NAPD Racial Justice Conference 2026: Full Schedule

This is the current draft of the schedule for the Racial Justice Conference 2026. Please come back to see it as it develops.

Disclaimer: All speakers are speaking from their own expertise and experiences. Their personal opinions and perspectives do not represent the organization(s) they work for and/or with.

Order a shirt or a hoodie. Proceeds go to scholarships for future events.

8:00am CST

Registration

Monday November 2, 2026 8:00am - 10:00am CST

10:00am CST

Welcome

Monday November 2, 2026 10:00am - 10:15pm CST

Plenary

10:15am CST

Plenary

Monday November 2, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CST

Speakers

Yusef Salaam

In 1989, at just fifteen years young, Dr. Yusef Salaam was tried and convicted in the “Central Park Jogger” case along with four other Black and Latinx young men. The Exonerated Five spent between seven to 13 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit, until their sentences... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CST

Plenary

11:15am CST

Break

Monday November 2, 2026 11:15am - 11:30am CST

Break

11:30am CST

Race and Capital Defense

Monday November 2, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm CST

Speakers

Robin Maher

Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center

Robin Maher is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the death penalty field, with extensive experience in direct representation, strategic training, and systemic reform. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with legislators, prosecutors, judges, defenders... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm CST

Plenary

12:30pm CST

Lunch (on your own)

Monday November 2, 2026 12:30pm - 2:00pm CST

Break

2:00pm CST

Breakout Session 1

Monday November 2, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm CST

Speakers

Alice Fontier

Deputy Director Administration and Operations, NAPD

Alice Fontier has been a practicing criminal defense attorney for over twenty years after graduating from NYU School of Law. She is now a Legal and Management consultant. She currently serves as a Project Managing Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of New York. She has been the Managing... Read More →

Anana Harris Parris

Founder and CEO, The Self-Care Agency

Anana Harris Parris is a visionary entrepreneur, author, and consultant dedicated to advancing strategic self-care as a vital form of social justice. She is the founder and CEO of the Self Care Agency, LLC, the founder of the SisterCARE Alliance, and the co-founder of the Wellness... Read More →

Eric Morales

Fareed Hayat

Fareed Nassor Hayat is a Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law (SHU). He teaches constitutional law, criminal law, criminal procedure, and trial advocacy. Prior to joining the law faculty at SHU, Hayat was the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, an Associate... Read More →

Jennifer Bourn

Porsha Venable

Deputy Director, The Juror Project

Porsha-Shaf’on Venable, Esq. is the Deputy Director of The Juror Project, where she supports programming, strategy, and partnerships aimed at increasing civic participation and dismantling exclusion in the jury system.

A licensed attorney and social worker based in the Bronx, she brings a background in public defense, forensic social work, and legal education. She also currently works with The Bronx Defenders and previously served with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, where she held

... Read More →

Verinda Birdsong

Will Snowden

Director, The Juror Project

William C. Snowden is the Director of The Juror Project and a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. His work is grounded in a simple truth: exclusion is not accidental.

As a former public defender in New Orleans, he represented people forced to stand trial in courtrooms designed to convict them. He later served as Executive Director of the Vera Institute of Justice in Louisiana, where he advanced efforts to eliminate money bail, reduce jail populations

... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm CST

Breakout Session

3:00pm CST

Break

Monday November 2, 2026 3:00pm - 3:15pm CST

Break

3:15pm CST

Confronting the Racist Legacy of American Child Welfare System

Monday November 2, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CST

Speakers

Alan Dettlaff

Co-Founder, upEND Movement

Alan Dettlaff is a professor of social work and co-founder of the upEND Movement, a collaborative effort to abolish the family policing system and build alternatives centered on healing and liberation. He began his career as a social worker inside the family policing system, where... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CST

Plenary

4:15pm CST

Break

Monday November 2, 2026 4:15pm - 4:30pm CST

Break

4:30pm CST

Wrongful Conviction & Exoneration

Monday November 2, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm CST

Speakers

Anthony Graves

Founder, Anthony Graves Foundation

Anthony Graves was wrongfully convicted of multiple homicides in 1992 and spent nearly two decades behind bars, including twelve years on Texas’s death row. While still in prison, he cofounded Join Hands for Justice, a France-based activist group that led global efforts to prove... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm CST

