Access to The Champion archive is one of many exclusive member benefits. It’s normally restricted to just NACDL members. However, this content, and others like it, is available to everyone in order to educate the public on why criminal justice reform is a necessity.
Will it take one or two more generations? Will it take longer before race is no longer a major divisive social issue in America? Can we avoid tearing apart our social fabric and become one American people? Is law leading us toward greater harmony?
In one generation America has made substantial progress, and the law and lawyers deserve credit for much of it. But we lawyers know how much more remains to be done. That is especially true in the criminal justice system. We know that there are unequal patterns in law enforcement, prosecution and sentencing. We know that as a result, people of color represent a disproportionate percentage of people in prison or under supervision. Nonwhites are more likely to be charged with capital murder than whites, and murders involving white victims are more likely to result in capital charges than those involving nonwhite victims.
In New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Seattle in the last few years we have witnessed police misconduct in which people of color have been tortured, beaten, framed and killed. Cincinnati is another city that has shown us racial injustice at its worst. And yet it is only when deep-seated resentment, anger and fear flash into riots that the American public takes notice. That is a primary reason why NACDL is holding its Spring 2002 meeting in Cincinnati and why the seminar program is devoted to issues of race and culture in criminal justice.
Surrounding this issue of The Champion, you'll find information for the Cincinnati meeting. You'll see that the seminar offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and successfully confronting bias and prejudice in criminal proceedings. If you only attend one CLE this year, this is the one.
You'll also notice that this is one of the most affordable seminars that NACDL has held in recent years. Airfare and hotel rates are low, but we recognize that even low hotel rates may be a barrier to attendance. To meet that problem and encourage attendance by our members, our Cincinnati colleagues have agreed to open their homes to members who want to attend but cannot afford hotel costs. The Spring meeting also will offer an array of social events, sponsored by the Ohio Association, the Kentucky Association and the Greater Cincinnati Association.
Join us in Cincinnati for a timely and informative seminar, to meet and share your experiences with colleagues and to demonstrate our commitment to resolving the issues that tore Cincinnati apart and that threaten communities across the country.
