Redefining Justice
Insights and Advocacy for Meaningful Change
Patrice Sulton is an attorney, advocate, teacher, and visionary leader devoted to changing how people think about who we punish, why we punish, and how we punish.
She is the founding executive director of DC Justice Lab, powering a movement to end community violence and state violence in our nation’s capital.
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Articles, Interviews, and Media Spotlights
WASHINGTON Post
Black people are the ones most impacted by the justice system. Shouldn’t they have a part in fixing it?
During a recent D.C. Council hearing, Patrice Sulton, a civil rights lawyer, began to scold Charles Allen, chair of the council’s judiciary committee. At issue was whether the District should create its own parole board, and Sulton, who is Black, was concerned that not enough relevant Black voices were being heard.
WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
The People Issue 2022
Pick an issue involving the criminal legal system in D.C. and Patrice Sulton has been part of it. The decade-long process of revising the city’s outdated criminal code? She helped run it. Police reform in the wake of George Floyd’s killing? She served on the Council-created committee coming up with possible answers. The debate over the future of the D.C. Jail? She helped write the report proposing steps forward.
WASHINGTONIAN
What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About DC’s Controversial Crime Bill
When DC began overhauling its criminal statutes back in 2016, the project wasn’t supposed to be controversial: Our city’s code is more than a century old and is written in a way that makes many laws tough to enforce. To fix this, the city created the Criminal Code Reform Commission, a group of experts asked to draft something fairer and more effective. One of the key people was Patrice Sulton, a criminal-and-civil-defense attorney who was previously a professor at George Washington University’s law school.
GW Today
D.C. Justice Lab: GW Law Professor Advocates for Justice Reform in D.C.
When the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breanna Taylor in Louisville sparked nationwide protests, Patrice A. Sulton, a professorial lecturer in law at GW Law, began looking for ways to influence the conversation in Washington, D.C., about local policing and criminal justice reform.
WASHINGTON Lawyer
Patrice Sulton Creates Pipeline for Policy Reform Activists
The District’s True Reformer Building on U Street, surrounded by murals and markers celebrating the figures that earned the street the nickname “Black Broadway,” recalls the neighborhood’s cultural importance as a gathering place for the Black community during the uneasy optimism of the Reconstruction era.
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From keynotes to workshops, Patrice delivers compelling narratives that ignite action and foster meaningful dialogue.