Criminal Justice System Webinars
The League of Women Voters of Central Delaware County and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Media Branch will host a two-part webinar, “Financial Inequities in the Criminal Justice System.” The program will run on May 13 and June 16.
The webinars will address current policies and practices that disproportionately affect economically disadvantaged members of the Central Delaware County community. A panel of experts will examine and discuss these issues, how to address them, and ways for members of the public to participate.
The first webinar will take place on Thursday, May 12, from noon to 1:30 p.m., and will cover cash bail, pre-trial incarceration, access to effective legal representation, and loss of employment. Lee Awbrey, from the Delaware County Public Defender’s Office, will moderate a panel that includes Heather Lewis, a Norristown councilwoman; Haley Pritchard, a social justice legal fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania; and Anton Andrew from the Prison Society of Pennsylvania.
The second webinar, on Wednesday, June 16, also from noon to 1:30, will address the economic impact of incarceration and of having a criminal record on prisoners, parolees, and their families. It will also cover employment prospects and court fees.
Awbrey will moderate this panel as well. Speakers will include Maurice Q. Jones, general manager of People Advancing Reintegration; Andrew Christy, a criminal justice and poverty attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania; and Pennsylvania state legislator Rep. Mike Zabel, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, the Subcommittee for Crimes and Corrections, and the Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Task Force.
The presentations are free, but registration is required. Register for the first webinar and submit questions at swat.ink/lwv-justice-pt1. Register for the second webinar and submit questions. For more information, contact Ralf Graves at ralfgraves@comcast.net.
