Events

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Past Events

2008

May 5
FILM SCREENING: Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite)
Harvard Film Archive

Followed by commentary and discussion with

José Padilha
Director, Producer, and Screenwriter

James Cavallaro
Harvard Law School

José Gatti
Boston University

Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite--Brazil 2007) is a semi-fictional account of the BOPE (Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais), the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police.  The film was made in dialogue with the book Elite da Tropa, written by anthropologist Luiz Eduardo Soares and two BOPE officers, André Batista and Rodrigo Pimentel, and is based on their experiences.  Soares is the former national secretary of public security in Brazil. Both the film and the book show police brutality and corruption, as well as the violence of drug traffickers, through the eyes and the voice of a policeman involved in a world where the war on crime itself becomes criminal.

Elite Squad is the second film in which Padilha and Soares have collaborated.  Padilha directed the documentary Bus 174, one of the New York Times’ ten best films of 2003, which recounts the events, causes and effects of a nationally televised hijacking. Soares provided the primary commentary about the conditions that produced one of the most notorious crimes in modern Brazilian history.

Co-sponsored by the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Brazil Studies Program of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

Friday, April 4

The HBO Series

A Compelling Portrayal of an American City

  A conversation with:

DAVID SIMON
Creator and Executive Producer of HBO’s The Wire

NORA BASTON
Deputy Superintendent, Boston Police Department

GEOFFREY CANADA
President & CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone
Author, Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America

SUDHIR A. VENKATESH
Professor of Sociology, Columbia University; Author, Gang Leader for a Day

WILLIAM JULIUS WILSON (MODERATOR)
Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University
Author, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor
                                          

 Watch a video of the event online here
 

Co-sponsored by:
HBO
W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African American Research
Department of African and African American Studies
Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston
Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management
Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program
HKS Urban Policy PIC
Harvard College Black Men’s Forum 

Monday, April 14
Using PerformanceStat to Improve Public Safety at the Department of Homeland Security and New York City's Departments of Correction and Probation

• Michael Fisher, Chief Patrol Agent, San Diego Sector, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Martin Horn, Commissioner, New York City Department of Correction and New York City Department of Probation

In addition to police departments, many other entities focused on public safety have adopted the PerformanceStat approach. New York City's Department of Department of Correction has TEAMS (for "Total Efficiency Accountability Management System") which became a model for the city's Department of Probation's STARS (for "Statistical Tracking, Analysis & Reporting System"). Across the country, the San Diego sector of the U.S. Border Patrol uses BorderStat to carry out its difficult mission.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government

March 19
Institute of Politics Forum Event
Law, Order and Community in the New Ireland

• Brian Lenihan, Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Republic of Ireland

March 3
FILM SCREENING: Bus 174 (Ônibus 174)

Bus 174, one of the New York Times’ ten best films of 2003, recounts the events, causes and effects of a nationally televised hijacking. Luiz Eduardo Soares, a Visiting Scholar at the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, is featured in the documentary, as he provided some of the primary commentary in the film about the conditions that produced one of the most notorious crimes in modern Brazilian history. After the screening, Soares followed up with additional commentary and answered questions about the film and about the Brazilian criminal justice system.

February 11
Using PerformanceStat to Fight Crime in New York and Los Angeles

• Michael Farrell , Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Initiatives, New York City Police Department
• Detective Jeffrey Godown, Commanding Officer, CompStat Unit, Los Angeles Police Department

The New York City Police Department's CompStat program, which began in 1994, not only has been adopted by dozens of other police departments, including the Los Angeles Police Department, it also has spawned a new "PerformanceStat" approach for improving performance and producing results in a wide variety of jurisdictions and agencies in the U.S.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government

2007

October 18
Quiet Storm: Dynamics of Recent Gang Violence in Boston
David Hureau, Research Associate, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management

David Hureau gave a presentation to a packed house at the Harvard School of Public Health on his recent research into Boston gangs.

Sponsored by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

October 17
Incarceration and Inequality: The Effects of "Cracking Down" on Crime

• Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University and author, Punishment and Inequality in America (Russell Sage Foundation, 2006)
• Robert J. Mulligan, Chief Justice for Administration and Management, Administrative Office of the Trial Court, Commonwealth of Massachuetts, and Chair, Massachusetts Sentencing Commission
  

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and Suffolk University Law School's Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service.

