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Would you ever forgive a person
who kills a member of your family?

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In September of 2019,

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Dallas police officer Amber Guyger
was sentenced for murder,

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and then the brother of the victim

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forgave her.

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Brandt Jean was 18 years old,

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and I joined the rest of the country
watching on television in awe

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at that act of grace.

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But I also worried.

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I worried that people
who are African American like Brandt Jean

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are expected to forgive
more often than other people.

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And I worried that a white
police officer like Amber Guyger

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receives a lesser sentence

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than other people
who commit wrongful killings.

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But because I'm a law professor,

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I also worried about the law itself.

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The law leans so severely
towards punishment these days

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that it's part of the problem.

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And that's what I want to talk about here.

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The powerful example
of one individual's forgiveness

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makes me worry that lawyers and officials
too often overlook the tools

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that law itself creates
to allow forgiveness,

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when the principle should be
the cornerstone of a thriving society.

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I worry that lawyers and officials do not
adequately use the tools of forgiveness,

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by which I mean letting go
of justified grievance.

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And those tools are many.

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They include pardons,
commutations, expungement,

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bankruptcy for debt,

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and the discretion that's held
by police and prosecutors and judges.

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But I also worry -- I worry a lot --

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(Laughter)

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I worry these tools, when used,
replicate the disparities,

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the inequities along the lines
of race and class and other markers

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of advantage and disadvantage.

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Biases or privileged access are at work

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when United States presidents
pardon people charged with crimes.

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Historically, white people
are pardoned four times as often

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as members of minority groups
for the same crime, same sentence.

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Forgiveness between individuals
is supported by every religious tradition,

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every philosophic tradition.

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And medical evidence now shows

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the health benefits of letting go
of grievances and resentments.

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As Nelson Mandela
led South Africa's transition

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from apartheid to democracy,

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he explained,

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"Resentment is like drinking a poison
and hoping it will kill your enemies."

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Law can remove the penalties for those
who apologize and seek forgiveness.

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For example, in 39 states
in the United States

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and the District of Columbia,

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there are laws that allow
medical professionals to apologize

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when something goes wrong

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and not fear that that statement
could later be used against them

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in an action for damages.

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More actively, bankruptcy law
offers debtors, under some conditions,

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the chance to start anew.

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Pardons and expungements
sealing criminal records can, too.

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I have been teaching law
for almost 40 years, hard to believe,

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but recently, I realized

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that we don't teach law students
about the tools of forgiveness

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that are within the legal system,

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and nor do law schools
usually explore

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the potential for new
avenues for forgiveness

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that law can adopt or assist.

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These are lost opportunities.

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These are lost obligations, even,

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because the students that I teach

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will become prosecutors, judges,
governors, presidents.

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Barack Obama, my former student,

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used his power as the President
of the United States to give pardons.

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That released several hundred people
from prison after the law changed

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to provide shorter sentences
for the same drug crimes

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for which they had been convicted.

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But if he hadn't used his pardon power,
they would still be in prison.

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Legal tools of forgiveness
should be used more,

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but not without reason and not with bias.

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A "New Yorker" cartoon shows a judge
with a big nose and a big mustache

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looking down at a defendant
with the exact same nose

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and exact same mustache

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and says, "Obviously not guilty."

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(Laughter)

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Forgiveness could undermine
the commitment that law has

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to treat people the same
under the same circumstances,

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to apply rules evenly.

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In this age of resentment,
mass incarceration,

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widespread consumer debt,

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we need more forgiveness,
but we need a philosophy of forgiveness.

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We need to forgive fairly.

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Contrast the treatment globally
of child soldiers

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with the treatment of juvenile
offenders in the United States.

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International human rights
condemn and punish adults

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who involve children in armed conflict

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as those most responsible,

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but treat the children themselves
quite differently.

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The International Criminal Court,

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now with 122 member nations,

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convicted Thomas Lubanga, warlord
in the [Democratic Republic of the] Congo,

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for enlisting, recruiting and deploying
children, teens, as soldiers.

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Many nations commit to ensuring
that people under the age of 15

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do not become child soldiers,

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and most nations treat those
who do become soldiers

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not as objects of punishment

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but as people deserving a fresh start.

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Compare and contrast how the United States
treats juvenile offenders,

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where we severely punish minors,

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often moving them to adult courts,
even adult prisons.

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And yet, like child soldiers,

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teens and children are drawn
into violent activity in the United States

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when there are few options,

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when they are threatened

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or when adults induce them
with money or ideology.

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The rhetoric of innocence is resonant
when we talk about child soldiers,

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but not when we talk about
teen gang members in the United States.

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Yet in both settings, youth are caught
in worlds that are made by adults,

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and forgiveness can offer
both accountability and fresh starts.

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What if, instead, young people
caught in criminal activity and violence

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could have chances
to accept responsibility

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while learning and rebuilding their lives
and their own communities?

