This is a our first TED Talk Tuesday, a series of posts where Wayne Powell from the Powell Law Group in Virginia shares his favorite TED talks about the justice system, crime in America, democracy, the rule of law, and mass incarceration. TED is a nonprofit devoted to welcoming highly-trained professionals, educators, authors, researchers, and creative thinkers from every discipline and culture to spread innovative ideas to national and international conferences and lesson series.

In this first video, Vivek Maru discusses the importance of changing the relationship between people and the laws that control them.

How to put the power of law in people’s hands- Vivek Maru, TED Global 2017

Wayne denotes how Vivek Maru makes one brilliantly important statement, "The law should be simple and understandable in order to protect everyone. It is the responsibility of lawyers like myself not only to represent our clients during their cases, but help them understand the laws to better protect them in the future. Well informed citizens make for well functioning communities.”

Here are some quotes from Mr. Maru’s TED Talk that are particularly powerful and worth highlighting:   

“Law is supposed to be the language we use to translate our dreams about justice into living institutions that hold us together.”

“It can feel like law is shrouded in a coat of complexity.”

“If we’re going to make justice a reality for everyone, we need to turn law from an abstract thought or a threat into something every person can understand, use, and shape.”