How to Find the Healing We ALL Need
Jody Kent Lavy |
TEDxUStreetWomen
• November 2020
Throughout our lives, and particularly in turbulent times, we find ourselves searching more fervently than ever for healing and purpose. Jody Kent Lavy, youth sentencing advocate and justice reformer, shares her own journey in search of healing that began in the most unlikely of places -- a juvenile detention facility -- and the two key things to healing she discovered along the way. Jody describes the difficult and liberating experience of confronting the harsh realities of our criminal legal system as well as the privilege of being proximite to those directly impacted by it, and encourages us all to find peace by facing hard truths and embracing our shared humanity. Jody Kent Lavy (she/her) is the executive director of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), and was the first staff person hired upon the organization’s founding in 2009. Jody has prioritized engaging and elevating the leadership of those directly impacted by the justice system, and it is because of their contributions that the CFSY has made such significant progress. Jody previously served as public policy coordinator for the ACLU National Prison Project (NPP) where she focused on media relations and advocacy for prison reform in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill. Prior to joining the NPP, she spent three years monitoring conditions of confinement in the Los Angeles County jail—the largest jail in the free world—for the ACLU of Southern California. Her career in youth and criminal justice advocacy was inspired by her experience as a Jesuit Volunteer where she worked with children in the Los Angeles County juvenile halls. Jody is married, and the mother of three children. She is also an avid sports fan. Jody Kent Lavy (she/her) is the executive director of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), and was the first staff person hired upon the organization’s founding in 2009. Under Jody’s leadership of the CFSY, the national movement to end extreme sentences for children and particularly life without the possibility of parole has grown significantly in size, diversity, and sophistication. The number of states that ban life without parole for children has more than quadrupled, and nearly 700 people told as children they would die in prison have been freed since the CFSY’s founding. Jody has prioritized engaging and elevating the leadership of those directly impacted by the justice system, and it is because of their contributions that the CFSY has made such significant progress. Jody previously served as public policy coordinator for the ACLU National Prison Project where she focused on media relations & advocacy for prison reform in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill.