10 May 2017
 
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness is expected to draw nearly 200 participants from across the country next week to St. Louis for its 29th annual conference. Conference sessions are scheduled for May 16 and 17 at the Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel, 800 Washington Avenue, in downtown St. Louis.

The annual meeting of the National Consortium is the opportunity for each states’ high court and racial and ethnic fairness commission to examine how minorities are treated in the courts; share their collective knowledge with courts, law enforcement and community leaders; and provide technical assistance and expertise to those interested in improving racial and ethnic fairness in the justice system. The Supreme Court of Missouri’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness is hosting the national consortium’s event.

Topics are scheduled to include fines, fees and bail practices; race and juvenile justice; cross-racial witness identification and juror language disenfranchisement; and use of body cameras.

Keynote speakers are expected to be Paulette Brown, immediate past president of the American Bar Association; john a. powell, professor at the University of California-Berkeley and director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society; as well as videotaped comments from longtime civil rights advocate and St. Louis attorney Frankie Muse Freeman. Panel speakers are scheduled to include attorneys, judges, bar leaders, law professors and other experts from around the country.

Conference information is available at https://www.national-consortium.org/conference/2017-conference. 

Media are welcome to observe and cover the event. Access to the event is badge-restricted, however, so if you wish to cover the conference or any of its sessions, please respond to Supreme Court of Missouri Communications Counsel Beth Riggert no later than noon Monday, May 15, so a media badge may be prepared for you. You may pick up your badge at the conference’s registration table. Mult boxes will not be available.
   
The onsite contact will be host committee member Crista Hogan, (417) 838-7225 or chogan@springfieldbar.com.


Contact: Beth S. Riggert
Communications Counsel
Supreme Court of Missouri
(573) 751-3676
beth.riggert@courts.mo.gov