Criminal Justice
Criminal justice has garnered widespread public and policymaker attention in recent years as communities and policymakers consider the implications of privatizing prisons, racial biases in policing, decriminalization of marijuana, and alternative policing models, among a host of other issues. These issues have elicited broad participation by community, public, nonprofit and other stakeholders. This panel convened a set of academics and practitioners that discussed key policy issues in criminal justice and how governments have sought to convene different stakeholders in the criminal justice policymaking process and the implications of diverse stakeholder engagement on policy design.
Panelists included Gabriela Kirk-Werner (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Syracuse University), Trelaine Ito (Senior Advisor, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice), Maha Jweied (Chief Executive Officer, Responsible Business Initiative for Justice), and Michael Sisitzky (Assistant Policy Director, New York Civil Liberties Union).
September 19, 2024
Artificial Intelligence
Governments across the world have begun the process of investigating, crafting and imposing regulations on AI since the release of ChatGPT-3 in November 2023 forced regulators to pay attention to the otherwise quiet AI industry. Achieving policy regulation that is flexible enough to be responsive to rapid changes in technology, tailored enough to encourage positive developments, and is created by competent yet disinterested regulators is the emerging policy processes challenge of our time. This panel will explore the various concerns and considerations in the area of policymaking for an AI world.
Panelists included Roslyn Docktor (Vice President, Technology and Science Policy Government and Regulatory Affairs, IBM), Hamid Ekbia (University Professor, Maxwell School; Director, Autonomous Systems Policy Institute), Mohammad Hamdy (Chief Legal and Policy Officer, Almond FinTech), Ramon Perez (Executive Director, Digital Democracy Project).
February 22, 2024
Election Administration
Since at least the 2016 U.S. presidential election and during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which was administered in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, election administration has been an increasingly difficult, polarized, and even dangerous civic process that is nonetheless central to procedural democracy. This panel explored how and when state and local election officials are included in the process of policymaking change around election administration and where policy can strengthen this civic necessity in the future.
Panelists included Richard Barton (Assistant Teaching Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs Department, Syracuse University), Jeff Greenburg (Senior Advisor on Election Administration, Committee of Seventy), and Audrey Kline (Deputy Clerk and Recorder, City and County of Denver).
November 14, 2023.
The Environment
The topic of environmental governance continues to grow in salience as the federal government and individual states grapple with evolving and, in some cases, unexpected environmental conditions. This panel convened a set of academics and practitioners that discussed the processes by which these policy solutions come about and how key policy stakeholders negotiate their design.
Panelists included Sara Rinfret (Professor of Public Administration and Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs at Northern Arizona University), Neela Ram (Southeast Regional Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council), and Paul Babbitt (Senior Legislative Assistant and Counsel for Senator Mark Kelly).
