The Consortium on Moral Decision-Making is an interdisciplinary network devoted to developing projects on moral and ethical decision-making. The Consortium is jointly supported by the College of the Liberal Arts, Social Science Research Institute, and Rock Ethics Institute, along with The McCourtney Institute for Democracy and Department of Philosophy.

Ben Jones, assistant professor of public policy and assistant director of the Rock Ethics Institute, will give a talk about what impact race has on support for public safety alternatives to the police. Ben is currently working on a book project entitled Antiracist Policing, with Karin Martin at the University of Washington. This book charts a third path between the alternatives of limited reform and abolition. It shares activists' discontent with many reforms that end up being implemented but also argues that policing has a necessary role to play in an antiracist society. Ultimately, we cannot forgo the difficult work of transforming policing so that it advances rather than undermines antiracist goals.

One strategy they propose is to reduce policing's role and limit it to functions where it is necessary—that is, the least harmful means available—to advance public safety. The implication is that there need be greater investments in and experimentation with public safety strategies that do not rely on police. How might race impact support for such alternatives? Ben will share the limited data available on that question and would like to spend the bulk of the talk thinking through potential ways to answer it. For Zoom link, please contact the organizers Daryl Cameron (cdc49@psu.edu) and Clara Civiero (cac7291@psu.edu).