ACLU-NC Presents: Justice & The Next 250

America’s 250th anniversary is a natural moment to ask what we’ve learned, and what we’re going to do about it. Crime & Punishment in America, a new documentary series directed by Lynn Novick and executive produced by Ken Burns and Sam Pollard, traces how the country has wrestled with crime, punishment, and the meaning of justice from the colonial era to today. We’ll screen an exclusive 30-minute premiere that lays that history bare: two and a half centuries of trial, error, and hard-won lessons about what actually keeps communities safe.

Then we bring it home. Local leaders and advocates who’ve spent years confronting what’s broken about justice in North Carolina, including people who’ve lived through the system themselves, take the stage to talk about what comes next: the progress already working here, the wins worth building on, and the changes still within reach. This isn’t a conversation about problems we can’t solve. It’s about the roadmap we already have, and what it will take to walk it together.

Stay after to connect with the panelists and other attendees working toward the same future. Please RSVP – seating is limited.

Support for this event comes from the Just Trust

Co-sponsored by PBS North Carolina

About the film Crime & Punishment in America is a four-part documentary series directed by Lynn Novick and executive produced by Ken Burns and Sam Pollard. It’s the first film to trace the story of criminal justice in America from the colonial era to today — how, for more than two centuries, the country has wrestled with the meaning of crime, punishment, and justice. The full documentary series will be airing on PBS starting in November.

Discussion Panelists

• Liz Barber Policy & Advocacy Director, ACLU of North Carolina

Liz leads the ACLU of NC’s Policy & Advocacy team, which primarily works to advocate for civil rights at the General Assembly. This includes mitigating harm in legislation focused on criminal legal reform, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrants’ rights, reproductive freedom, and more. Prior to joining the ACLU, she was a partner at Barber & Barber, PLLC, a general practice law firm, where she focused on criminal defense. Liz was the president of Judicial District 15b Bar and the Chatham County Bar Association. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill for law School and attended the University of Virginia for undergraduate studies.

• Ivy Johnson Staff Attorney, ACLU of North Carolina

Ivy is a staff attorney at the ACLU of North Carolina where she focuses on the First Amendment, LGBTQ+ rights, criminal legal reform, and immigrants’ rights. Before joining the ACLU of North Carolina Ivy represented clients on North Carolina’s death row in the capital post-conviction setting, represented indigent clients in non-capital trials, and participated in robust litigation aimed at ending the death penalty in North Carolina. She is a member of NCAJ’s Civil Rights Section, Criminal Defense Section, and New Lawyers Division. She earned her law degree from the UNC School of Law.

• Kerwin Pittman Founder & Executive Director, Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services (RREPS)

Kerwin Pittman is a national social justice activist and criminal justice reform policy expert, raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. After spending 11 ½ years incarcerated — including more than a year in solitary confinement — he founded RREPS, a nonprofit working to reduce recidivism across North Carolina. He serves on both North Carolina’s Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice and the State Reentry Council Collaborative, is a 2022 Soros Justice Fellow, and is the author of Love Yours: A Guide on How to Love Yourself.

• April Scales Founder, Fenced In: Fighting For Freedom Advocacy

April Barber Scales is a North Carolina criminal justice reform advocate, motivational speaker, and published author whose life reflects the power of resilience, redemption, and second chances. After serving more than 31 years in prison for offenses committed as a juvenile, she was granted executive clemency in 2022 following review by North Carolina’s Juvenile Sentencing Review Board. Since her release, she has dedicated her life to supporting individuals impacted by incarceration through her organization, Fenced In: Fighting for Freedom Advocacy, which provides reentry planning, peer support, advocacy, and resources for formerly incarcerated individuals and their families.

Major funding for CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN AMERICA was provided by The Atlantic Philanthropies, Emerson Collective, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Park Foundation. Major funding was also provided by the following members of The Better Angels Society: The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund; The Just Trust for Education; Allan and Shelley Holt; The Tow Foundation; and the Sozosei Foundation. Additional support was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust, Ford Foundation | JustFilms, and by The Better Angels Society members: John and Catherine Debs; Timothy Fazio; Lise Strickler and Mark Gallogly; the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund (Laurie M. Tisch Foundation Inc); Gilchrist and Amy Berg; the Carson Family Charitable Trust; Mauree Jane and Mark W. Perry; the Segal Family Foundation; and Mark A. Tracy.