The Academy for Justice at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law is excited to invite you to a special film screening and discussion of the criminal justice reform documentary the The First Step. Join us on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022 at 5 p.m. and participate in a post-screening conversation with producer Lance Kramer and a panel of individuals working on criminal justice reform at the national and local levels. Panelists will include Pat Nolan, director emeritus of the American Conservative Union Foundation’s Nolan Center for Justice; Professor Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and reform advocate who is the Robert & Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of St. Thomas; Stet Frazier, an impacted individual sentenced to life for conspiracy to sell crack and released under the First Step Act; and Amy Ralston Povah, CEO and founder at the CAN-DO Foundation and impacted individual who served over nine years of a 24-year sentence for conspiracy in a MDMA case. The event will be moderated by Jimmy Jenkins, criminal justice reporter for the Arizona Republic/AZCentral. The panel will explore what it takes to achieve reform, as well as the latest developments in the efforts to pass the federal The Equal Act and local reform in Arizona.

About The First Step: The First Step is a documentary detailing the work of getting the First Step Act passed through a divided Congress and signed into law by President Trump. The film tells a complex, urgent story about the fight for progress on criminal justice reform and addiction amongst the country’s divides. Go behind closed doors to see CNN political commentator, author and lawyer, Van Jones, and a team of advocates, bring together politicians and everyday people in a monumental fight to pass legislation to bring people home. The film shows the need for more bipartisan conversations within criminal justice reform and countless other issues impacting our communities.