THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW CLOSED - ONSITE REGISTRATION IS STILL AVAILABLE

This workshop will educate participants on written and oral advocacy and mitigation in the criminal justice system. Participants will elaborate on how we combat the power of the prosecution in our county, and how the prosecution (district attorneys) perpetuates and reinforces institutionalized racism, oppression, and other intersectional issues in New York City and in the criminal justice system at large.

Participants will discuss, from a macro, mezzo and micro lens, how social workers can advocate for our clients, combat systemic oppression, and dismantle institutionalized racism and oppression in the criminal justice system. Using Tema Okun’s “White Supremacy Culture” article, viral videos about the power of the prosecutor’s office and work by Dr. Kenneth Hardy and Bryan Stevenson, Esq., the workshop will analyze and critically examine the criminal justice system, while concluding with real, actionable steps to take.

Raising awareness about the power of the prosecution and how that affects our clients who may be arrested, arraigned, indicted, and sentenced, the workshop will shed light on how our most vulnerable clients with mental health issues, substance use issues, and histories of trauma can be re-traumatized and oppressed in the criminal justice system.

This workshop will embolden our participants to think holistically, critically and radically, about their clients who may interact with the criminal justice system, and how their own thinking and behavior can change, to resist oppression within this system. The audience will deeply grapple with how racism, oppression, and intersectional issues negatively impact our clients in New York City and nationally, and how participants can combat these issues on all levels.

This workshop is broken down into three parts:

I.       Dismantling Institutional Racism and Oppression: A Macro Framework

II.      Disarming the Power of the Prosecution: A Mezzo Framework

III.     Combating White Supremacy Culture: A Micro Framework

With this workshop, participants will learn how to:

• Have a deeper understanding to the mechanics of the criminal justice system and how systemic issues impact our criminal justice system in the 21st century

• Name recent theories, ideas and practices that are disarming and re-configuring the 21st century criminal justice system

• Name local and national organizations that are fighting to upend systematic oppression and white dominant culture framework that the criminal justice system was founded upon

• Identify white dominant culture language, policies and practices in themselves, their agencies, and the criminal justice system

• Implement changes in their organizations to dismantle damaging practices

NASW Member: $120 | Non-Member $210

6 SW Contact Hours

Mary C. Coyle, LMSW is a mitigation specialist with Defender Association of Philadelphia. She works in the Juvenile Life Without Parole Unit and is part of a team advocating for the resentencing of over 200 individuals who have been incarcerated since they were teenagers without the possibility of parole. She is also a contract mitigation specialist with the State of Delaware in their Homicide Unit.

Ms. Coyle previously worked with the Brooklyn Defender Services in their Criminal Adult Practice Unit. As a social worker, she advocated for justice-involved clients and collaborated with attorneys to seek the best resolutions possible. In her promoted role of senior social worker, she conducted internal workshops with staff regarding written advocacy and mitigation before leaving them for Defender Association of Philadelphia in 2018.

Laura Vest, MSW is a forensic social worker at Brooklyn Defender Services. There, she advocates for clients accused of crimes to get the most just, least restrictive outcome possible. Ms. Vest also writes persuasive mitigation and research reports for clients who are fighting their criminal cases, in efforts to get restorative justice, alternative to incarceration pleas or less time on their sentence.

Accredited with a Credential in Alcoholism and Substance Abuse in Training (CASAC-T), Ms. Vest is a teaching associate at Columbia University School of Social Work. Her interests include prison abolition and white anti-racist leadership for social workers, and she facilitates affinity groups around power, race, oppression and privilege.

Alexis Telfair-Garcia, MSW is a forensic social worker in the Criminal Defense Practice at Brooklyn Defender Services. She advocates for fair and appropriate sentencing and alternatives to incarceration for her clients who have open misdemeanor and felony charges. Prior to Brooklyn Defender Services, she was an Associate Director at Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC working with at-risk youth and children with incarcerated parents.

Ms. Telfair-Garcia is an associate professor at Columbia School of Social Work online campus, and has developed and facilitated numerous adult, youth and career development workshops. She has also been a presenter for both the National Association of Social Workers and the National Organization of Forensic Social Work. 

NASW-NYC Refund Policy

All refund requests must be submitted by e-mail to workshops.naswnyc@socialworkers.org. Valid requests must be received no later than five days prior to course date. NASW-NYC reserves the right to refuse any refunds requested later than five days prior to the course date.

All refunds are subject to a $20.00 administrative processing fee.

Refund requests typically require 1-2 weeks processing time.

Refunds ONLY; credit cannot be issued toward a future program date or substituted for another workshop.

If the workshop is cancelled, you will be informed ahead of time and fully refunded.

For any questions or issues, please contact workshops.naswnyc@socialworkers.org