Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series: Cyntoia Brown-Long

Join Tisch College for a conversation with author, speaker, and advocate for criminal justice reform and victims of sex trafficking, Cyntoia Brown-Long. Born to a mother battling addiction, Cyntoia Brown-Long had a difficult childhood marked by physical and emotional trauma. At 16 years old, she became a victim of sex trafficking and was later arrested for killing a man who solicited her for sex. She was tried as an adult despite her age and was sentenced to life in prison without parole for 51 years. After 10 years in prison, during which she obtained two university degrees, got married, and embraced religion, Cyntoia appealed for clemency. Her appeal triggered an outpouring of support and sparked a national debate about child trafficking and the juvenile justice system. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam commuted Brown-Long’s original sentence to 15 years, and she was released from prison in August 2019. Cyntoia wrote a memoir of her journey, entitled Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System. She currently works with advocates for juvenile sentencing reform through the Foundation for Justice, Freedom and Mercy, which she founded with her husband. Follow the conversation at #CyntoiaAtTufts. 

This event is cosponsored by the Provost’s Office, the Tufts Laidlaw Scholars Program, the Institute for Global Leadership, the FIRST Center, the Africana Center, the Latino Center, the Sociology Department, the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, the Women’s Center, Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora, the Center for Awareness, Resources, and Education (CARE), and the Tufts University Prison Initiative at Tisch College.