The Conservative Case for Criminal Justice Reform

How is it “conservative” to spend vast amounts of taxpayer money
on a strategy without asking whether it is providing taxpayers
with the best public safety return on their investment?

Speakers/Moderators
See bios below

Mark Haase, Council on Crime and Justice
David Keene, National Rifle Association
Mark Levin, Center for Effective Justice
Lee McGrath, Institute for Justice
Prof. Joshua Page, Univ. of Minnesota Department of Sociology
Mitch Pearlstein, Center of the American Experiment
Sarah Walker, MN Second Chance Coalition

January 14, 2013
7:30 – 11:30 am

Amherst H. Wilder Foundation - Auditorium
451 Lexington Parkway North
Saint Paul, MN 55104

Space is limited
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Questions?
Please contact Sarah Walker at sarah@hillcapitolstrategies.com or (612) 220-2070.

Event Sponsors

Speakers/Moderators

Mark Haase is Vice President of the Council on Crime and Justice. The Council on Crime and Justice is a 50 year old non-profit organization in Minneapolis.  Its mission is to build community capacity to address the causes and consequences of crime and violence through research, demonstration and advocacy.  Mark is responsible for development and implementation of the Council’s public policy agenda, services for individuals with criminal records, and education of employers to promote the hiring of individuals with criminal records.

Prior to joining the Council, Mark was a U.S. Coast Guard Officer, college student leadership development director with the University YMCA, and sole proprietor of a family law practice that focused on collaborative law.  Mark received his B.A. from the University of Minnesota, and completed his J.D. (cum laude) and M.A. at the University of Saint Thomas.

David Keene is President of the National Rifle Association and former chairman of the American Conservative Union, and one of the first national leaders to sign the Right on Crime Statement of Principles.

He attended the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he was the National Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom. Since then, has been a John F. Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, a First Amendment Fellow at Vanderbilt University’s Freedom Forum, a member of the Board of Visitors at Duke University’s Public Policy School, and a member of the Board of Directors at the National Rifle Association.

Keene’s involvement in presidential politics extends back to the Nixon Administration, where he served as a Special Assistant to Vice President Spiro Agnew. His Capitol Hill experience includes such varied roles as Executive Assistant to New York Senator Jim Buckley; Southern Regional Political Director for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign; National Political Director for George Bush’s 1980 presidential race; Senior Advisor to former Senator Bob Dole in 1988 and advisor to Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996.

Keene is recognized as one of the chief spokesmen for conservative principles and politics. Accordingly, he is regularly featured on a variety of radio, television and print media, and has written for publications such as National Review, the Washington Times and the Boston Globe. He is also a columnist for the Hill, a newspaper covering Congress.

Marc A. Levin is the director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.  Levin is an Austin, TX attorney and an accomplished author on legal and public policy issues.  Levin has served as a law clerk to Judge Will Garwood on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Staff Attorney at the Texas Supreme Court.  In 1999, he graduated with honors from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Plan II Honors and Government.  In 2002, Levin received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law.  Levin’s articles on law and public policy have been featured in national and international media outlets that regularly turn to him for conservative analysis of states’ criminal justice challenges.

Lee McGrath is the Legislative Counsel of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm with seven offices across the county.  He joined the Institute in December 2004 and also leads the firm's state chapter in Minnesota.  Nationwide, the Institute litigates and lobbies for increased protection of property rights, free speech, school choice and economic liberty.  In the area of economic liberty, McGrath is a national leader in the fight against the misuse of occupational regulations to reduce competition, employment opportunities and consumer choices.  He has testified in numerous states that occupational licensing laws are modern guilds that block the right to fulfill one's calling or what Jefferson meant by the pursuit of happiness.

Under his leadership, the Institute for Justice Minnesota Chapter has launched a successful campaign to restore economic liberty as a basic civil right under both the Minnesota State and U.S. Constitutions.  IJ-MN successfully freed African hair braiders from the State of Minnesota's onerous cosmetology licensing regime, successfully stopped the government from enforcing a blanket ban on advertising, soliciting or using the Internet to conduct lawful, direct sales of wine, and forced the City of Red Wing to end its ban on interstate shipping of trash.

