JUSTICE CONVERSATION (ENG)

Brian O’Neill earned his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the City University of New York in 2001. He has been teaching for the past twenty years and has been a professor at West Chester University since 1998. Previously, Brian earned his M.S.W. from Marywood College and was employed as a social worker for ten years.

He is currently conducting research for a book on the commutation of individuals who were originally sentenced to life in prison. His research interests include corrections, juvenile justice, and the history of the criminal justice system. Brian’s publications include research on minority overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system in detention and out-of-home placement and a historical case study on the insanity defense. In addition, he wrote, narrated and produced, El Padre y Los Homies, a radio documentary about Father Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries, a gang intervention program in Los Angeles.

Brian has taught a number of Inside/Out courses to incarcerated individuals at Montgomery County Correctional Facility. Brian has hosted a music program on WMUH, in Allentown for the past 25 years.

Luis Gonzalez is a graduate from Villanova University. He is the former president of the Latin American Cultural Exchange Organization (L.A.C.E.O.) at Graterford – a multi-purpose organization that serves the Hispanic community at Graterford and in the Philadelphia region. Luis is the founding member of the Graterford Mural Arts Restored Justice program, which produced more than fifty murals for the City of Philadelphia. Luis also created the Education over Incarceration Scholarship program, which awards scholarships to minority students from the Philadelphia Public school system.

Currently, Luis travels across the United States lecturing students at different High Schools and Universities such as De Paul University and Villanova University, just to name a few.

Luis has been featured on Latino USA at NPR news; In The Thick, with Maria Hinojosa, and delivered a TEDx which has been viewed by over a million people on YouTube.