Join Our Webinar: Extreme Risk Protection Orders in Practice: Balancing Risk and Rights, Ensuring Justice
Join us for a webinar and panel discussion
Date: Monday May 11
Time: 1pm Eastern Time
Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPOs) laws authorize law enforcement with a civil restraining order to temporarily remove and prohibit access to firearms for individuals who pose a significant risk of harming themselves or others. As ERPOs have been implemented in 22 states, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, they increasingly operate at the intersection of public health and the criminal legal system.
This webinar brings together national experts in law, public health, policy, and law enforcement to examine the current state of ERPOs. Panelists will explore the evidence on ERPO effectiveness, the realities of implementation, the role of law enforcement discretion, and the tension between improving enforcement of gun laws and reducing unnecessary criminalization. They will also discuss how ERPOS can be used to promote deflection and diversion from the criminal legal system as well as how states and municipalities can ensure procedural fairness and address racial disparities in their use.
Co-sponsored by Wilson Center for Science and Justice at Duke Law and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
Panelists:
- Jeffrey W. Swanson, PhD (Moderator) is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and a faculty affiliate of the Wilson Center for Science and Justice. A leading national researcher on mental illness and firearm injury prevention, Swanson led the first empirical evaluations of risk based firearm removal laws in Connecticut and Indiana. His work focuses on evidence based policies that improve outcomes for people with serious mental illness and reduce firearm related harm.
- Joshua Horwitz, JD, is the Dana Feitler Professor of the Practice in Gun Violence Prevention and Advocacy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Co Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. A principal architect of ERPO policy and the PI of the National ERPO Resource Center, he has more than 30 years of experience translating public health research into effective firearm policy and has testified before legislatures across the country.
- Lisa Geller, MPH, is Director of Implementation at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions and Co Lead of the National ERPO Resource Center. A nationally recognized expert on ERPO implementation, she has trained thousands of law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, clinicians, and community partners. Her work focuses on translating evidence into practice, improving ERPO processes, and addressing racial and gender based disparities in firearm risk.
- Kimberly Wyatt, JD, is a Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in King County, Washington, and one of the founding members of the Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit. The Unit has a dedicated Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) team—one of the first of its kind in the nation. She is widely recognized as a national voice on ERPO implementation, advising law enforcement, training jurisdictions across the country, and helping shape state and federal policy on effective ERPO practice.
This webinar is presented for educational purposes only. Views expressed by panelists and the moderator do not represent the institutional position of Duke University.