October 8, 2024 6:30 pm
Town Hall Seattle, Livestream (Hybrid)
Pay What You WillAvailableRecordedComing Soon CART Captioning
Join us for a panel discission on what keeps communities safe, among ACLU of Washington policy experts and experts in restorative justice and violence prevention who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system.
For decades, Washington state has invested in increasingly harsher punishments as the solution to public safety. This investment has devastated communities, particularly communities of color, and created a mass incarceration crisis in our state. Panelists will discuss restorative justice, violence prevention, sentencing reform, and how criminalization policies and tough-on-crime rhetoric during election seasons undermine public safety. This discussion will examine the impact our sprawling criminal legal system has had on families, schools, and communities. Speakers will explore what is possible when we truly invest in community safety.
About the speaker
Jazmyn Clark, Martina Kartmanm, Chelsea Moore, and Eugene Youngblood
Jazmyn Clark, ACLU-WA Smart Justice Policy Program Director
Jazmyn Clark is a Smart Justice Policy Program Director at the ACLU of Washington, a role that furthers her dedication to achieving systemic change through sentencing reform, decriminalizing poverty, and combatting narratives around crime and substance use that dehumanize people in the criminal legal system and fail to make our communities safer.
Deeply passionate about defending and advancing civil rights and liberties, Jazmyn was a public defender in Spokane and Seattle for 7 years before joining ACLU-WA as a staff attorney 2 years ago. Interested in continuing this work through policy advocacy and engaging with community stakeholders to center and amplify the voices, perspectives, and experiences of directly impacted communities and individuals, Jazmyn transitioned into a policy role, where her portfolio includes drug policy, the criminalization of poverty, including homelessness and legal financial obligations, and developing and advocating for alternatives to prosecution to develop new approaches and alternatives to our current criminal legal system.
Martina Kartman, Collective Justice Co-Founder & Community Wellness Director (awaiting approval on this bio and headshot, hope to have that any moment)
Martina Kartman is committed to the dignity, power, and agency of communities most impacted by interpersonal and state violence.
Her work is shaped by her own experiences as a young person on various sides of harm and the criminal legal system, and by her involvement with movements for anti-violence, racial justice, and abolition.
She has a background in prison-based support work, political education, generative somatics and trauma informed practices, and prevention work. Prior to joining Collective Justice, she provided support to survivors of violence and harm pursuing restorative justice, and legal and policy initiatives to better address the needs of people impacted by institutionalization.
Martina is a recipient of the Open Society Foundation Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship, UW Bonderman Fellowship, Karin Stromberg Contribution to Social Justice, the Herring Phelps Award for Scholarly Activism, and the Meena Vashee Scholarship for Survivors.
She holds a JD from the University of Washington School of Law, where she was a William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholar.
Chelsea Moore, ACLU-WA Smart Justice Policy Program Director
Dr. Chelsea Moore, PhD, is the Smart Justice Policy Program Director at the ACLU of Washington where she focuses on sentencing and conditions of confinement. She is also a lecturer in Law, Societies & Justice at the University of Washington. Dr. Moore is a co-founder of Look2Justice, a nonprofit she started with her husband, Christopher Blackwell, who is currently incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center. Look2Justice is a nationally recognized organization led by currently incarcerated people that provides civic education to incarcerated people and their families in order to transform the criminal legal system. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Washington. Her dissertation, “In Pursuit of the Pervert: Sexual Dangerousness and the Creep of the Carceral State,” examines the relationship between fears of sexual dangerousness and the expansion of mass incarceration. Dr. Moore sat on the Korematsu Race in Criminal Justice Task Force and the Board of Judicial Administration Alternatives to Incarceration Task Force. She is a published researcher, an award-winning instructor, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and a former American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellow. She is currently a Henry M. Jackson Leadership Fellow and a Galaxy Leadership Fellow.
Eugene Youngblood, Look2Justice Community Organizing Director
Eugene Youngblood, a resilient individual with a profound commitment to transformation and healing, emerged from a 29-year incarceration journey to become a beacon of hope and facilitator of personal growth and transformation. Arrested at 18, Eugene defied the odds and was released in 2021, having undergone a remarkable personal metamorphosis during his time behind bars. Recognized for his extraordinary journey of redemption, he was ultimately released on clemency. Eugene currently works as the director of community organizing for Look2justice and dedicates his efforts to supporting youth in Washington state’s juvenile detention and institutions as well as high school students. With a profound belief in the power of healing and transformation, Eugene embodies the mantra that people don’t change, they heal.
About the moderator
Michele Storms
ACLU-WA Executive Director
ACLU of Washington executive director Michele Storms is a recognized leader in racial justice and civil rights advocacy. A fierce advocate for civil rights and civil liberties in Washington, she has a history of building successful programs in service to civil rights, civil liberties, and civil legal aid.
Prior to becoming the executive director in 2019, Michele served for two years as Deputy Director of the ACLU-WA, managing a team of public policy advocates, leading the organization’s efforts to reform police practices across the state and leading race equity initiatives in the organization.
Prior to joining the ACLU-WA, Michele was Assistant Dean for Public Service and founding Executive Director of the Gates Public Service Law Program at the University of Washington School of Law. There she developed a program to prepare young lawyers for a lifetime commitment to public service. She has also worked with a number of Washington’s foremost civil rights and racial justice organizations, including the Northwest Justice Project, Columbia Legal Services, and Evergreen Legal Services. Michele has also served on the Washington State Access to Justice Board, the OneAmerica Board of Directors, and as board member and secretary of Management Information Exchange.
Michele was the Charles A. Goldmark Distinguished Service Award Recipient in 2023. Michele was honored with the 2019 Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Award by Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association (MAMA) Seattle. She was also named Outstanding Lawyer for 2018 by the King County Bar Association. In 2016, The Washington State Bar Association and the Washington State Access to Justice Board awarded Michele the Norm Maleng Leadership Award. In 2008, she received the Staff Person of the Year Award from the University of Washington Law School Student Body. Over the years, Michele has provided training and has written on topics such as leadership and diversity while also facilitating meetings and retreats for nonprofit organizations.
Michele earned her law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola Marymount University.
Sponsoring Departments: The Graduate School