Join us on April 9 for our 2025 Innis Alumni Lecture, “Can ‘Ex-Cons’ Help Improve the Criminal Justice System?“, with Professor Jeffrey Ian Ross (BA ’85 Innis). The criminal justice system struggles with entrenched issues that demand a fundamental re-evaluation. What if we used the voices of well-educated formerly incarcerated individuals to drive meaningful reform? Drawing from the Convict Criminology perspective, which amplifies the voices of those who have lived experience, this talk will explore how CJS reform could be improved by incorporating their expertise.
After the lecture, Professor Scot Wortley from the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies will join to moderate the discussion and Q&A.
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave
Register for this free event below
Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave
Register for this free event below
Over the past two centuries, advanced industrialized countries have developed extensive Criminal Justice Systems (CJS). Maintaining and reforming these entities requires significant resources. Traditionally, efforts to improve criminal justice have relied on practitioner and academic expertise, and excluded those with lived experience. In recent decades, however, there has been a growing recognition of the value of incorporating the insights of formerly incarcerated (FI) individuals into this process. Their perspectives offer unique and underutilized contributions to understanding crime and reforming the CJS. Building on the Convict Criminology perspective, a field that Ross co-founded, this lecture outlines arguments that support this position, ones which don’t, and the situations where the expertise of FI people is best utilized.