September 29, 2023
12:00 – 1:30pm CST
1.5 CEUs for LCSW/LSW and LCPC/LPC (fulfills the Ethics requirement for licensure)
$20 for CEUs/$10 for no CEUs
This presentation explores the various perspectives of social workers on the criminal legal system. There are many avenues that social workers can take across several positionalities, from reformative and restorative to transformative and abolitionist. Although social workers do not align on their positionality, there is a general consensus that the criminal legal system is unjust and requires significant changes (Carrington, in progress). There are numerous opportunities to change social work practice and state and federal policies, including (but not limited to) increased accountability, diversion programs, decriminalizing cannabis and other substances, ending voter disenfranchisement, restorative practices, housing-first programs, and abolishing prisons. This presentation will first review Nicotera’s (2019) seven tenets (“seven Es”) of social justice for the social work profession. Next, this presentation will discuss the various positionalities of social workers. Finally, this presentation will review current issues in the criminal legal system and initiatives that social workers can join that align with the seven Es.
Presenter: Allison Carrington, MSW
PhD candidate | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work
