The Bob Graham Center for Public Service provides a wide variety of programs for students and the larger public on topics related to public service, public leadership and civic engagement.
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Unintended Consequences: Impacts of the Criminal Justice System
January 13, 2016
The purpose of this discussion was to promote better understanding of the diverse impacts of Alachua County’s criminal justice system through an open dialogue among community groups. Better awareness can reduce the unintended consequences of interactions between people and the legal system. We will begin the conversation with a forum that will be followed by round table discussions.
Forum panelists included:
Eighth Circuit Public Defender: Stacy Scott,
Gainesville Police Chief: Tony Jones
Board of Directors of Peace4Gainesville, COO, Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, Inc.: Steve Pittman
The event was moderated by Bennett Brummer, former Miami-Dade Public Defender, and Chair, LWVAC Social/Criminal Justice Committee.
The panel addressed the inevitable tensions between what the legal system is and could be in any community. Topics include:
- the school-to-prison pipeline;
- the impact of citation vs. arrest,
- bail and pretrial release,
- juvenile sentencing,
- incarceration for petty offenses,
- sealing records,
- and “reentry” challenges for released convicts (including collateral consequences of conviction and restoration of rights).
A Q&A followed the presentations.
This event was sponsored by the Alachua County League of Women Voters, the UF Levin College of Law and the Bob Graham Center.
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