0:00:01.116,0:00:05.869
Would you ever forgive a person[br]who kills a member of your family?

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In September of 2019,

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Dallas police officer Amber Guyger[br]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[br]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[br]who are African American like Brandt Jean

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are expected to forgive[br]more often than other people.

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And I worried that a white[br]police officer like Amber Guyger

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receives a lesser sentence

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than other people[br]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[br]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[br]of one individual's forgiveness

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

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that law itself creates[br]to allow forgiveness,

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when the principle should be[br]the cornerstone of a thriving society.

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

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by which I mean letting go[br]of justified grievance.

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And those tools are many.

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They include pardons,[br]commutations, expungement,

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bankruptcy for debt

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and the discretion that's held[br]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 that these tools, when used,[br]replicate the disparities,

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the inequities along the lines[br]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[br]pardon people charged with crimes.

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Historically, white people[br]are pardoned four times as often

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

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Forgiveness between individuals[br]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[br]of grievances and resentments.

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As Nelson Mandela[br]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[br]and hoping it will kill your enemies."

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

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For example, in 39 states[br]in the United States

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and the District of Columbia,

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there are laws that allow[br]medical professionals to apologize

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when something goes wrong

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and not fear that that statement[br]could later be used against them

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in an action for damages.

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More actively, bankruptcy law[br]offers debtors, under some conditions,

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the chance to start anew.

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Pardons and expungements[br]sealing criminal records can, too.

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I have been teaching law[br]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[br]about the tools of forgiveness

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that are within the legal system,

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and nor do law schools[br]usually explore

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the potential for new[br]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,[br]governors, presidents.

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Barack Obama, my former student,

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

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That released several hundred people[br]from prison after the law changed

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to provide shorter sentences[br]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,[br]they would still be in prison.

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Legal tools of forgiveness[br]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[br]with a big nose and a big mustache

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looking down at a defendant[br]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[br]the commitment that law has

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to treat people the same[br]under the same circumstances,

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to apply rules evenly.

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In this age of resentment,[br]mass incarceration,

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widespread consumer debt,

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we need more forgiveness,[br]but we need a philosophy of forgiveness.

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We need to forgive fairly.

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Contrast the treatment globally[br]of child soldiers

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with the treatment of juvenile[br]offenders in the United States.

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International human rights[br]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[br]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[br]in the [Democratic Republic of the] Congo,

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for enlisting, recruiting and deploying[br]children, teens, as soldiers.

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Many nations commit to ensuring[br]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[br]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[br]treats juvenile offenders,

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where we severely punish minors,

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often moving them to adult courts,[br]even adult prisons.

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And yet, like child soldiers,

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teens and children are drawn[br]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[br]with money or ideology.

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

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

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

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and forgiveness can offer[br]both accountability and fresh starts.

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

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could have chances[br]to accept responsibility

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while learning and rebuilding their lives[br]and their own communities?

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Legal frameworks inviting youth[br]to describe their conduct

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could also involve community members[br]to hear and forgive.

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Called "restorative justice,"

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such efforts emphasize[br]accountability and service

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rather than punishment.

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

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to resolve conflicts and to prevent them,

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and to disrupt[br]the school-to-prison pipeline.

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Some American high schools[br]have replaced automatic suspensions

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with opportunities for victims[br]to narrate their experiences

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and for offenders to take[br]responsibility for their actions.

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As they describe their experiences[br]and feelings about a theft

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or hateful graffiti or a verbal[br]or physical assault,

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the victims and offenders[br]often express strong emotions.

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And other members[br]of the community take turns

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describing the impact[br]of the offense on them.

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

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and orchestrate a conversation[br]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[br]about how to move forward,

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what the wrongdoer can do[br]to repair the injury

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and what all could do[br]to better avoid future conflicts.

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Consider this example,[br]recently in a publication.

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A young woman named Mercedes M.[br]transferred, in California,

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from one high school to another

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after she was so repeatedly suspended[br]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[br]and earned enough trust

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

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

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

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other than to fight.

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The facilitator invited them[br]to participate in a circle,

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a confidential conversation[br]about what happened,

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and they agreed.

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And initially, each of them[br]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[br]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[br]could show she was clean

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and try to regain custody[br]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[br]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[br]have been suspended

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if they hadn't had this process.

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And her high school has reduced[br]suspensions by more than half

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through the use of this kind[br]of restorative justice method.

