Professor Angela J. Davis Joins Roundtable on Racism with Rep. Jamie Raskin
June 9, 2020
American University Washington College of Law professor and leading U.S. criminal law scholar Angela J. Davis provided expert legal insight into America’s ongoing racial injustices during a virtual roundtable discussion with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) Friday, June 5.
“Prosecutors' historic and current failure to hold cops accountable is one of the reasons why they feel so emboldened to do what they're doing,” Davis said during the discussion with Raskin and Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler.
An expert in criminal law and procedure with a specific focus on prosecutorial power and racism in the criminal justice system, Davis previously served as director of the D.C. Public Defender Service, where she began as a staff attorney representing indigent juveniles and adults. She has also served as executive director of the National Rainbow Coalition and is a former law clerk of the Honorable Theodore R. Newman, the former Chief Judge of the D.C. Court of Appeals. Davis is the author and editor of a number of publications, including the author of Arbitrary Justice: The Power of the American Prosecutor and editor of Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution and Imprisonment.
“We need to reimagine and deconstruct this criminal legal system,” Davis told Raskin, Professor of Law Emeritus at AUWCL and chair of the House Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Oversight Subcommittee. “Reform is not enough. We need to think about it in a different way – legislative changes, policy changes, all of the above.”
When it comes to helping create this structural change, Davis said it’s easy for people to become overwhelmed and not know how to support such efforts. But, she noted, every little bit helps – whether that’s publically demonstrating, or donating to organizations promoting this work.
“Everybody can’t do everything, but everyone can do something,” Davis said.