{"id":156326,"date":"2019-11-08T08:59:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T13:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=156326"},"modified":"2019-11-08T12:05:17","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T17:05:17","slug":"2019-dodd-prize-goes-justice-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2019\/11\/2019-dodd-prize-goes-justice-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Dodd Prize Goes to Justice Advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Nov. 7, Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, accepted the 2019 Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights. Stevenson has represented individuals on death row since the 1980s, winning the release, relief, or reversal of conviction for over 145 people. He has also led efforts to challenge the treatment of children in the criminal justice system, arguing before the Supreme Court to end life-without-parole sentences for minors in the landmark case Miller v. Alabama<\/em>. In 1989, he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal services and systemic reform for vulnerable people. The organization also confronts the history of racism in the United States through research, education, and advocacy, recently opening The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration in the city of Montgomery, Ala.<\/p>\n