary commentary in the film about the conditions that produced one of the most notorious crimes in modern Brazilian history. After the screening, Soares followed up with additional commentary and answered questions about the film and about the Brazilian criminal justice system.

February 11
Using PerformanceStat to Fight Crime in New York and Los Angeles

• Michael Farrell , Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Initiatives, New York City Police Department
• Detective Jeffrey Godown, Commanding Officer, CompStat Unit, Los Angeles Police Department

The New York City Police Department's CompStat program, which began in 1994, not only has been adopted by dozens of other police departments, including the Los Angeles Police Department, it also has spawned a new "PerformanceStat" approach for improving performance and producing results in a wide variety of jurisdictions and agencies in the U.S.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government

2007

October 18
Quiet Storm: Dynamics of Recent Gang Violence in Boston
David Hureau, Research Associate, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management

David Hureau gave a presentation to a packed house at the Harvard School of Public Health on his recent research into Boston gangs.

Sponsored by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

October 17
Incarceration and Inequality: The Effects of "Cracking Down" on Crime

• Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University and author, Punishment and Inequality in America (Russell Sage Foundation, 2006)
• Robert J. Mulligan, Chief Justice for Administration and Management, Administrative Office of the Trial Court, Commonwealth of Massachuetts, and Chair, Massachusetts Sentencing Commission
  

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and Suffolk University Law School's Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service.

September 16
Human Rights and Criminal Justice: A U.S. Perspective
Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-SC)

The fifth meeting of the Executive Session on Human Rights Commissions and Criminal Justice was held in Atlanta during the joint meeting of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA) and the National Association of Human Rights Workers (NAHRW). Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-SC)--Majority Whip for the 110th Congress and former South Carolina Human Affairs Commissioner--was a special guest of the session and was the keynote speaker on Sunday.

At the meeting, the Executive Session was awarded the IAOHRA International Award "For Outstanding Research and Development in Civil and Human Rights in the United States as Well as Internationally."

April 11
Boston in the Movies: A Spring 2007 Film Series
Mystic River

In this 2003 movie directed by Clint Eastwood. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins play three men who still live in the Boston neighborhood where they grew up. Penn plays Jimmy, an ex-con whose daughter is murdered. Bacon plays Sean, a homicide detective who is investigating the murder. Robbins plays Dave, a blue-collar worker who is still haunted by his abduction as a child and who becomes a suspect in the case. Penn and Robbins both won Oscars for their performances and the film was nominated for another four Oscars as well.

Commentary by Anthony Braga, Senior Research Associate and Lecturer in Public Policy.

Sponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

March 15
Human Rights and Criminal Justice: A South African Perspective
Jody Kollapen

The Executive Session on Human Rights Commissions and Criminal Justice welcomed Mr. Jody Kollapen, Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), a constitutional body set up by Chapter Nine of South Africa's Constitution to protect and promote human rights. The SAHRC is one of a number of independent, national institutions created to transform the country from its unjust past and to deliver the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution to all in South Africa.

March 12
Who Bears the Burden of Crime? Distribution of Criminal Victimization Across Rich and Poor

• Rafael Di Tella, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice

Professor Di Tella presented his new crime survey data from Buenos Aires which was contrasted with crime trends in Boston.

February 26
Crime and Punishment: The Future of Incarceration in Massachusetts and the Nation

• Kathleen M. Dennehy, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Correction
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice

A report released by the Pew Charitable Trusts in February 2007 estimates that prison populations in the United States will grow by 13 percent over the next five years. In Massachusetts, Commissioner Dennehy's agency projects prison population of growth of six percent, substantially faster growth than the Commonwealth's residential population growth forecast at less than 2 percent. The number of people in Massachusetts prisons, like the number for the nation as a whole, is at an all-time high. Within those swollen prison populations are many complicating problems: high levels of mental illness, disproportionate incarceration of people of color, a recent surge in suicides, and more.

Professor Stone began the evening with a presentation of current trends and statistics. Commissioner Dennehy shared experiences from her 31 years at the DOC and highlighted issues of classification, programming, budget restraints, expanding programs, unions, recidivism and whether it is inevitable that prison populations will continue to grow into the forseeable future.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

2006

December 6
Faculty Dinner with Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis

Faculty and researchers from the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Harvard Interfaculty Partnership on Crime and Justice hosted a dinner for newly-appointed Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis to discuss the crime and justice issues that he and the city face. Harvard faculty and researchers work with the City of Boston and the Boston Police Department in many different capacities and have worked with Commissioner Davis during his tenure in Lowell, MA and hope to strengthen and grow these partnerships in the future.

