Last week, Tara Huffman, director of OSI’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice program, took part in a panel discussion hosted by the Innocence Project, “Innocence Denied: Exploring the Intersection of Race, Bail and Guilty Pleas” at the Congressional Black Caucus. The panel, which also included Rodney Roberts, an exoneree and founder of the Rodney Roberts Foundation; Adam Foss, former assistant district attorney and founder of Prosecutor Impact; and Kristin Henning, director of Georgetown University’s Juvenile Justice Clinic, discussed a range of topics including examining why people who are innocent plead guilty. The panel also discussed pretrial reform policy solutions. Huffman oversees the work of the Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland, which works toward an alternative system of pretrial justice that reduces unnecessary detentions and does not penalize people for their economic status.
Find more information and highlights from the discussion here.