Racial Justice Training Series
Racial Justice Training Series Webinars on The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth
The Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative and The Gault Center hosted 12 monthly interactive strategy sessions designed to bolster advocates racial justice advocacy with research, data, and themes from The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth by Kristin Henning.
Each month’s webinar focused on a different chapter from The Rage of Innocence with the goal of helping participants to:
- Develop concrete and actionable strategies to use data, research, and history in individual client representation, policy advocacy, and systemic reform;
- Learn about the most recent data and research on the topic;
- Share local obstacles and potential solutions during the session;
- Receive handouts, including sample motions, pleadings, and updated annotated bibliographies.
Watch each webinar and download the corresponding annotated bibliographies of resources at the links below. Many webinars discuss implicit racial bias. Click here to download the Annotated Bibliography on Implicit Bias Studies (updated August 2023).
Watch the Webinars
Defending Adolescence for Children of Color
In the kickoff of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning was joined by Dr. Laurence Steinberg to discuss adolescent development and race.
This session was built around the Introduction, Molotov Cocktail or Science Experiment?, and Chapter 1, American Adolescence in Black and White, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
This session was held on February 28, 2022 and is intended for youth defender audiences.
Decriminalizing “Play” and Educating Stakeholders on the Value of Play in Healthy Adolescent Development
In this second session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning was joined by Prof. Harrison P. Pickney of Clemson University’s College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences; and Dr. Rasul Mowatt, Department Head of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University.
This session was built around Chapter 2, Toy Guns, Cell Phones, and Parties: Criminalizing Black Adolescent Play, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Decriminalizing Fashion and Culture for Youth of Color
For this session, held on Monday, April 25, Prof. Kristin Henning and Ebony Howard, Deputy Director of The Gault Center, was joined by Prof. Andrea L. Dennis, Associate Dean for Faculty Development & John Byrd Martin Chair of Law at the University of Georgia School of Law and author of Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America; Angeles Zaragoza, a youth defender with the Office of the Alternate Public Defender in Los Angeles County and a 2021 Ambassador for Racial Justice; and Anthony Brinkley, a student at Georgetown Law and former system-involved youth.
This session was built around Chapter 3, Hoodies, Headwraps, and Hip-Hop: Criminalizing Black Adolescent Culture, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Defending Sexual Identity Development and Challenging Sexualized Myths About Youth of Color
In this session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning and Ebony Howard, Deputy Director of The Gault Center, were joined by Maheen Kaleem, Deputy Director of Grantmakers for Girls of Color, and Brittany Mobley, Deputy Chief of the Juvenile Services Program at DC Public Defender Service.
This session was built around Chapter 4, Raising “Brutes” & “Jezebels”: Criminalizing Black Adolescent Sexuality, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Decriminalizing Race Pride, Free Speech, and Adolescent Identity Development
For the July session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series, Prof. Kristin Henning and Mary Ann Scali were joined by Dr. Kristia Wantchekon, Secondary Lecturer of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and incoming Assistant Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University, and Orlando Johnson, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law Fellow.
This session was built around Chapter 5, Policing Identity: The Politics of Adolescence and Black Identity Development, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Closing the School to Prison Pipeline
In this session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, held on August 31, 2022, Prof. Kristin Henning and Ebony Howard, Deputy Director of The Gault Center, were joined by Harold Jordan, Nationwide Education Equity Coordinator at the ACLU of Pennsylvania; Reyna Rollolazo, Community Engagement and Anti-Racism Director at TeamChild; and Amir Whitaker, Senior Policy Counsel at ACLU of Southern California and Founder and Director of Project KnuckleHead.
This session was built around Chapter 6, Cops in School, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Decriminalizing Adolescent Speech & Contempt of Cop
In this session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning and Mary Ann Scali, Executive Director of The Gault Center, were joined by Dr. Shameka Stanford, Juvenile Speech-Language Pathologist; and Duci Goncalves, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Youth Advocacy Division at Massachusetts’ Committee for Public Counsel Services.
This session was built around Chapter 7, Contempt of Cop, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Policing by Proxy: Shifting the Public Narrative
In this session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning and Ebony Howard, Deputy Director of The Gault Center, were joined by Thomas J. Bahr, Deputy Public Defender at the Office of the San Diego Public Defender, who will discuss the California case In re Edgerrin J.; Dr. Noël A. Cazenave, Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut and author of Killing African Americans: Police and Vigilante Violence as a Racial Control Mechanism; and Jason Tashea, an expert in technology and the law and adjunct professor at the Georgetown Law.
This session was built around Chapter 8, Policing by Proxy of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Click here to download the Annotated Bibliography on Policing by Proxy referenced in this session.
The Traumatic Impact of Policing on Youth Health and Wellbeing
In this session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning and Mary Ann Scali were joined by Dr. Juan Del Toro, researcher in applied developmental psychology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Dr. Tiffani J. Johnson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis and board certified pediatric emergency medicine physician at the UC Davis Health Children’s Hospital; and Joe Houston, formerly incarcerated founder of We Fit DC, personal trainer, motivational speaker, and community activist.
This session was built around Chapter 9, Policing as Trauma of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Defending Childhood for Youth of Color: Challenging Dehumanization, Adultification, Transfer, & Severe Sentences
In this session of our 2022 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning and Mary Ann Scali will be joined by Eric Campbell, formerly incarcerated founder of Some People Understand Differently (SPUD), Inc.; Carmen Daugherty, Deputy Executive Director of Advancement Project; and Kristen Rome, Co-Executive Director of Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights.
This session was built around Chapter 10, The Dehumanization of Black Youth: When the Children Aren’t Children Anymore of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Advocating for Children & Families in the Era of Mass Incarceration: The Importance of Youth & Family Engagement
In this session of our Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning and Mary Ann Scali, Executive Director of the Gault Center, were joined by Jeannette Bocanegra, Executive Director of Justice for Families (J4F), and Prof. Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology and Raymond Pace & Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Founding Director of the Penn Program on Race, Science & Society in the Center for Africana Studies.
This session was built around Chapter 11, Things Fall Apart: Black Families in an Era of Mass Incarceration, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Promoting Adolescent Resilience, Storytelling, and Reform
In this final session of our 2022-2023 Racial Justice Training Series and Book Club, Prof. Kristin Henning, Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative at Georgetown Law, and Ebony Howard, Deputy Director of the Gault Center, were joined by Clarence Ford, Social Justice and Wellbeing Advisor at the W. Haywood Burns Institute; Prof. Christy E. Lopez, Professor from Practice and Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Innovations in Community Safety at Georgetown Law; and Jonathan Stith, National Director and Founding Member of the Alliance for Educational Justice.
This session was built around Chapter 12, #BlackBoyJoy and #BlackGirlMagic: Adolescent Resilience and Systems Reform, of Prof. Henning’s book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.