The Central Oregon Community College Foundation’s Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program is sponsoring two events with film producer and director Dawn Porter on Wednesday, February 26 in Wille Hall in the Campus Center on the COCC Bend Campus. Both events are free and open to the public.
Porter’s award-winning documentary film, “Gideon’s Army,” will start at 4pm. The film follows the personal stories of three young public defenders who are part of a small group of idealistic lawyers in the Deep South challenging the assumptions that drive a criminal justice system strained to the breaking point. A question-and-answer period will follow the film.
Nearly 50 years since the landmark Supreme Court ruling that established the right to counsel, these courageous lawyers work to revolutionize the way America thinks about indigent defense and make “justice for all” a reality. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and debuted on HBO in July 2013.At 7pm Porter will present “Defending America in the Age of Mass Incarceration.”
The overwhelming majority of those who are arrested in the U.S. qualify for free legal representation from one of the nation’s 15,000 public defenders. But these legal officers are struggling to keep up as arrest rates escalate. Porter shares her insights into the criminal justice system from the unique vantage point of having spent almost four years making a film about three remarkable public defenders on the front lines of a culture of mass incarceration. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation.
These events are presented with support from a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation, COCC’s Multicultural Activities, ASCOCC and the OSU-Cascades Student Fee Committee.
In advance of college events, persons needing accommodation or transportation because of a physical or mobility disability, contact Joe Viola: 541-383-7775.
For accommodation because of other disability such as hearing impairment, contact Anne Jenkins: 541-383-7743.
