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Insights on the Department of Justice's International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program's Pilot Projects on Criminal Justice Development in Northern Uganda and Sierra Leone
Eric Beinhart
Senior Training Advisor
Wednesday, September 9th
12:30pm -2:00pm
Conference Room 5183
Event Abstract:
In 2007, the Department of Justice's International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) launched a pilot Community Justice Program in Lira, Uganda to develop better coordination between police, prosecutors and magistrates so the formal statutory legal system could operate more efficiently. In 2011, ICITAP piloted an Election Security Program in Sierra Leone. Both of these programs were grass roots initiatives that focused on building strong buy-in from host country justice officials and citizens. In this presentation Eric Beinhart will analyze the similarities and differences of the programs and explain how they dealt with deep-rooted structural conflicts at both governmental and cultural levels. Based on the results of these projects, Beinhart will propose a new model for criminal justice development for sub-Saharan Africa in which SCAR can play a prominent role.
Biography
Eric Beinhart: Senior Training Advisor, Special Operations
Eric Beinhart is the senior training advisor in the Special Operations Unit at ICITAP. In this role he works on curriculum development and interagency outreach and liaison development. Mr. Beinhart began his federal employment with ICITAP as an assistant program manager in 1997.
Mr. Beinhart served as the assistant director for the Africa, Middle East, Latin America, and Caribbean regions from 2005–08. He went on to become an associate director, and in 2009 began serving as ICITAP’s liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In this capacity, he worked on law enforcement development strategies mutually beneficial to USAID and the U.S. Department of Justice. He conceived, assessed, designed, managed, and helped implement and evaluate a successful USAID-funded ICITAP election security program in Sierra Leone from 2011–12.
Prior to working at ICITAP, Mr. Beinhart served in the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, assisting federal, state, and local prosecutors, and DOJ law enforcement personnel, in drafting and coordinating extradition and mutual legal assistance requests with the United Kingdom, Ireland, Africa, and the English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependent territories.
In 1988, Mr. Beinhart was part of the first Peace Corps mission in Guinea Bissau, West Africa, where he worked as a community development volunteer. He has also lived in Colombia, El Salvador, and Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Beinhart has a bachelor of arts in international studies and a master of science in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University.