Criminal Justice Lecture Series
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All Criminal Justice Lectures are available and open to the public through Zoom.
Criminal Justice Lecture Series Archives.
Creating Structural Change: The Drug Overdose Fatality Review Commission
September 26, 2023 | 1:10 p.m.
Abstract: The State of Delaware is at a critical point in its opioid epidemic. Over 500 individuals died from a fatal overdose in 2022, placing Delaware at the third-highest overdose death rate per capita in the U.S. The Delaware Overdose Fatality Review Commission (DOFRC) is committed to examining underlying facts and causes of overdose deaths in Delaware. DOFRC develops system-wide and evidence-based facts, findings, and recommendations. The Commission’s work is slowly changing the landscape and the conversation, but the work is only beginning.
Bio: Julia Lawes, MS, is the executive director of the Delaware Drug Overdose Fatality Review Commission at the Delaware Department of Justice. Lawes has over two decades of experience in government administration, policy development and analysis, substance use disorder research, and program development. With more than 11 years of sobriety, Lawes is also a woman in long-term recovery.
Lawes earned her Master of Science in Administration of Human Services in 2014 and her bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from Wilmington University in 2008. She was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, where she currently resides with her daughter.