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Legal frameworks inviting youth
to describe their conduct

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could also involve community members
to hear and forgive.

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Called "restorative justice,"

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such efforts emphasize
accountability and service

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rather than punishment.

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Many schools in the United States have
turned to use restorative justice methods

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to resolve conflicts and to prevent them,

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and to disrupt
the school-to-prison pipeline.

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Some American high schools
have replaced automatic suspensions

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with opportunities for victims
to narrate their experiences

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and for offenders to take
responsibility for their actions.

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As they describe their experiences
and feelings about a theft

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or hateful graffiti or a verbal
or physical assault,

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the victims and offenders
often express strong emotions.

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And other members
of the community take turns

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describing the impact
of the offense on them.

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The leader is often a student peer,
who is trained to deescalate the conflict

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and orchestrate a conversation
about what the offender can do

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that would help the victim.

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Together, they come to an agreement
about how to move forward,

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what the wrongdoer can do
to repair the injury,

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and what all could do
to better avoid future conflicts.

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Consider this example,
recently in a publication.

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A young woman named Mercedes M.
transferred, in California,

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from one high school to another

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after she was so repeatedly suspended
in her old high school

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for getting into fights.

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And here in her new high school,

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two other young women accused her of lying

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and called her the b-word.

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A counselor came over and talked to her
and earned enough trust

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that she acknowledged she had stolen
the shoes of one of the other classmates.

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Turns out, the three of them
had known each other for a long time,

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and they didn't know any other way
to deal with each other

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other than to fight.

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The facilitator invited them
to participate in a circle,

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a confidential conversation
about what happened,

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and they agreed.

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And initially, each of them
expressed a lot of emotion.

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And then Mercedes apologized.

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And she said she had stolen the shoes

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but she did so because
she wanted to sell them

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and take the money to pay for a drug test

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so that her mother
could show she was clean

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and try to regain custody
of two younger children

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who were then in state protective care.

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The other girls heard this,

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saw Mercedes crying,

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and they hugged her.

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They did not ask her
to return what she'd stolen,

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but they did say they wanted a restart.

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They wanted a reason they could trust her.

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Later, Mercedes explained

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that she was sure she would
have been suspended

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if they hadn't had this process.

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And her high school has reduced
suspensions by more than half

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through the use of this kind
of restorative justice method.

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Restorative justice alternatives
involve offenders and victims

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in communicating in ways

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that an adversarial and defensive
process does not allow,

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and it's become the go-to method

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in places like the District of Columbia
juvenile justice system

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and innovations like
Los Angeles's Teen Court.

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If tuned to fairness,

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forgiveness methods like bankruptcy
would be available

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not only for the for-profit college
that goes belly-up

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but also for the students
stuck with the loans;

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pardons would not be given
to campaign contributors;

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and black men would no longer have
20 percent longer criminal sentences

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than do white men,

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due to how judges exercise discretion.

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Forgiveness across the board
is one way to avoid such biases.

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Sometimes, a society just needs a reset

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when it comes to punishment and debt.

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The Bible calls for periodic
forgiveness of debts

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and freeing prisoners,

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and it recently helped to inspire
a global movement.

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Jubilee 2000 joined Pope John Paul II

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and rock star Bono and over 60 nations

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in an effort to seek the cancellation
and succeed in canceling

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the debt of developing countries,

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amounting to over 100 billion dollars

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of debt canceled,

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resulting in measurable
reduction in poverty.

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In a similar spirit, there are people
who are copying the techniques

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of commercial debt collectors

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who purchase debt
for pennies on the dollar

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and then seek to enforce it.

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Late-night television host John Oliver
partnered with a nonprofit group

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called RIP Medical Debt,

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and for only 60,000 dollars,

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they purchased 15 million dollars'
worth of medical debt,

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and then they forgave it.

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(Applause)

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That allowed nearly 9,000 people
to have a restart in their lives.

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This kind of precedent should trigger
and encourage more such actions.

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It's time for a reset,

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given mass incarceration,

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medical and consumer debt

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and given indigent criminal defendants

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who are charged and put in debt

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because they're expected to pay
for their own probation officers

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and their own electronic monitors.

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Forgiving violations of law

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or promises to pay back loans

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does pose risks.

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Forgiveness may encourage more violations.

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Economists even have a name for it.

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They call it "moral hazard."

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Should there be amnesty
for immigration violations?

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Should a president offer pardons
to protect himself

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or to induce lawbreaking?

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These are tough questions for our time.

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But escalating resentments
hold their own dangers.

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So does attributing blame to individuals

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for circumstances largely outside
their own control.

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To ask how law may forgive
is not to deny the fact of wrongdoing.

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Rather, it's to widen the lens,

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to enable glimpses of the larger patterns

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and to enable new choices
that can go forward

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if we can wipe the slate clean.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)