September 16
Human Rights and Criminal Justice: A U.S. Perspective
Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-SC)

The fifth meeting of the Executive Session on Human Rights Commissions and Criminal Justice was held in Atlanta during the joint meeting of the International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies (IAOHRA) and the National Association of Human Rights Workers (NAHRW). Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-SC)--Majority Whip for the 110th Congress and former South Carolina Human Affairs Commissioner--was a special guest of the session and was the keynote speaker on Sunday.

At the meeting, the Executive Session was awarded the IAOHRA International Award "For Outstanding Research and Development in Civil and Human Rights in the United States as Well as Internationally."

April 11
Boston in the Movies: A Spring 2007 Film Series
Mystic River

In this 2003 movie directed by Clint Eastwood. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins play three men who still live in the Boston neighborhood where they grew up. Penn plays Jimmy, an ex-con whose daughter is murdered. Bacon plays Sean, a homicide detective who is investigating the murder. Robbins plays Dave, a blue-collar worker who is still haunted by his abduction as a child and who becomes a suspect in the case. Penn and Robbins both won Oscars for their performances and the film was nominated for another four Oscars as well.

Commentary by Anthony Braga, Senior Research Associate and Lecturer in Public Policy.

Sponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

March 15
Human Rights and Criminal Justice: A South African Perspective
Jody Kollapen

The Executive Session on Human Rights Commissions and Criminal Justice welcomed Mr. Jody Kollapen, Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), a constitutional body set up by Chapter Nine of South Africa's Constitution to protect and promote human rights. The SAHRC is one of a number of independent, national institutions created to transform the country from its unjust past and to deliver the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution to all in South Africa.

March 12
Who Bears the Burden of Crime? Distribution of Criminal Victimization Across Rich and Poor

• Rafael Di Tella, Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice

Professor Di Tella presented his new crime survey data from Buenos Aires which was contrasted with crime trends in Boston.

February 26
Crime and Punishment: The Future of Incarceration in Massachusetts and the Nation

• Kathleen M. Dennehy, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Correction
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice

A report released by the Pew Charitable Trusts in February 2007 estimates that prison populations in the United States will grow by 13 percent over the next five years. In Massachusetts, Commissioner Dennehy's agency projects prison population of growth of six percent, substantially faster growth than the Commonwealth's residential population growth forecast at less than 2 percent. The number of people in Massachusetts prisons, like the number for the nation as a whole, is at an all-time high. Within those swollen prison populations are many complicating problems: high levels of mental illness, disproportionate incarceration of people of color, a recent surge in suicides, and more.

Professor Stone began the evening with a presentation of current trends and statistics. Commissioner Dennehy shared experiences from her 31 years at the DOC and highlighted issues of classification, programming, budget restraints, expanding programs, unions, recidivism and whether it is inevitable that prison populations will continue to grow into the forseeable future.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

2006

December 6
Faculty Dinner with Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis

Faculty and researchers from the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management and the Harvard Interfaculty Partnership on Crime and Justice hosted a dinner for newly-appointed Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis to discuss the crime and justice issues that he and the city face. Harvard faculty and researchers work with the City of Boston and the Boston Police Department in many different capacities and have worked with Commissioner Davis during his tenure in Lowell, MA and hope to strengthen and grow these partnerships in the future.

November 21
Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit: Lessons from an Innovations Award Winner

• Sergeant Brett Parson, Unit Commanding Officer
  Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit
  D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
  
  
• Officer Joe Morquecho
  Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit
  D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
  
  
• Sterling Spangler, Community Outreach Specialist
  Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit
  D.C. Metropolitan Police Department

The D.C. Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) is the first in the nation to redefine “community policing” by coupling community outreach with traditional crime fighting in the often invisible gay and lesbian communities. Moving beyond geographic, racial, and other artificial boundaries, the unit is educating law enforcement and protecting this traditionally marginalized group. Prior to the establishment of the GLLU, only 2 hate crimes were reported against the gay and lesbian population, not because hate crimes were not occurring but because a serious rift existed between the gay and lesbian community and the city’s law enforcement. Many gay and lesbian victims had little faith in the police force and felt that their complaints were rarely taken seriously. Due in large part the outreach work of the GLLU, this gap has been bridged with 52 hate crimes reported in 2005. The GLLU’s work extends beyond outreach to actual criminal investigations, including involvement in several high-profile murder investigations involving gay or lesbian victims. The program won the Innovations in American Government Award in 2006.