Plenary

5:30pm CST

Wrap Up

Monday November 2, 2026 5:30pm - 5:40pm CST

Plenary

9:30am CST

Day 2 Welcome

Tuesday November 3, 2026 9:30am - 9:45am CST

Plenary

9:45am CST

Recidivism Reduction & Transforming Incarceration Spaces

Tuesday November 3, 2026 9:45am - 10:45am CST

Speakers

Kerwin Pittman

Founder and Executive Director, Recidivism Reduction Educational Programs Services (RREPS)

Kerwin Pittman was born in Landstuhl Germany but raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a National Social Justice Activist and Criminal Justice Reform Policy Expert. Kerwin advocates primarily in the social justice field, particularly criminal justice reform, in which he is a voice... Read More →

Tuesday November 3, 2026 9:45am - 10:45am CST

Plenary

10:45am CST

Break

Tuesday November 3, 2026 10:45am - 11:00am CST

Break

11:00am CST

ICE, Immigration, & Civil Rights

Tuesday November 3, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm CST

Plenary

12:00pm CST

Lunch (on your own)

Tuesday November 3, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CST

Break

1:30pm CST

Breakout Session 2

Tuesday November 3, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm CST

Speakers

Dumaka Shabbazz

Federal Public Defender, Middle District of Tennessee

Dumaka Shabazz is the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Tennessee. With the mission to provide the highest level of defense for the indigent accused, he trains attorneys on storytelling, trauma informed advocacy, and client centered representation. An experienced... Read More →

Jackie Wright

Capital and Conflicts Attorney, Arkansas Public Defender Commission

Jackie Wright is a Capital and Conflicts Attorney at the Arkansas Public Defender Commission (APDC), where she has dedicated over a decade of service to death penalty cases as lead counsel. With a strong commitment to the development of public defenders, Jackie has played a pivotal... Read More →

Jerilyn Bell

Georgia Capital Defender, Director, Georgia Public Defender Council

Jerilyn Bell is the Director of the Georgia Capital Defender’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia. She has handled over 25 capital cases while at the Capital Defenders Office. Prior to joining the Capital’s Defenders Office in 2011, she was a public defender for 13 years at the Legal... Read More →

Keisha Hudson

Chief Defender, Defender Association of Philadelphia

Since becoming the Philadelphia Defender Association’s Chief Defender in November 2021, Keisha Hudson has brought both local and national attention to the critical role of public defenders in maintaining and reforming the criminal justice system. Drawing on her extensive experience... Read More →

Lei Young

Supervising Attorney, Disproportionality Unit, Washington State Office of Public Defense

Lei Young is the Supervising Attorney with the Disproportionality Unit at the Washington State Office of Public Defense, where she works to develop strategies and trainings for challenging racial and economic disproportionality in the legal system. Prior to that position, she spent... Read More →

Lori James

Executive Director, National Association for Public Defense

Dr. Lori James, PhD, LCSW-C, is the Executive Director of the National Association for Public Defense (NAPD), representing more than 27,000 public defense professionals nationwide to drive systemic legal reform. With over 30 years of experience spanning criminal legal reform, clinical... Read More →

Mano Raju

Elected Public Defender, San Francisco Public Defender

Mano Raju serves as San Francisco’s elected Public Defender, where he is nationally recognized for advancing excellence in public defense, piloting innovative approaches to public safety, and advocating for a more just legal system. The son of Indian immigrants, his pursuit of justice... Read More →

Patrice Fulcher

Director of Training and Program Development, National Association for Public Defense

Patrice A. Fulcher is a premier legal trainer and veteran litigator with over three decades of experience heavily rooted in capital defense and systemic legal reform. Her extensive courtroom background includes successfully representing indigent clients facing the death penalty as... Read More →

Stan Hickman

Training Supervisor, New York County Defender Services

Stanford Hickman is a criminal defense attorney currently based in New York City. A Howard University School of Law Graduate, he began his career as a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society in Queens New York, and progressed to a senior trial attorney with New York County Defender... Read More →

Tuesday November 3, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm CST

Breakout Session

2:30pm CST

Break

Tuesday November 3, 2026 2:30pm - 2:45pm CST

Break

2:45pm CST

Storytelling in Defense & Advocacy

Tuesday November 3, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm CST

Speakers

Dumaka Shabbazz

Federal Public Defender, Middle District of Tennessee

Tuesday November 3, 2026 2:45pm - 3:45pm CST

Plenary

3:45pm CST

Wrap Up & Round Table Introductions

Tuesday November 3, 2026 3:45pm - 4:00pm CST

Plenary

4:00pm CST

Break

Tuesday November 3, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm CST

Break

4:30pm CST

Roundtables

Tuesday November 3, 2026 4:30pm - 5:45pm CST

Roundtables