Reuben Jonathan Miller - "Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration" - Craig B. Futterman

Friday, June 4, 2021 - 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Event Presenter/Author: 
Reuben Jonathan Miller

Reuben Jonathan Miller will discuss Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration. He will be joined in conversation by Craig B. Futterman.

Virtual event

Presented in partnership with the University of Chicago International House

REGISTER HERE

About the book: Each year, more than half a million Americans are released from prison and join a population of twenty million people who live with a felony record. Reuben Miller, a former chaplain at the Cook County Jail in Chicago and now a sociologist studying mass incarceration, spent years alongside prisoners, ex-prisoners, their friends, and their families to understand the lifelong burden that even a single arrest can entail. What his work revealed is a simple, if overlooked truth: life after incarceration is its own form of prison. The idea that one can serve their debt and return to life as a full-fledge member of society is one of America’s most nefarious myths. Recently released individuals are faced with jobs that are off-limits, apartments that cannot be occupied and votes that cannot be cast.

As The Color of Law exposed about our understanding of housing segregation, Halfway Home shows that the American justice system was not created to rehabilitate. Parole is structured to keep classes of Americans impoverished, unstable, and disenfranchised long after they’ve paid their debt to society. Informed by Miller’s experience as the son and brother of incarcerated men, the book captures the stories of the men, women, and communities fighting against a system that is designed for them to fail. It is a poignant and eye-opening call to arms that reveals how laws, rules, and regulations extract a tangible cost not only from those working to rebuild their lives, but also our democracy. As Miller searchingly explores, America must acknowledge and value the lives of its formerly imprisoned citizens.

About the author: Reuben Jonathan Miller is an Assistant Professor in the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. He is a sociologist, criminologist, and a social worker who studies and writes about race, democracy, and the social life of the city. He has been a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey; a fellow at the New America Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; and a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin and Dartmouth College. A native son of Chicago, he lives with his wife and children on the city’s Southside.

About the interlocutor: Craig B. Futterman is a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School and a Resident Dean in the College. He founded and has served as the Director of the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic since 2000. He was elected to a Simon Visiting Professorship in the School of Law at the University of Manchester, UK, in 2018/2019. Before his appointment to the Law Faculty, Professor Futterman was a Lecturer in Law and Director of Public Interest Programs at Stanford Law School. He previously joined Futterman & Howard, Chtd., a boutique law firm concentrating in complex federal litigation. There, Prof. Futterman specialized in civil rights and constitutional matters, with a special focus on racial discrimination, education, and police brutality. Before that, he served as a trial attorney in the Juvenile Division of the Cook County Public Defender’s Office.

Futterman received his JD from Stanford Law School in 1991 and graduated with the highest distinction from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Economics.

About the International House Global Voices Performing Arts & Lecture Series: The Global Voices Lecture Series hosts prominent speakers, round-table discussion groups, and special interest conferences and seminars. As a part of this program, leading figures from the world stage come to share their thoughts and exchange ideas with students and members of Chicago’s civic community on major issues facing the country and the world. The Global Voices Performing Arts Series provides a showcase for all performing arts at the University of Chicago's International House. The Global Voices Performing Arts Series has established a vibrant exchange with a wide range of Chicago-area cultural institutions, arts organizations, dance companies, ethnic and folk arts groups, and music and theater groups.

Event Location: 
Virtual