Is Defunding the Police Critical to Racial Reconciliation?

Defund the police. You hear the phrase everywhere now.

But what does it mean, exactly? And would defunding the police achieve the goals its advocates claim? Would it make people safer? Would it address police brutality and racial bias? And what would it do for racial reconciliation?

This crucial debate helps you make sense of an issue that has quickly gone from the fringes of American politics to the very center of our national dialogue.

The debaters are Georgetown law professor Paul Butler, one of the nation’s most frequently consulted scholars on issues of race and criminal justice, and Jason Riley, Wall Street Journal columnist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

This event, recorded September 30, 2020, is part of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s debate series with Wheaton College in Massachusetts, made possible by the generous support of the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation.

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