Understanding the Harvard Study on Racial Disparities in Massachusetts Criminal System (Zoom Program)

This program concerns the study done by the Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law School that was commissioned by Chief Justice Gants in 2016.  On the day after its release, the Chief described it as a “must read.”  The current Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court “encourage Massachusetts judges to attend this program to learn about the methodology used, findings made, and conclusions reached by the study’s authors, and to understand its implications.”

The purpose of this Flaschner program is to provide an opportunity for judges to gain an in-depth understanding of the factors that contributed to the authors’ conclusions about racial disparities in the treatment of criminal defendants, and to provide a forum to discuss it.  We encourage you to come with your questions!

The presenters will be Brook Hopkins, Executive Director of Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Policy Program and Felix Owusu, a statistician and a Ph.D candidate at Harvard University’s graduate school of public policy.  Both Brook and Felix worked on the recent Harvard study.  We also expect introductory remarks by Harvard Law School Professor Carol Steiker.  Finally, we are extremely grateful that Northeastern University Law School Professor Deborah Ramirez, our late chief’s wife, also will join us and make some introductory remarks.