This event was cosponsored by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation and the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management.

October 23
Racial Profiling, Globally and Locally

• Kim Williams, Associate Professor of Public Policy
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice
• Edward A. Flynn, Commissioner of Police, City of Springfield, MA
• Anthony A. Braga, Senior Research Associate and Lecturer in Public Policy (moderator)

Christopher Stone and Kim Williams discussed the use of and controversy about racial profiling at the borders and on the streets. Springfield Police Commissioner Edward Flynn offered a brief response on racial profiling, reflecting on his experiences as Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

September 25
Youth Violence in Boston: The Real Deal

• David Hemenway, Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center
• Rev. Jeffrey Brown, Co-Founder, Boston Ten Point Coalition

Youth violence is a growing problem in Boston. How bad is it? What can be done about it? David Hemenway, Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, discussed the results of a survey of over 1000 Boston adolescents. Rev. Jeffrey Brown, a co-founder of the Ten Point Coalition, offered a response, reflecting on his own experiences working on youth issues in Boston.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

May 11
Human Rights and Criminal Justice: A Mexican Perspective
Emilio Alvarez Icaza Longoria

The Executive Session on Human Rights Commissions and Criminal Justice welcomed Emilio Alvarez Icaza Longoria, President of the Federal District Commission of Human Rights (CDHDF), or the Mexico City Human Rights Commission. Unlike his counterparts in U.S. cities, Mr. Alvarez is elected by the legislature in Mexico City. The organization investigates complaints and reports of alleged violations of human rights which are attributed to any authority or public servant who has a job in the public administration of Mexico City or in the law enforcement organizations that have local jurisdiction in Mexico City. The Commission investigates approximately 46,000 claims a year. In its defense and education programs, the Commission pursues three strategies. First, it seeks to identify perpetrators of human rights violations. Second it looks to see what structural conditions -- administrative, legal, procedural, and even sometimes technological -- allowed the violations to occur. Finally, it seeks to remedy the violation, not just financially but also morally. Mr. Alvarez explained that governmental recognition of human rights in Mexico is a relatively new yet rapidly developing phenomenon. There are now 32 local commissions, serving the state's 31 states and federal district, as well as a National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH). The Mexico City Human Rights Commission was established in 1993, while the national commission is just two years older.

April 28
Frank Hartmann Retirement Dinner

On April 30, 2006, Frank Hartmann stepped down as Executive Director of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, after 21 years on the job. Fifty of Frank's friends from the world of criminal justice flew in from all over the US to join us in a celebration of his teaching, mentoring, research, and friendship. Tributes to Frank were given by Los Angeles Chief of Police William J. Bratton and Jeremy Travis, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

April 27-28
Persistent Challenges Facing Police Leadership

A roundtable discussion among some of America's leading chiefs of police. The morning's discussion focused on "Identifying Persistent Challenges from the Past." Glenn Schmitt, Acting Director of the National Institute of Justice (KSG MPP, 1994) spoke during lunch on "The Context in Washington for Police Reform." The day ended with a discussion of "New Strategies for Persistent Problems."

Funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice.

April 17
Darfur: Is the Prevention of Genocide Possible?

Juan E. Méndez, President, International Center for Transitional Justice and United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

Cosponsored by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

April 11
Policing Democracies in Times of Terror

• Nicholas Hardwick, Chairman, Independent Police Complaints Commission (UK)
• Raymond Kelly, Commissioner, New York Police Department
• Kathleen O'Toole, Commissioner, Boston Police Department
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator)

The video of this event can be seen online here.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and the Taubman Center for State and Local Government.

March 13
Crime, Time, and Employment: Realistic Options for Helping People Leaving Prison Find Better Jobs

• Richard Freeman, the Herbert Ascherman Professor of Economics at Harvard and Director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Mindy Tarlow, Executive Director, Center for Employment Opportunities in New York City.
• William Julius Wilson, the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University, who directs Harvard’s Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program.
• Christopher Stone, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator)

The overwhelming majority—at least 97 percent— of inmates will eventually be released from prison or jail but many of these people are subsequently convicted of other crimes and return to prison or jail. At this event, a panel of expert scholars and practitioners discussed whether this cycle can be broken via programs that provide guaranteed short-term jobs, intensive counseling, and extensive supervision.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston and Harvard Interfaculty Partnership on Crime and Justice.