November 21
Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit: Lessons from an Innovations Award Winner

• Sergeant Brett Parson, Unit Commanding Officer
  Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit
  D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
  
  
• Officer Joe Morquecho
  Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit
  D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
  
  
• Sterling Spangler, Community Outreach Specialist
  Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit
  D.C. Metropolitan Police Department

The D.C. Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) is the first in the nation to redefine “community policing” by coupling community outreach with traditional crime fighting in the often invisible gay and lesbian communities. Moving beyond geographic, racial, and other artificial boundaries, the unit is educating law enforcement and protecting this traditionally marginalized group. Prior to the establishment of the GLLU, only 2 hate crimes were reported against the gay and lesbian population, not because hate crimes were not occurring but because a serious rift existed between the gay and lesbian community and the city’s law enforcement. Many gay and lesbian victims had little faith in the police force and felt that their complaints were rarely taken seriously. Due in large part the outreach work of the GLLU, this gap has been bridged with 52 hate crimes reported in 2005. The GLLU’s work extends beyond outreach to actual criminal investigations, including involvement in several high-profile murder investigations involving gay or lesbian victims. The program won the Innovations in American Government Award in 2006.

This event was cosponsored by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation and the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management.

October 23
Racial Profiling, Globally and Locally

• Kim Williams, Associate Professor of Public Policy
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice
• Edward A. Flynn, Commissioner of Police, City of Springfield, MA
• Anthony A. Braga, Senior Research Associate and Lecturer in Public Policy (moderator)

Christopher Stone and Kim Williams discussed the use of and controversy about racial profiling at the borders and on the streets. Springfield Police Commissioner Edward Flynn offered a brief response on racial profiling, reflecting on his experiences as Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

September 25
Youth Violence in Boston: The Real Deal

• David Hemenway, Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center
• Rev. Jeffrey Brown, Co-Founder, Boston Ten Point Coalition

Youth violence is a growing problem in Boston. How bad is it? What can be done about it? David Hemenway, Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, discussed the results of a survey of over 1000 Boston adolescents. Rev. Jeffrey Brown, a co-founder of the Ten Point Coalition, offered a response, reflecting on his own experiences working on youth issues in Boston.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

May 11
Human Rights and Criminal Justice: A Mexican Perspective
Emilio Alvarez Icaza Longoria

The Executive Session on Human Rights Commissions and Criminal Justice welcomed Emilio Alvarez Icaza Longoria, President of the Federal District Commission of Human Rights (CDHDF), or the Mexico City Human Rights Commission. Unlike his counterparts in U.S. cities, Mr. Alvarez is elected by the legislature in Mexico City. The organization investigates complaints and reports of alleged violations of human rights which are attributed to any authority or public servant who has a job in the public administration of Mexico City or in the law enforcement organizations that have local jurisdiction in Mexico City. The Commission investigates approximately 46,000 claims a year. In its defense and education programs, the Commission pursues three strategies. First, it seeks to identify perpetrators of human rights violations. Second it looks to see what structural conditions -- administrative, legal, procedural, and even sometimes technological -- allowed the violations to occur. Finally, it seeks to remedy the violation, not just financially but also morally. Mr. Alvarez explained that governmental recognition of human rights in Mexico is a relatively new yet rapidly developing phenomenon. There are now 32 local commissions, serving the state's 31 states and federal district, as well as a National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH). The Mexico City Human Rights Commission was established in 1993, while the national commission is just two years older.

April 28
Frank Hartmann Retirement Dinner

On April 30, 2006, Frank Hartmann stepped down as Executive Director of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, after 21 years on the job. Fifty of Frank's friends from the world of criminal justice flew in from all over the US to join us in a celebration of his teaching, mentoring, research, and friendship. Tributes to Frank were given by Los Angeles Chief of Police William J. Bratton and Jeremy Travis, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

April 27-28
Persistent Challenges Facing Police Leadership

A roundtable discussion among some of America's leading chiefs of police. The morning's discussion focused on "Identifying Persistent Challenges from the Past." Glenn Schmitt, Acting Director of the National Institute of Justice (KSG MPP, 1994) spoke during lunch on "The Context in Washington for Police Reform." The day ended with a discussion of "New Strategies for Persistent Problems."

Funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice.

April 17
Darfur: Is the Prevention of Genocide Possible?

Juan E. Méndez, President, International Center for Transitional Justice and United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

Cosponsored by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

April 11
Policing Democracies in Times of Terror

• Nicholas Hardwick, Chairman, Independent Police Complaints Commission (UK)
• Raymond Kelly, Commissioner, New York Police Department
• Kathleen O'Toole, Commissioner, Boston Police Department
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator)

The video of this event can be seen online here.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government.

