Join the ACLU-PA Young Leadership Outreach Team Pittsburgh for a screening of the documentary film The Bail Trap. Following the screening, ACLU-PA Legal Fellow Ali Szemanski will discuss the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice.

70% of people in jail are there for one reason: living in poverty. Money bail is one of the main causes of mass incarceration in the United States. Yet, few people know what the money bail system is, let alone how it all works or why we need to do away with it. Join us for a screening of a film that shows why it must end. (50 min)

Ali Szemanski is a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, participated in the Criminal Justice Appellate and Employment Law clinics, and worked on criminal justice and reproductive access issues for clients in the Mississippi Delta. During law school, she also gained experience in disability rights at the federal government and Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley, CA. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a paralegal for the Antitrust Practice Group at Cohen Milstein. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Policy and History from Northwestern University.