We Keep Us Safe: Public Safety, Crime, and Elections

Join us for a UW Public Lectures panel on what keeps communities safe. This is a conversation among ACLU of Washington policy experts and experts in restorative justice and violence prevention who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system. Speakers include:

• Martina Kartman, Collective Justice Co-Founder & Community Wellness Director 
• Eugene Youngblood, Look2Justice Community Organizing Director 
• Jazmyn Clark, ACLU-WA Smart Justice Policy Program Director
• Chelsea Moore, ACLU-WA Smart Justice Policy Program Director
• Moderated by Michele Storms, ACLU-WA Executive Director  

For decades, Washington state has invested in increasingly harsher punishments as the solution to public safety. This investment has devastated communities, particularly communities of color, and created a mass incarceration crisis in our state. Panelists will discuss restorative justice, violence prevention, sentencing reform, and how criminalization policies and tough-on-crime rhetoric during election seasons undermine public safety. This discussion will examine the impact our sprawling criminal legal system has had on families, schools, and communities. Speakers will explore what is possible when we truly invest in community safety.