Dying Republic: Police Violence and the Limits of Death Investigation in the U.S. | Professor Terence Keel, UCLA

Join us for the sixth and final seminar of the 2023-24 CrimSL Speaker Series on Monday, March 18, co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology.

Professor Terence Keel of UCLA will speak.

This is a free event, however, registration is required.

Prior to the seminar, join us for a light lunch from noon to 12:30 pm. Please indicate your lunch RSVP for catering purposes when you register.

Abstract

Police in the United States shorten the lives of more people than law enforcement in Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, England and Wales combined. These deaths are disproportionately concentrated among people of color, low-income neighborhoods, and unhoused populations. Despite having a death investigation system nearly as old as the nation itself, the vast majority of in-custody death cases in the U.S. never result in a medical examiner or coroner finding local law enforcement accountable. In this talk Keel explains why, pointing to the flaws inherent to the American medical examiner-coroner system and the state regulation of death records within the public sphere.

About Professor Terence Keel

Terence Keel is a Professor at UCLA with a split appointment in the Department of African American Studies, and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. He has written extensively about race, religion, law, medicine and the life sciences. His widely acclaimed first book, Divine Variations (Stanford University Press, 2018), winner of the Iris Book Award, details how religion helped produce scientific racism. He is the co-editor of Critical Approaches to Science and Religion (Columbia University Press, 2023). In 2020 Keel became the Founding Director of the BioCritical Studies Lab, an interdisciplinary space that combines life science research, the best of data science, and the wisdom of the humanities to explain how discrimination, inequality, and resilience are embodied in vulnerable communities and the societies we design. He also serves as the Advisor for Structural Competency and Innovation for the UCLA Simulation Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine.

Visit Professor Keel's UCLA Department of African American Studies faculty profile.

Directions

The main entrance to the Canadiana Gallery is on Queen's Park Crescent West, directly across from the Ontario Legislature. (Google map)

By transit: The closest subway station is Queen's Park. Walk north on Queen's Park Crescent West.

By car: Curbside parking is no longer available on King's College Circle. The closest U of T parking lots are Lot C – Bahen Centre (213 Huron St.) or Lot P - Rotman School of Management (107 St. George St.). See U of T Transportation Services for complete details about parking on campus.

By ridehail or rideshare: Vehicles may access a drop-off area at the front of the building via Queen's Park Crescent West.

Accessibility

The Canadiana Gallery main entrance is served by a ramp and the entrance door features an automatic no-touch wave switch for door opening. The all-gender washroom on the main floor is accessible. The Criminology Library is accessible by vertical lift. 

If you have any access needs, or if there are any ways we can support your full participation in this event, please email crimsl.communications@utoronto.ca and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.