The Maryland Office of the Public Defender invites the public to this panel as a part of their series, “In Defense of Us”.
Public safety is too often defined by policing and punishment alone. This session brings together advocates, practitioners, and community voices to examine what safety could look like when housing stability and mental health care are treated as public safety infrastructure, not afterthoughts.
Panelists will discuss the human cost of criminalizing poverty and illness, and what it takes to build systems that respond with support instead of surveillance.
