Lasell Seniors' Work Lauded by Former Prosecutor

2017 Dec 21

Former Suffolk County assistant district attorney Adam Foss spoke at Lasell College on an invitation from seniors Armando Machado Jr. '18 and Alex Moule '18. Their work was highlighted by Foss as an example of how students can create significant impact with their ideas and actions, particularly in the world of criminal justice.

Foss delivered the closing keynote at Lasell's Connected Learning Symposium on December 5. The former assistant district attorney for Suffolk County's juvenile division is the founder of a number of justice reform initiatives, including Roxbury CHOICE, a program that offers young adults the opportunity to pursue educational goals over incarceration, and Prosecutor Impact, a nonprofit aimed at training prosecutors to reframe their role and perspective. Foss was recently named the 2017 Nelson Mandela Changemaker of the Year. In his remarks, he wasted no time encouraging the community to contribute to conversations around mass incarceration and justice reform.

As a prosecutor, Foss struggled with the expectation to convict young, nonviolent adolescents of felonies on the same level as violent serial criminals. At the time of his presentation, there were 2.3 million individuals in jail or prison, with African Americans comprising 60 percent of that population. Of the juveniles currently in jail or prison in Massachusetts, he said 75 percent have experienced at least three encounters with the Department of Children and Families before the age of 3. This context frames his current work, where Foss seeks to find the humanity, lessons to be learned, and actions to be pursued based on these statistics.

Foss cited the work of Machado Jr. and Moule as examples of how students could take action on these issues. The pair met Foss through Moule's internship at Partakers' College Behind Bars, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing skills and education for local inmates. In bringing Foss to Lasell, Machado and Moule hoped to advance communal conversations and support around such substantial topics.

"Justice reform can bring people together," said Machado. "It all starts with education and collaboration at events just like this."

"Mass incarceration may not affect everyone on campus personally, but it's important for students to be aware of the issue," Moule said. "We spend our days listening, learning, researching, and receiving a grade for those efforts. The second we only find satisfaction in getting credit for our work, we miss out on the bigger picture. We need to leave the classroom and events like this one with motivation and ideas to create change."