MPA Program at CCNY
This week, MPA Executive Director Bobby Derival sat down for a Q&A with Jocelyn Simonson, author of Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People are Dismantling Mass Incarceration.
The conversation examined how activists and nonactivists alike are sparking extraordinary changes in the criminal legal system. Professor Simonson discussed her path toward public interest law and described several grassroots strategies outlined in her book, including community bail funds, participatory defense, court watching, and democratic budgeting.
The discussion was hosted on Zoom for an audience of MPA students and alumni as well as members of the broader community.
Simonson is a former public defender and current professor at Brooklyn Law School, where she specializes in criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, and social change.
This conversation is the first of a series organized by MPA Practitioner-in-Residence and Instructor Carl Hamad-Lipscombe. Aside from his roles in the MPA Program, Hamad-Lipscombe serves as the executive director of the Envision Freedom Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to dismantling the criminal legal system by working with the communities most impacted by it.
Watch a recording of this week's event on the MPA YouTube Channel.