Lee received his law degree from William Mitchell College of Law.  Before that, Lee worked for more than 20 years in corporate finance.  Lee also holds an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and was a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota.

Mitch Pearlstein is Founder and President of Center of the American Experiment.  Before his 1990 return to the Twin Cities, Dr. Pearlstein served for two years in the U.S. Department of Education, during the Reagan and (first) Bush administrations, where he held three positions, including Director of Outreach for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement.  Just prior to his federal service in Washington, Dr. Pearlstein spent four years as an editorial writer and columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where he focused on foreign and national affairs.

He also has been special assistant for policy and communications to Gov. Albert H. Quie of Minnesota; a research fellow at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota; assistant to University of Minnesota President C. Peter Magrath (pronounced Ma-grah); director of public information at Binghamton University; a reporter for The Sun-Bulletin, again in Binghamton; and a columnist for CityBusiness and Twin Cities Business Monthly.

Josh Page is assistant professor in the Sociology Department of the University of Minnesota.  Josh completed his doctoral work and received a Ph.D. in 2007 from the University of California Berkeley. His research interest areas include Crime, Law, Deviance, and Punishment; Labor and Unionization; Political Sociology; Qualitative Research Methods; Social Theory.

Josh’s current research includes: The Minnesota Juvenile Justice Transitions Project: This study analyzes the transition of young offenders from Minnesota juvenile justice institutions back into their communities. It investigates the following question: What factors impede or facilitate the "reentry" process for juvenile offenders after release?

Minnesota Correctional Officer Survey Project: This research analyzes the living and working conditions in adult state prisons. It also examines correctional officers’ attitudes and beliefs about correctional policies and practices. Amy Lerman, a political scientist in California, conducted a similar survey of correctional officers in that state (Professor Page adapted Ms. Lerman’s survey instrument for the Minnesota study). Based on our respective research, Ms. Lerman and Prof. Page will compare the experiences and dispositions of correctional officers in California and Minnesota.

Josh has published extensively in the fields of sociology and criminology.  Of particular note for this forum is his 2011 publication, The 'Toughest Beat': Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers' Union in California. New York: Oxford University Press.

Sarah Walker works in government affairs at Hill Capitol Strategies.  Prior to join Hill Capitol Strategies she spent five years as the Chief Operating Officer at 180 Degrees, Inc.  During her time at 180 Degrees, Inc. she founded the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition. Sarah is a graduate of Carleton College and is currently completing her doctorate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Prior to entering the Department of Sociology, Sarah completed three years of doctoral work in the University of Minnesota Department of Political Science where she studied interest groups, social movements, and media framing of unpopular political issues. She brings extensive research experience to issues of politics, inequality, criminal justice reform and the role of philanthropic organizations in setting interest group agendas.

Her previous positions include as Research Consultant at the Council on Crime and Justice, Director of Workforce Development at the Center for Court Innovation, Executive Director of the Youth Justice Funding Collaborative, and Interim Research Director at the Council on Crime and Justice. Sarah also serves as a board member of the St. Paul African American Leadership Council and Twin Cities Rise.  Sarah is currently a member of the Minnesota DFL State Central Committee and is a past member of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s Racial Fairness Committee. In 2010, Governor Pawlenty appointed Sarah to the Council on Black Minnesotans and, in 2011, Governor Dayton appointed her to Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission. In January of 2011, Sarah accepted the Presidency of the Coalition for Impartial Justice and is leading efforts to ensure a fair and impartial judiciary in Minnesota.

Sarah’s public policy work has received many accolades. She was the recipient of the 2010 Minnesota Council of Non-Profits Statewide Advocacy Award, 2010 Hennepin County Bar Association Advancing Justice Award, 2010 and 2011 winner of the Politics in Minnesota’s Leaders in Public Policy Award and 2012 Minnesota Associations for Children’s Mental Health’s Outstanding Service Award for her work in Juvenile Justice. Most recently, Sarah served as a board member and public spokesperson for Minnesota United for All Families.