2005

November 21
Immigration and Crime: Recent Patterns and Future Challenges

• Robert J. Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, Chair of Harvard's Department of Sociology
• Larry Mayes, Chief of Human Services for the City of Boston

Why do black youth in the United States commit violent acts almost twice as often as white or Latino youth? In recently published research based primarily on data from Chicago, Sampson and his colleagues found that the reasons have little to do with individual poverty or inherent racial differences. Rather, four factors—the marital status of a young person's parents, the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, whether he or she is a first- or second-generation immigrant, and the proportion of other people in the neighborhood who are immigrants—account for most of the differences in violent crime rates for youth. According to Sampson, the findings suggest that the disparity in crime rates "is largely social in nature and therefore amenable to intervention in community rather than individual settings." At this event, Sampson discussed this research and its implications for policymakers. Larry Mayes offered a brief response, reflecting on his own experiences working on these issues in Boston's Cape Verdean community.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

October 24
A Less Lethal Death: How Victoria Snelgrove's Death is Changing Policing

• Kathleen O'Toole, Commissioner, Boston Police Department
• Donald K. Stern, chair, Boston Police Department Commission Investigating the Death of Victoria Snelgrove; and partner, Bingham McCutchen
• Carolyn Ryan, Assistant Managing Editor, Metro Section, The Boston Globe
• Christopher Stone, Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator)

One year ago, Victoria Snelgrove died when a Boston police officer fired a plastic pellet into a crowd celebrating the Red Sox’s victory in the 2004 American League Championship Series. Her tragic death focused public attention on the dangers of so-called "less lethal" weapons increasingly used by police departments throughout the country for crowd control. The tragic incident provoked major changes not only in the Boston Police Department but also in the ways that American police departments manage their increasingly sophisticated "less lethal" weaponry. In Boston and around the country, these improvements are being guided by the report of an independent commission, appointed by Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole, and chaired by Donald K. Stern, the former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts . At this panel discussion, which was held a year after Snelgrove's death, O'Toole, Stern, and Carolyn Ryan, a Boston Globe editor who oversaw the paper’s coverage of the incident, discussed how the events changed the way police in Boston and around the country approach crowd control, less-lethal weapons, and public disorder. Christopher Stone, a professor of criminal justice at the Kennedy School who was also a member of the Stern Commission, moderated the discussion.

Related publication: Christopher Stone, Brian Buchner, and Scott Dash. "Crowd Control That Can Kill: Can American Police Get a Grip on Their New, 'Less-Lethal' Weapons Before they Kill Again?" Rappaport Institute Policy Brief PB-2005-6.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

September 26
Lessons from Boston's Police-Community Collaboration and the 1990s Drop in Violent Crime

• Anthony Braga, Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Research Associate of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management
• Superintendent Paul Joyce, Boston Police Department
• Rev. Eugene Rivers, National Ten Point Leadership Coalition
• Christopher Winship, Norman Tishman and Charles M. Diker Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
• Christopher Stone, Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice (moderator )

Over the course of the 1990’s, Boston received national attention for Operation Ceasefire and other innovative efforts to prevent youth violence. In the four years after Operation Ceasefire was launched in 1996, youth homicides in the city dropped by almost two-thirds. As a result, the U.S. Department of Justice embraced Operation Ceasefire's "pulling levers" strategy as an effective approach to crime prevention and, with funding from federally sponsored violence prevention programs, many American cities developed programs like Operation Ceasefire. Unfortunately, serious youth violence has returned to Boston streets and many other cities have been unable to replicate Operation Ceasefire’s success. This panel discussion highlighted how Boston succeeded in reducing violent youth crime in past and discussed what lessons history offers as the city comes to grips with a new cycle of youth violence.

Related publication: Anthony A. Braga and Christopher Winship. "Creating an Effective Foundation to Prevent Youth Violence: Lessons Learned from Boston in the 1990s." Rappaport Institute Policy Brief PB-2005-5.

Cosponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

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