David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project, will present Carleton’s weekly convocation on Friday, Sept. 29 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. In a presentation entitled, “Criminal Justice in the Age of Trump,” Fathi will discuss the ACLU’s efforts to promote a fair and effective criminal justice system.
Convocations are free and open to the public; they are also recorded and archived for online viewing at go.carleton.edu/convo/.
Since 2010, Fathi has served as director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project, focused on challenging conditions of confinement in prisons, jails, and other detention facilities, and working to end the policies that have given the United States the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The ACLU National Prison Project is dedicated to ensuring that our nation’s prisons, jails, and other places of detention comply with the Constitution, domestic law, and international human rights principles. They promote a fair and effective criminal justice system in which incarceration is used only as a last resort, and its purpose is to prepare prisoners for release and a productive, law-abiding life at the earliest possible time. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, they work to ensure that conditions of confinement are consistent with health, safety, and human dignity, and that prisoners retain all rights of free persons that are not inconsistent with incarceration. Achieving these goals will result in a criminal justice system that respects individual rights and increases public safety for everyone, at greatly reduced fiscal cost.
From 2007 to 2010, Fathi directed the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch, working to defend the rights of particularly vulnerable groups in the United States. The organization has published groundbreaking reports on the death penalty, prison conditions, racial discrimination, the rights of immigrants, and many other human rights issues.
Fathi has lectured nationally and internationally on criminal justice issues. His op-eds have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribute, Houston Chronicle, and other major media outlets. He lives in Washington, D.C.
For almost 100 years, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. More at www.aclu.org.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Office of Communications. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located at First and College Streets in Northfield.