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Restorative justice alternatives[br]involve offenders and victims

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in communicating in ways

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that an adversarial and defensive[br]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[br]juvenile justice system

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and innovations like[br]Los Angeles's Teen Court.

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If tuned to fairness,

0:11:12.995,0:11:16.809
forgiveness methods like bankruptcy[br]would be available

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not only for the for-profit college[br]that goes belly-up

0:11:21.310,0:11:24.180
but also for the students[br]stuck with the loans;

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pardons would not be given[br]to campaign contributors;

0:11:27.734,0:11:33.001
and black men would no longer have[br]20 percent longer criminal sentences

0:11:33.025,0:11:34.255
than do white men,

0:11:34.279,0:11:37.345
due to how judges exercise discretion.

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

0:11:44.035,0:11:48.372
Sometimes, a society just needs a reset

0:11:48.396,0:11:50.593
when it comes to punishment and debt.

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The Bible calls for periodic[br]forgiveness of debts

0:11:56.343,0:11:58.624
and freeing prisoners,

0:11:58.648,0:12:02.064
and it recently helped to inspire[br]a global movement.

0:12:02.923,0:12:07.138
Jubilee 2000 joined Pope John Paul II

0:12:07.162,0:12:09.838
and rock star Bono and over 60 nations

0:12:09.862,0:12:14.731
in an effort to seek the cancellation[br]and succeed in canceling

0:12:14.755,0:12:17.034
the debt of developing countries,

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amounting to over 100 billion dollars

0:12:20.112,0:12:21.724
of debt canceled,

0:12:23.956,0:12:27.356
resulting in measurable[br]reduction in poverty.

0:12:28.747,0:12:32.008
In a similar spirit, there are people[br]who are copying the techniques

0:12:32.032,0:12:33.522
of commercial debt collectors

0:12:33.546,0:12:36.522
who purchase debt[br]for pennies on the dollar

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and then seek to enforce it.

0:12:39.666,0:12:43.492
Late-night television host John Oliver[br]partnered with a nonprofit group

0:12:43.516,0:12:46.487
called RIP Medical Debt,

0:12:47.769,0:12:50.287
and for only 60,000 dollars,

0:12:50.311,0:12:55.148
they purchased 15 million dollars'[br]worth of medical debt,

0:12:55.172,0:12:56.933
and then they forgave it.

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(Applause)

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

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

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It's time for a reset,

0:13:17.537,0:13:19.422
given mass incarceration,

0:13:19.446,0:13:21.667
medical and consumer debt

0:13:21.691,0:13:24.435
and given indigent criminal defendants

0:13:24.459,0:13:26.929
who are charged and put in debt

0:13:26.953,0:13:30.524
because they're expected to pay[br]for their own probation officers

0:13:30.548,0:13:32.722
and their own electronic monitors.

0:13:34.335,0:13:36.568
Forgiving violations of law

0:13:36.592,0:13:38.986
or promises to pay back loans

0:13:39.010,0:13:40.738
does pose risks.

0:13:41.216,0:13:43.799
Forgiveness may encourage more violations.

0:13:43.823,0:13:45.987
Economists even have a name for it.

0:13:46.011,0:13:48.340
They call it "moral hazard."

0:13:49.507,0:13:53.191
Should there be amnesty[br]for immigration violations?

0:13:53.215,0:13:56.674
Should a president offer pardons[br]to protect himself

0:13:56.698,0:13:58.580
or to induce lawbreaking?

0:13:59.038,0:14:01.860
These are tough questions for our time.

0:14:02.934,0:14:06.888
But escalating resentments[br]hold their own dangers.

0:14:06.912,0:14:10.094
So does attributing blame to individuals

0:14:10.118,0:14:13.648
for circumstances largely outside[br]their own control.

0:14:14.476,0:14:21.324
To ask how law may forgive[br]is not to deny the fact of wrongdoing.

0:14:21.348,0:14:24.547
Rather, it's to widen the lens

0:14:24.571,0:14:27.962
to enable glimpses of the larger patterns

0:14:27.986,0:14:31.878
and to enable new choices[br]that can go forward

0:14:31.902,0:14:34.433
if we can wipe the slate clean.

0:14:34.944,0:14:36.196
Thank you.

0:14:36.685,0:14:40.337
(Applause)