Dawn Porter, an attorney, civil justice crusader and award-winning documentary filmmaker, will present Carleton College’s weekly convocation on Friday, Jan. 16 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Porter is the founder of Trilogy Films and the director of the acclaimed documentary, “Gideon’s Army,” which portrays the lives of three young public defenders working in the Deep South. Following the personal stories of their clients, the film shows first-hand the realities of—and inequalities in—the American criminal justice system. The Hollywood Reporter called the film “an eye-opening insight into a judicial hellhole world that ordinary citizens can never imagine” and Village Voice called it “HBO’s most illuminating crime drama since ‘The Wire.’”
Entitled “Defending America in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” Porter’s presentation is free and open to the public. Carleton convocations are also recorded and archived online at go.carleton.edu/convo.
As a former attorney, Porter understands the deficiencies of the United States criminal justice system and what it takes to maintain the passion and commitment to be a public defender. Twelve million people are arrested in the U.S. each year and millions of those cases will proceed through the criminal justice system. Most will be represented by public defenders, lawyers who represent low income people accused of crimes. Often those lawyers receive little or no training, resources or support—struggling against long hours, low pay and staggering caseloads so common that even the most committed often give up in their first year on the job. “Gideon’s Army” has been used across the globe to engage communities in important conversations about indigent defense, race, the U.S. justice system and socioeconomic influences on crime.
“Gideon’s Army” premiered on HBO and was an official selection at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival; the film received the Ridenhour Award for best documentary film in 2014. That same year, Porter released her second film project, “Spies of Mississippi,” which debuted on PBS and tells the story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain “the Mississippi way of life”—white supremacy—during the 1950s and 1960s. The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission (MSSC) evolved from a predominantly public relations agency to a full-fledged spy operation, spying on over 87,000 Americans over the course of a decade. More at www.trilogy-films.com.
Porter is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Georgetown University Law School.
For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located at the corner of College and First Streets in Northfield.
