Exoneration, Education, Change: A Conversation with Dr. Yusef Salaam

Exoneration, Education, Change: A Conversation with Dr. Yusef Salaam.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Lincoln Center Campus 

In 1989, at the age of 15, Dr. Yusef Salaam was tried and convicted in the “Central Park jogger” case along with four other Black and Latinx young men. After almost 7 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Yusef’s case was overturned, and he was set free.  This experience forever changed his life, and since his release, he has advocated for criminal justice reform, prison reform, and the abolition of juvenile solitary confinement and capital punishment.

This conversation was facilitated in collaboration with Dr. Anne Hoffman's community engaged learning course, Incarceration: History, Literature, Film. Salaam brought introspection and joy to an evening at Fordham, speaking about his life and the heartwrenching experiences he faced as a boy wronged by the criminal justice system, which led to his work as an advocate.