RU-N Professor Todd Clear, NJ-STEP Program Founder, Will Examine ‘Ending Mass Incarceration’

Nov. 11 Legislative Open House at Rutgers University-Newark

Reflecting its anchor institution mission to engage cross-sector partners in addressing great challenges of our time, Rutgers University-Newark (RU-N) will host its first Legislative Open House on Nov. 11 from 8 – 10 a.m., in the Center for Law and Justice, Baker Trial Moot Courtroom, 123 Washington St., Newark.  The program is free and open to the public; please see agenda at the end of the news release.

“Public Safety Innovation 2015 - Ending Mass Incarceration” will feature the research of Dr. Todd Clear, an internationally renowned criminologist and RU-N professor, former dean and former provost. Clear is founder and faculty director of the NJ-STEP program, which President Barack Obama singled out for praise during his Nov. 2 visit to Rutgers University-Newark to discuss criminal justice reform. “Folks are working hard to get on track,” President Obama acknowledged. “With a little help, they can get on the right path.”

Discussing the legislative open house, Clear notes, “Since the early 1970s, the US rate of incarceration has grown more than five-fold—the largest growth in the number of prisoners in the world. Today, the United States, with less than 5% of the world’s population, has over one-quarter of its prisoners.”  He explains that the Nov. 11 program will analyze the policies that various U.S. states used to grow the prison population, review the impact of mass incarceration, and investigate the overall relationship between prison growth and crime, including the collateral consequences of prison growth for individuals, families, and communities. The presentation will conclude with a description of policies needed to reduce mass incarceration, he states.

The RU-N program is in partnership with U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., N.J. Sen. Ronald L. Rice and N.J. Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, who also will give remarks at the event.  Rutgers Law School Dean Ron Chen will moderate.

The open house is designed to foster interactions between RU-N faculty and elected officials from across different sectors – government, nonprofit, researchers, community activists - who have recognized interests in the selected topics. Those who attend these open houses will be able to meet with a small circle of publicly engaged scholars who are experts in the topic area. Tours of the university will be available after the talk.

An advocate of effectiveness-based policy, Clear's research interests also include community justice, correctional classification, intermediate sanctions, and sentencing policy. He is the recipient of many awards, including those of the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, The Rockefeller School of Public Policy, the American Probation and Parole Association, the American Correctional Association, and the International Community Corrections Association. In May 2011, Clear was elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.

Clear has served as president of the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Association of Doctoral Programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice. The author or co-author of 12 books, including Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Community Justice (Wadsworth Press, 2003), Clear also is the founding editor of the journal Criminology & Public Policy.  A video of his talk, “The Great American Incarceration Experiment: What Has It Cost Us,” is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7ijTxPJwBg

The program is free and open to the public but advance registration is required, at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11EWPEU3KhdXgrZp2ATI2OOdq4-Gg85vTAPsIys7Gx8E/viewform?c=0&w=1

Members of the media are welcome, and photography and videotaping are allowed.  Media contact: Carla Capizzi, capizzi@rutgers.edu, 973/353-5263.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

AGENDA

Buffet Breakfast Served – 8:00 a.m.

Welcome        …………………………………………..Ron Chen, Dean, Rutgers University Law School-Newark

Remarks…………………………………………Congressman Donald Payne, Jr, Senator Ronald Rice, Assemblywoman  Shavonda Sumter

Introduction of Speaker………………………….Shadd Maruna, Dean, Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice

Featured Speaker…………………………………..Dr. Todd Clear, Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice

Audience Q&A

Closing remarks

Campus Tour