MEDIA ADVISORY: Founder, Executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative to Discuss “American Injustice”
March 21st, 2016
WHAT: Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, will present “American Injustice: Mercy, Humanity and Making a Difference” at the University of Missouri. In his presentation, Stevenson will discuss his work on eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse inside prisons, and aiding children who are prosecuted as adults.
WHO: Bryan Stevenson is a nationally acclaimed public interest lawyer. He has successfully argued several cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, recently winning a historic ruling that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger are unconstitutional. Stevenson and his staff have won reversals, relief or release for more than 115 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row.
Additionally, he has initiated major new anti-poverty and anti-discrimination efforts that challenge the legacy of racial inequality in America, including major projects to educate communities about slavery, lynching and racial segregation. Stevenson is a professor of law at the New York University School of Law.
He has received numerous awards including the Olaf Palme Prize in Stockholm Sweden for international human rights, the John Minor Public Service and Professionalism Award from the American Bar Association, the Roosevelt Institute Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom from Fear Award and the NAACP William Robert Ming Advocacy Award. He has received 16 honorary degrees and is the author of “Just Mercy,” a critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller.
WHEN: 4 p.m., Sunday, March 20
WHERE: Jesse Auditorium, Jesse Hall, MU campus
NOTE: A reception and book signing will follow the presentation. The event is organized by the MU School of Law and the MU Honors College. It is sponsored by the Chancellor’s Distinguished Visitors Program; Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative; College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; College of Arts & Science; College of Education; College of Engineering; College of Veterinary Medicine; Department of Psychology; Department of Black Studies; Truman School of Public Affairs; Kinder Institute for Constitutional Democracy, Masters of Public Health Program; Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies; Peace Studies Program; Phi Beta Kappa; Trulaske College of Business; Sinclair School of Nursing; School of Health Professions; School of Journalism; School of Law; School of Medicine; School of Social Work; and the Division of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity.