The 2025 Mastrofski Lecture featuring James Forman, Jr.
Thursday, March 6, 2025 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EST
Fenwick Library, 2001
Join us for the 2025 Mastrofski Lecture featuring James Forman, Jr. for his talk entitled, "Keys to Dismantling Mass Incarceration.” All members of the Mason community are invited to attend. Please RSVP for this event as space is limited.
James Forman Jr. is the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He attended public schools in Detroit, New York City, and Atlanta, then Brown University and Yale Law School. Forman began his legal career as a staff attorney at Washington D.C.’s Public Defender Service, representing young people and adults charged with crimes. While there, he co-founded the Maya Angelou Schools, which serve students (including court-involved youth) who haven’t thrived in Washington, D.C.’s traditional high schools.
Professor Forman teaches criminal law and a seminar called Inside Out: Issues in Criminal Justice, in which Yale students study alongside incarcerated men and women. He is the faculty director of the Yale Center for Law and Racial Justice and the founder of the Access to Law School Program, an innovative law student-led pipeline program creating pathways to law school for first-generation New Haven residents. His first book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. His most recent book is Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change, co-edited with Premal Dharia and Maria Hawilo.
The Mastrofski Lecture is an annual event that honors Emeritus Professor Stephen Mastrofski, the first Chair of Mason’s Department of Criminology, Law and Society.
George Mason University is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodations in its services, programs, and activities. Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by contacting Rachel Morgan (rmorga5@gmu.edu) at least one week prior to the event.
This event is scheduled in-person and the speaker will be present in Fenwick Library 2001. There is no virtual attendance option for this event.
For questions about this event, please contact Dr. Allison Redlich (aredlich@gmu.edu) or Rachel Morgan (rmorga5@gmu.edu).
