About the Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice Advisory Council
The Right to Vote Project established the Brennan Center Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice Advisory Council in June 2007. The Advisory Council was born out of a Brennan Center convening that brought law enforcement and criminal justice leaders to New York University School of Law to discuss voting rights restoration from a reentry and public safety perspective.
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Advisory Council
The Brennan Center is a leading voice in a nationwide campaign to restore voting rights to people with criminal convictions. Brennan Center staff counsels policymakers and advocates, provides legal and constitutional analysis, drafts legislation and regulations, engages in litigation challenging disenfranchising laws, surveys the implementation of existing laws, and promotes the restoration of voting rights through public outreach and education.
As part of that effort, the Brennan Center has worked with leaders in law enforcement and criminal justice to push for voting rights restoration as an important component of sound reentry and public safety policy. Law enforcement and criminal justice voices carry considerable weight in this area, and help to make change possible.
The Brennan Center Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice Advisory Council was created for this purpose — it is composed of prominent leaders in the law enforcement and criminal justice fields. Current members include current and former: police chiefs, prosecutors, heads of probation, parole and corrections departments, and presidents of leading law enforcement and community supervision professional associations. Advisory Council members offer the Brennan Center insight into the criminal justice system, aid Brennan Center efforts to reform state laws, and help carry out effective communications campaigns on voting rights restoration.
Members of the Advisory Council participate in advocacy in any way that works for them and their organization. Some members have acted as spokespeople to the media on voting rights restoration, testified at hearings, signed on to public statements and opinion pieces endorsing legislation that would restore voting rights, and have encouraged their professional associations to pass resolutions in favor of voting rights restoration. There are no required meetings or obligations associated with serving on the Advisory Council.
Members include:
Veronica Cunningham, Executive Director of the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA)
Diane Kincaid, Deputy Director of the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA)
Carl Wicklund, former Executive Director of the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA)
Chase Riveland, former Secretary at the Washington state Department of Corrections, former Executive Director at the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Jorge Montes, former Chair of the Illinois Review Board
Ron Hampton, former Chair, National Black Police Association
Jiles H. Ship, former President, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
Justin Jones, former Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections
Charles Ramsey, former President of the Police Executive Research Forum
Dean Esserman, former Chief of Police, New Haven Police Department
Hubert Williams, former President, Police Foundation
Mark Osler, Professor, University of St. Thomas; former federal prosecutor
For more information contact Kwame Akosah at Kwame.Akosah@nyu.edu.