You are Invited

Annual Inns of Court Banquet

and the

Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Distinguished Lecture

featuring

Steve Binder

 

Retired Deputy Public Defender with the San Diego Office of the Primary Public
Defender, co-founder of the San Diego Homeless Court Program, and co-founder of the
Veterans Treatment Court.

Born in Flint, Michigan, Steve Binder is one of the nation’s greatest champions for fairer treatment of the unhoused within the U.S. legal system. He was in junior high when he discovered the cause to which he would ultimately dedicate his career, when a class visit to a homeless shelter brought him face to face with the economic and legal toll homelessness can have on community members lacking a support system. As a young lawyer in San Diego County in the late 1980s, Binder saw how unfair the criminal justice system was to homeless people with substance abuse, mental health challenges, and a lack of financial resources – and how focusing on punishment over rehabilitation can push vulnerable individuals further from society. The experience ultimately inspired him to create the Homeless Court Program, a local court system model that takes into consideration the needs and limitations associated with poverty and homelessness. Such entities now operate in dozens of jurisdictions throughout the U.S.

 

Monday, March 27, 2023

5:00 p.m. 

Stetson University College of Law

Great Hall

1401 61st Street South • Gulfport, Florida

Please RSVP by Friday, March 17

RSVP Here 

The Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Distinguished Lecture is made possible by the generous gift of The Joy McCann Foundation.