Political Economy and Access to
Justice Judicial Education Seminar

Strengthening Louisiana’s Justice System through Innovative, Interdisciplinary & Interactive Judicial Training

About Us

Discover the origins of our seminars and learn a bit more about some of our flagship programming

Our Sponsor: The Murphy Institute

The Political Economy and Access to Justice Judicial Education Seminar provides a framework for judges to unpack, interrogate, and synthesize law, academic research, and lived experience in order to identify and generate best practice models for strengthening Louisiana’s criminal and juvenile justice systems. The chronic, disproportionate representation of poor and minority citizens in Louisiana’s failing public schools and juvenile and criminal justice systems, coupled with Louisiana’s commitment, at least since the turn of the 21st century, to reforming both the practices and procedures that have resulted in Louisiana incarcerating more people per capita than any other state in the United States, inform the structure and operation of this seminar.


The seminar’s design is further distinguished by its data-driven, discussion-intensive focus. Panels and presentations are led by legislators, judges, researchers, and practitioners. Instructional content introduces participants to the most up-to-date data and research and aims toward building participants’ capacities to critically analyze and engage the relationship between data and policy in the operations of Louisiana’s justice system. Time is also built into the seminar to provide participants the opportunity to explore ways to apply lessons learned; troubleshoot issues that are distinct to their jurisdictions; and problem-solve issues that cut across jurisdictions.