March 29, 2024 The Best Source of News, Culture, Lifestyle for Culver City, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Palms and West Los Angeles

Plato Society Asks the Hard Questions at Skirball Center Symposium

By Samuel Harwood

Special to Westside Today

Plato 2 SamWhy does the United States have 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of its prisoners? Why has the U.S. prison population risen 700 percent since 1970 with one in 99 adults behind bars? These questions and more were the subjects of the Plato Society of Los Angeles’s 2016 Milhaupt symposium, “And Justice for All?’’ presented  March 5 at the Skirball Center.

The symposium featured a range of experts with various vantage points on this issue, beginning at 9 am with L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, followed by UCLA law professor Devon Carbado, L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer, Loyola Law School Associate Dean Alexandra Natapoff, and Rachel Meeropol, an Attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York who spoke about solitary confinement in California.

The talks were conducted much like the classes at the Plato society, where members – mostly aged 50 and up who are accepted on the basis of interviews – take courses without a teacher, and are instead, driven by group discussion and regular readings.

While each speaker delivered a formal talk, audience members were allowed to ask questions throughout, as could the other speakers who sat as panel onstage.

Fitting with the depth that Plato members tend to bring to a subject, the symposium stretched beyond discussion of the prison population alone to illuminate the various elements that make up the criminal justice system.

Professor Devon Carbado, who teaches both criminal procedure and critical race theory, said, “My hope is that the problem of police violence opens up space to talk about inequality.”

Professor Natapoff elaborated on this idea in a talk focused on misdemeanors and how “fines occupy a special place in the misdemeanor world,” meaning that their disproportionate impact on poor populations has placed a number of people into jail or homelessness due to an inability to pay their fees. Traffic fees especially drive this in L.A., since they increase with each unpaid day regardless of the offender’s means, typically resulting is license suspensions and joblessness.

“Most Americans encounter the criminal system through the misdemeanor process,” said Natapoff. “It’s not ‘Law and Order.’ It’s quick and dirty. It’s sloppy.”

Speaking to this theme of how Americans, especially those in L.A., experience the criminal justice system, Attorney Feuer used his talk to discuss the Community Justice Initiative, a program his office began a year and a half ago to circumvent the criminal system by placing offenders before a panel of community members to determine an appropriate remedy. This structure has been set up for crimes ranging from theft to prostitution to truancy (Feuer got some laughs when he explained that before, “the only way schools dealt with truant kids was to expel them.”)

Feuer said that the initiative hopes “to get to the root causes of crime, to reduce repeat crime recidivism, and [get] the community that is affected by the crime involved in helping to turn the neighborhood around.”

If it was the Plato Society’s goal to show how overarching theories relating to America’s criminal justice system interact with how its citizens experience that system, the symposium was a great success indeed.

For more information on the society head to theplatosociety.org.

Related Posts

Los Angeles Fire Department Responds to Multi-Vehicle Collision Involving MTA Bus

March 28, 2024

March 28, 2024

Firefighters and Paramedics Assess 14 Individuals, Transport Several to Hospital Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters and paramedics responded to...

Los Angeles County Braces for Heavy Rain, Snow, and Possible Thunderstorms Over Weekend

March 28, 2024

March 28, 2024

National Weather Service Issues Alerts for Flooding and Possible Tornado  According to the latest reports from the National Weather Service...

Two Men Charged in Murder of Sidney Barrett Morris at L.A. Live Restaurant

March 28, 2024

March 28, 2024

DA Gascón Announces Charges; LAPD Chief Choi Expresses Condolences.  Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced murder charges Tuesday...

Cantonese Dim Sum Master Chef Tony Opens Hollywood Dim Sum at TCL Chinese Theatre

March 27, 2024

March 27, 2024

Experience Exquisite Dim Sum Creations in the Heart of Hollywood 97 years after its founding, the TCL Chinese Theatre will...

Fleurs et Sel Bakery Opens Storefront in West Adams, Welcomes Customers Three Days a Week

March 27, 2024

March 27, 2024

Indulge in Freshly Baked Cookies at the New West Adams Location Fleurs et Sel Bakery, known for its delectable cookies...

Easter Specials Guide: Brunch Spots, Desserts, and More in West Los Angeles

March 27, 2024

March 27, 2024

Discover the Best Easter Eats and Treats in LA for Your Holiday Celebration Easter is almost here, so here are...

(Video) Director Adam Wingard Talks About His Influences While Making GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE

March 27, 2024

March 27, 2024

Director Adam Wingard Talks About His Influences While Making GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE at the Beyond Fest Screening...

Attorney for Sean “Diddy” Combs Denounces Investigation as “Witch Hunt”

March 26, 2024

March 26, 2024

Legal Representative Criticizes Probe Amid Federal Sex Trafficking Inquiry An attorney representing Sean “Diddy” Combs criticized the investigation into the...

Culver City Police Department to Conduct High Visibility Traffic Enforcement Operation

March 26, 2024

March 26, 2024

Operation Targets Hazardous Traffic Violations on the West End The Culver City Police Department announced plans to conduct a high...

Historic Union Contract Ratified by Thousands of Hotel Workers At 34 Hotels

March 26, 2024

March 26, 2024

UNITE HERE Local 11 Negotiates Agreement Ensuring Wage Increases  Hotel workers, who spearheaded the largest hotel strike in modern U.S....

Human Rights Campaign’s Los Angeles Dinner Celebrates LGBTQ+ Advocacy and Unity

March 25, 2024

March 25, 2024

Notable Figures Gathered to Champion LGBTQ+ Rights and Combat Discrimination By Aneesha Pappy  The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s...

California Bars and Nightclubs Must Offer Drug Testing Devices Starting July 1

March 25, 2024

March 25, 2024

New Law Mandates License Holders to Provide Drug Testing Kits to Patrons Beginning July 1, establishments with Type 48 licenses...

Opinion: West Los Angeles Needs to Care about Veteran Homelessness

March 25, 2024

March 25, 2024

By Kelly Kravchuk  Veteran homelessness is a public health concern that impacts my West Los Angeles community. As a USC...

Culver City City Council Recap: Bruce Lee Alley, Historical Discrimination Study, Women’s History Month

March 25, 2024

March 25, 2024

Council Deliberates on Racial Equity, Infrastructure Upgrades, and Fire Department Strategic Plan The Culver City Council convened its latest session...

Federal Agents Raid Property Linked to Music Mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs In Holmby Hills

March 25, 2024

March 25, 2024

Authorities Conduct Searches in Los Angeles as Part of Ongoing Sex Trafficking Probe Federal agents from the Department of Homeland...