Author Joanna Schwartz will be coming to Cal Poly to talk about her new book, “Shielded,” which touches on the barriers of police reform in America. The talk will take place today from 3:10 to 5 p.m. in the Baker Science building (BLDG 180) in room 107.
The book brings in true stories of people seeking justice and her investigation looks into why “civil rights litigation so rarely leads to justice or prevents future police misconduct,” according to Schwartz.
The talk is open to the public and will cover the arguments in her book. Attendees can also expect time allotted for questions.
“I’m excited to talk to the audience about the various ways that people can push for change at the federal, state and local level to make the system fairer despite all these barriers,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz is a UCLA law professor who started off as a civil rights attorney in New York. While more than 20 years of work led her to research these topics, she started writing her book in the fall of 2020 after George Floyd’s murder.
“The book isn’t written for lawyers,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz wants to open the conversation up to anyone with interest in government misconduct and accountability in the sphere of police reform and “to explain these barriers for an audience that doesn’t read law review articles for fun,” she said.