ONLINE: Reimagining Public Safety

press release: A Virtual Public Issues Forum from the League of Women Voters of Dane County

Thursday, December 10, 2020, 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM

The forum will explore new opportunities for ensuring public safety in Dane County, with information about the County’s recent initiatives on criminal justice reform, about Madison’s Independent Monitor and Civilian Oversight Board, and about innovative community response efforts such as the Focused Intervention Coalition.

Our Speakers:

Anthony B. Cooper Sr.

Anthony Cooper speaks from experience when he talks about the problems that ex-offenders have when released from prison or jail. Whether it is finding housing, getting a job, or re-connecting with family members, he understands the challenges involved.

Anthony has worked for Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development since February, 2013 as Director of Reentry Service and recently as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Reentry Services. As such, he creates and maintains relationships with employers, provides job development, oversees Nehemiah housing programs, is involved with the Department of Corrections and Madison Police Department and developing community relations. He provides court advocacy not only in Madison but in the surrounding counties.  He has assisted the City of Madison mayor and Dane County Executive to enhance local reentry efforts.

Anthony has received certification as a Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Instructor and Connecticut Community for Addition Recovery Coach.

Colleen Clark-Bernhardt, Manager of the Division of Policy and Practice Innovation and Coordinator, Dane County Criminal Justice Council

Ms. Clark-Bernhardt is Manager of Policy and Practice Innovation for the Dane County, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors.   In this role, she serves as a catalyst for innovation in criminal justice reform and equity throughout county operations.  She serves as staff or member on: Dane County Criminal Justice Council, Pretrial Reform Subcommittee, Racial Disparities Sub-Committee, the Dane County Community Restorative Court Advisory Board.  Nationally, she is the Dane County lead for the MacArthur Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Access to Justice at Harvard University, and NACO’s Data Driven Justice.

Ms. Clark-Bernhardt is the past co-leader of the Racial Equity and Social Justice Team (RESJ)  within Dane County.  Additionally, she serves as a liaison to the Government Alliance on Racial Equity (GARE).   She has co-authored a National Association of Courts Report:  Using technology to Improve Pretrial Processes.   She has also presented Dane County’s work at the National Association of Pretrial Services and the MacArthur Foundation-Safety and Justice Challenge.

Dane County has been developing strategies to improve racial equity and criminal justice n county policy since 2008.  Ms. Clark-Bernhardt has been integral to policy research as well as strategic partnerships and engagement in this area. She has gleaned over 3 million dollars in grants/gifts for Dane County process and systems improvements.

Keith Findley, Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School

For all but six years since 1985—during which he served as a state public defender—Keith Findley has been a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Law School. For 20 of those years, he taught in the Law School's clinics. In 2012, he moved to the tenure track, where he teaches Evidence, Wrongful Convictions, Criminal Procedure, and Law & Forensic Science.  In 1998, along with Professor John Pray, he co-founded the Wisconsin Innocence Project, and he served as co-director of the project until the spring of 2017, when he assumed the role of Senior Advisor. For five years, from 2009 to November 2014, he served as president of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of nearly 70 innocence organizations throughout the world. In 2018, he joined with Jerry Buting and Dean Strang (made famous as Steven Avery's attorneys in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer) to create a non-profit, the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences, dedicated to improving the reliability and safety of criminal prosecutions through strengthening forensic sciences.

Prof. Findley is the author of more than 50 law review articles and book chapters. His primary areas of scholarship and expertise are in wrongful convictions, criminal law and procedure, law and forensic science, and appellate advocacy. He has previously worked as an Assistant State Public Defender in Wisconsin, both in the Appellate and Trial Divisions. He has litigated hundreds of post conviction and appellate cases, at all levels of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. He also lectures and teaches internationally on wrongful convictions, forensic science, evidence, and appellate advocacy.

Register online here. You will be sent the Zoom code prior to the event.