Litigating Racism: Incorporating Race into Legal Arguments

Litigating Racism is a workshop that educates participants on the intersection of race and the criminal system. Advocates will be given the historical context of racialized oppression in the American criminal legal system. Understanding the historical context of racism will frame the lens through which each participant should analyze each phase of the criminal legal process and each actor in the criminal legal system (i.e., prosecutor, police, probation officer).

For example, participants will be educated on police militarization and the occupation of police forces in black and brown communities. This information will then help frame how defenders should review criminal complaints and argue for their client’s release or when they argue motions during suppression hearings. Understanding the history of police occupation will help defenders reframe the narrative from “high crime neighborhood” to “highly policed community.”

This workshop does not only serve to educate and inform but also to teach practical skills. It is not enough to simply acknowledge racism in the context of the criminal legal system. Attorneys must argue that the system is racist. But how do you do that? This workshop examines how defenders can apply those principles in a practical way. Participants will learn how they can make arguments that incorporate race in their bail review hearings, suppression hearings, and trials.

Bethany Bonsu is a zealous public defender who has been practicing criminal defense for four years. Ms. Bonsu started her legal career at the New York County Defender Services, where she represented hundreds of adults facing misdemeanor charges in Manhattan. She has since been a public defender in D.C. at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she represented juveniles faced with the most serious felonies and now Prince George’s County, Maryland, representing adults charged with felonies. Ms. Bonsu is also the 2024 recipient of the New Leaders in Advocacy Award presented by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.Prior to her time as a public defender, Ms. Bonsu was a law clerk at various national civil rights offices such as the ACLU, DOJ, and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, to name a few. It was her time at those offices and her time at the New York County Defender Services, where Ms. Bonsu was taught how to incorporate race into legal arguments. Since becoming a public defender, Ms. Bonsu has incorporated race into nearly every aspect of her client’s criminal cases. Challenging issues such as police bias, excessive force, racial profiling, and predatory police practices during interrogations. Ms. Bonsu received her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center and her bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University.