Policing, Policy, and Philosophy Initiative (3PI) Symposium

The Policing, Policy, and Philosophy Initiative (3PI) will host its second symposium on May 30, 2025. This virtual event showcases research at the intersection of policing and philosophy, with particular interest in work that has direct relevance to policy. Funding for the symposium is provided by the Penn State Rock Ethics Institute. 

This virtual event is open to the public. To attend the symposium, please register here: https://psu.zoom.us/meeting/register/AtM3arDERdKOGm4gbXy9GQ#/registration. Note: there will be one Zoom link for all three sessions of the symposium.

Among the papers featured at the symposium is the winner of this year’s 3PI Best Paper Prize: “Root Causes and Police Abolition” by Jake Monaghan (University of Southern California). Monaghan’s paper delves into what makes the root causes of crime so complex and the downfalls of ignoring this complexity in debates over public safety.

Penn State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions, please contact Ben Jones at [email protected] or call 814-863-8237 at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the program to allow sufficient time to effectively meet your access needs.

3PI Virtual Symposium Schedule (Friday, May 30)

Panel 1: 10:30am–12:00pm ET

• “Root Causes and Police Abolition” (Winner of the 3PI Best Paper Prize) by Jake Monaghan (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern California)
• “Robocops or Philosopher-Cops? The Reflective Practitioner Between Artificial Intelligence and the Risk of Deprofessionalization” by Vlad Niculescu-Dincǎ (Assistant Professor at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University) and Jens Erik Paulsen (Professor of Police Science, Norwegian Police University College)
• Discussants: Kierstan Kaushal-Carter (Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania) and Yasmine Ezzedine (Associate Lecturer of Computing, Sheffield Hallam University)

Panel 2: 12:30–2:00pm ET

• “Redress for Policing Injustice: In Favor of Making the Police Pay” by Joel Ballivian (PhD candidate in Philosophy, University of Wisconsin)
• “The Wrongs of Racial Profiling: Microaggressions, Justice, and Harms” by Anthony Smith (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Snow College)
• Discussant: Miron Clay-Gilmore (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Purdue University)

Panel 3: 2:15–3:45pm ET

• “The Justifiable Use of Force by Police: Often Neither Punitive Nor Protective” by Thaddeus Metz (Professor of Philosophy, University of Pretoria)
• “The Illusion of Consent: Constitutional and Ethical Failures of Consent Searches in the American Criminal Justice System” by Chuck MacLean (Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University)
• Discussant Martin Gallagher (Former Supintendent, Police Scotland)