The Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice prides itself upon its ground-breaking conferences and symposia that bring together experts from around the country to discuss strategies for social change. The Center sponsors two annual lectures honoring distinguished alumni committed to social justice. The fall symposium is host to the Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Memorial Lecture, and the Robert D. and Leslie-Kay Raven Lecture on Access to Justice occurs in the spring. The center also sponsors a number of special lectures of interest to the Boalt community during the school year. These events are intended to educate the law school community on social justice issues and provide an opportunity to gain knowledge from leading public interest lawyers, judges and academics who are fighting for equality and have distinguished themselves in the social justice arena.
2008 Spring Symposium “Whose Poverty? Whose Crime? Unlocking the Criminalization of Poverty”
March 6-7, 2008
Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice
Institute for the Study of Social Change
Co-Sponsored by POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork,
American Bar Association and California Law Review, East Bay Community Law Center,
and the Center on Culture, Immigration, and Youth Violence
Sleeping outside or in a vehicle, soliciting employment, convening in a public space and/or suffering in public from a mental illness are citable offenses in the United States. This criminalization of poverty results in more and more poor families, youth, elders, and adults in this country facing police harassment, abuse, and even incarceration for living in poverty. By bringing together an innovative and powerful mix of voices from poverty and race scholars, alternative/activist policy makers, poverty and civil rights attorneys, legal advocates, media producers, activists, artists, and community leaders, the symposium will provide a forum to explore short and long-term legislative and community based solutions to the problem and launch an in-depth look at the harmful impacts of this dangerous trend on poor people and on U.S. society as a whole.
Please note:
There is no charge for this event.
The Symposium is wheelchair accessible. For disability-related accommodations please contact csj@law.berkeley.edu or (510) 642-6969.
MCLE credit will be issued on the days of the event only.
Past symposia include:
Fall 2007 Symposium “Reclaiming and Reframing the Dialogue on Race and Racism”: A Symposium Questioning the Social and Legal Assumptions About Racial Discrimination
Spring 2007 Colloquium
Law and Community Economic Justice in the 21st Century: Creating a Vision of Transformative Justice
Spring 2007 Symposium
Law's Violence, Ruptured Community: Justice and Healing for Immigrant Youth
November 3-5, 2005 The New Face of California: The Great Central Valley Olmos Lecture: "In Hard Times the Search for Social Justice" (Transcripts Forthcoming)
Keynote Speaker: Professor Cruz Reynoso ' 58, Former California Supreme Court Justice and holds the Boochever and Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality at the University of California at Davis;
Respondent: Sarah Reyes, Former California State Assemblywoman and Executive Director, Community Foodbank, Fresno
