Past Program

Serial failures to redress social, legal, and economic injustice and structural racism underpin violence and disproportionally shape politics, policing, and judicial systems around the world. Yet bold reforms in different jurisdictions suggest that cross-cutting interventions can be cost-effective and foster more humane, inclusive and healthier societies. What can we learn, share and take to scale for long-term results?
 
The Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative held workshops throughout 2021, with learnings summarized in our report. The next phase of this multi-year initiative opens with a series of public webinars identifying the most promising global examples of violence reduction and criminal justice transformation, proven through research to be effective, viable, and replicable. We invite policymakers, public officials, and activists in positions to spearhead new reforms to join us for this next round of conversations. The fifth webinar in this series will examine Empathy and Human Dignity.

When the culture of justice shifts away from a focus on safety, retribution, and systems of incarceration—the custody, control, and suppression model—to consider models that focus on human dignity, personal responsibility, and human rights as core values, youth violence prevention can be more effective. By recognizing and respecting the innate dignity of all humans—regardless of factors like wealth or income, social grouping, and mental health status, or even their role as victim or perpetrator—a society may be able to deliver more lasting justice, leading to less violence and social tension. Today’s criminal justice systems sometimes fail to deliver human dignity, even where it has been enshrined in the existing legal frameworks. This webinar will examine reforms that have put human dignity and empathy at their core, and have in the process produced safer, healthier, and less violent communities for the next generation.