How can we move beyond the current punitive system to implement community-focused solutions that prioritize the health and wealth of communities, especially communities of color disproportionately affected by mass incarceration and prison building?

Join the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and the Urban Institute for the Punishment Beyond Mass Incarceration Symposium, which will feature expert researchers, emerging scholars, and diverse voices from various fields to explore the latest ideas in moving beyond studying mass incarceration. The symposium will showcase many thought-provoking presentations and discussions, ensuring a comprehensive exploration of topics such as the following: the history and impact of punishment on communities, theoretical and practical aspects of prison abolition, community engaged methods to reduce dependency on prisons, strategies for creating alternative opportunities.

“Politics, Punishment, and Reform”

• Brandon Alston, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Ohio State University

• Brittany Friedman, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California

• Felix Owusu, Postdoctoral Scholar, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

• Amber Joy Powell, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology, University of Iowa

Discussant:

• Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, Associate Professor of Sociology, Brown University