March 13
Crime, Time, and Employment: Realistic Options for Helping People Leaving Prison Find Better Jobs

• Richard Freeman, the Herbert Ascherman Professor of Economics at Harvard and Director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Mindy Tarlow, Executive Director, Center for Employment Opportunities in New York City.
• William Julius Wilson, the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University, who directs Harvard’s Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program.
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator)

The overwhelming majority—at least 97 percent— of inmates will eventually be released from prison or jail but many of these people are subsequently convicted of other crimes and return to prison or jail. At this event, a panel of expert scholars and practitioners discussed whether this cycle can be broken via programs that provide guaranteed short-term jobs, intensive counseling, and extensive supervision.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and Harvard Interfaculty Partnership on Crime and Justice.

2005

November 21
Immigration and Crime: Recent Patterns and Future Challenges

• Robert J. Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, Chair of Harvard's Department of Sociology
• Larry Mayes, Chief of Human Services for the City of Boston

Why do black youth in the United States commit violent acts almost twice as often as white or Latino youth? In recently published research based primarily on data from Chicago, Sampson and his colleagues found that the reasons have little to do with individual poverty or inherent racial differences. Rather, four factors—the marital status of a young person's parents, the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, whether he or she is a first- or second-generation immigrant, and the proportion of other people in the neighborhood who are immigrants—account for most of the differences in violent crime rates for youth. According to Sampson, the findings suggest that the disparity in crime rates "is largely social in nature and therefore amenable to intervention in community rather than individual settings." At this event, Sampson discussed this research and its implications for policymakers. Larry Mayes offered a brief response, reflecting on his own experiences working on these issues in Boston's Cape Verdean community.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

October 24
A Less Lethal Death: How Victoria Snelgrove's Death is Changing Policing

• Kathleen O'Toole, Commissioner, Boston Police Department
• Donald K. Stern, chair, Boston Police Department Commission Investigating the Death of Victoria Snelgrove; and partner, Bingham McCutchen
• Carolyn Ryan, Assistant Managing Editor, Metro Section, The Boston Globe
• Christopher Stone, Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator)

One year ago, Victoria Snelgrove died when a Boston police officer fired a plastic pellet into a crowd celebrating the Red Sox’s victory in the 2004 American League Championship Series. Her tragic death focused public attention on the dangers of so-called "less lethal" weapons increasingly used by police departments throughout the country for crowd control. The tragic incident provoked major changes not only in the Boston Police Department but also in the ways that American police departments manage their increasingly sophisticated "less lethal" weaponry. In Boston and around the country, these improvements are being guided by the report of an independent commission, appointed by Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole, and chaired by Donald K. Stern, the former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts . At this panel discussion, which was held a year after Snelgrove's death, O'Toole, Stern, and Carolyn Ryan, a Boston Globe editor who oversaw the paper’s coverage of the incident, discussed how the events changed the way police in Boston and around the country approach crowd control, less-lethal weapons, and public disorder. Christopher Stone, a professor of criminal justice at the Kennedy School who was also a member of the Stern Commission, moderated the discussion.

Related publication: Christopher Stone, Brian Buchner, and Scott Dash. "Crowd Control That Can Kill: Can American Police Get a Grip on Their New, 'Less-Lethal' Weapons Before they Kill Again?" Rappaport Institute Policy Brief PB-2005-6.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

September 26
Lessons from Boston's Police-Community Collaboration and the 1990s Drop in Violent Crime

• Anthony Braga, Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Research Associate of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management
• Superintendent Paul Joyce, Boston Police Department
• Rev. Eugene Rivers, National Ten Point Leadership Coalition
• Christopher Winship, Norman Tishman and Charles M. Diker Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
• Christopher Stone, Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator )

Over the course of the 1990’s, Boston received national attention for Operation Ceasefire and other innovative efforts to prevent youth violence. In the four years after Operation Ceasefire was launched in 1996, youth homicides in the city dropped by almost two-thirds. As a result, the U.S. Department of Justice embraced Operation Ceasefire's "pulling levers" strategy as an effective approach to crime prevention and, with funding from federally sponsored violence prevention programs, many American cities developed programs like Operation Ceasefire. Unfortunately, serious youth violence has returned to Boston streets and many other cities have been unable to replicate Operation Ceasefire’s success. This panel discussion highlighted how Boston succeeded in reducing violent youth crime in past and discussed what lessons history offers as the city comes to grips with a new cycle of youth violence.

Related publication: Anthony A. Braga and Christopher Winship. "Creating an Effective Foundation to Prevent Youth Violence: Lessons Learned from Boston in the 1990s." Rappaport Institute Policy Brief PB-2005-5.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

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