Conference 

# Criminal Justice at a Crossroads 

##### Watch the Event 

Date and Time 

October 18, 2017 9 AM - 5:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

Hon. Jed Rakoff 

Chief J. Thomas Manger 

Chief Ron Davis 

Hon. Steven S. Alm 

Dara Lind 

Scott Greenfield 

Sgt. Renee J. Mitchel 

Suja A. Thomas 

Laura Donohue 

Jay Ahern 

Alyssa Rosenberg 

Mike Riggs 

*Reason* magazine

[![j-mironcropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-04/j-mironcropped.jpg?itok=dkHQXJBB)](/people/jeffrey-miron) 

[Jeffrey Miron](/people/jeffrey-miron)

Director, Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, Department of Economics at Harvard University

[ 

](https://x.com/jeffreyamiron) [ 

](mailto:jmiron@cato.org) 

Leo Beletsky 

[![Media Name: blanks-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/authors/crops/blanks-cropped.jpg?itok=Vtj965vQ)](/people/jonathan-blanks) 

[Jonathan Blanks](/people/jonathan-blanks)

Former Research Associate 

[ 

](https://twitter.com/blanksslate) 

[![Clark Neily](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Clark%20Neily.jpg?itok=kOJs7hwY)](/people/clark-neily) 

[Clark Neily](/people/clark-neily)

Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/conlawwarrior) [ 

](mailto:cneily@cato.org) 

[![Matthew Feeney](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Matthew%20Feeney.jpg?itok=O149-e08)](/people/matthew-feeney) 

[Matthew Feeney](/people/matthew-feeney)

Head of Technology and Innovation, Centre for Policy Studies

[ 

](https://twitter.com/m_feeney) 

Amy Bach 

Kevin Sharp 

Zachary Bolitho 

The first months of the Trump administration have confirmed that criminal justice will remain a contentious issue for the foreseeable future. Trump’s “law and order” rhetoric on the campaign trail has led to significant changes in federal criminal justice policy. At the state and local levels, lawmakers are struggling with the opioid epidemic, overincarceration, and how to work with new federal enforcement goals.

In the current environment, how should legislators tackle the most serious and enduring criminal justice issues? What policies should be implemented? What should officials’ priorities be? To answer these and other questions, experts from courtrooms, universities, law enforcement agencies, and think tanks gathered at the Cato Institute for its third annual criminal justice conference, **Criminal Justice at a Crossroads**.

| **9:00AM — 9:15AM** | **Opening Remarks** [**Clark Neily**](http://www.cato.org/people/clark-neily), Vice President for Criminal Justice, Cato Institute |
|:--|:--|
| **9:15AM — 10:25AM** | **Panel 1: Law Enforcement and the Communities They Serve** **Chief Ron Davis (ret.)**, East Palo Alto, California Police Department and principal consultant, 21st Century Policing Strategies LLC **Chief J. Thomas Manger**, Montgomery County, Maryland and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association **Sgt. Renée J. Mitchell**, American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Moderated by [**Jonathan Blanks**](http://www.cato.org/people/jonathan-blanks), Research Associate in Cato’s Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute [Download video of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-01.mp4) [Download podcast of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-01.mp3) |
| **10:25AM — 10:40AM** | **Break** |
| **10:40AM — 11:05AM** | **Flash Talk** **Hon. Steven S. Alm**, Judge (ret.), First Circuit Court of Hawai’i, creator of HOPE Probation [Download video of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-02.mp4) [Download podcast of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-02.mp3) |
| **11:05AM — 12:15PM** | **Panel 2: The Defendant in Court** **Hon. Jed Rakoff**, Senior Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York **Scott Greenfield**, criminal defense attorney and editor of *Simple Justice* **Suja Thomas**, professor of law at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Moderated by [**Trevor Burrus**](http://www.cato.org/people/trevor-burrus), Research Fellow, Cato Institute [Download video of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-03.mp4) [Download podcast of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-03.mp3) |
| **12:15PM — 1:15PM** | **Lunch** |
| **1:15PM — 2:00PM** | **Flash Talk** **Alyssa Rosenberg**, opinion writer, *Washington Post* **Amy Bach**, Executive Director and President of Measures for Justice [Download video of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-04.mp4) [Download podcast of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-04.mp3) |
| **2:00PM — 3:10PM** | **Panel 3: Criminal Justice and the Border** **Dara Lind**, senior reporter, *Vox​.com* **Laura Donohue**, professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center **Jay Ahern**, principal and security services practice leader at The Chertoff Group and former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Moderated by [**Matthew Feeney**](http://www.cato.org/people/matthew-feeney), Policy Analyst, Cato Institute [Download video of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-05.mp4) [Download podcast of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-05.mp3) |
| **3:10PM — 3:30PM** | **Break** |
| **3:30PM — 3:45PM** | **Flash Talk** **William R. Kelly**, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Criminology and Criminal Justice Research at the University of Texas at Austin [Download video of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-06.mp4) [Download podcast of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-06.mp3) |
| **3:45PM — 4:55PM** | **Panel 4: The Drug War and the Opioid Crisis: Approaches and Remedies** **Leo Beletsky**, professor, School of Law & Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University **Jeffrey Miron**, director of economic studies at the Cato Institute and senior lecturer on economics and director of undergraduate studies at Harvard University **Zachary Bolitho**, Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General Moderated by **Mike Riggs**, reporter, *Reason* [Download video of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-07.mp4) [Download podcast of the panel](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-07.mp3) |
| **4:55PM — 5:00PM** | **Break** |
| **5:00PM — 5:30PM** | **Keynote** **Kevin Sharp** Nashville Managing Partner, Sanford Heisler Sharp, and former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee [Download video of the Keynote Address and Closing Remarks](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cc-10-18-17-08.mp4) [Download podcast of the Keynote Address and Closing Remark](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2017/cca-10-18-17-08.mp3) |
| **5:30PM — 5:40PM** | **Closing Remarks** [**Clark Neily**](http://www.cato.org/people/clark-neily), Vice President for Criminal Justice, Cato Institute |
| **5:40PM — 6:40PM** | **Reception** |

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).