A leading juvenile justice attorney featured in the hit Netflix docu-series “Making a Murderer” will speak at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Monday.

Steven Drizin, co-founder of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth at Northwestern University, will give a 4:30 p.m. lecture at the Carson campus outlining his case to overturn the 2007 conviction of Brendan Dassey, who he argues was coerced to confess to participating in the Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, murder at the center of the series.

“Making a Murderer and the True Story of Brendan Dassey’s False Confession” features interrogation footage of the then-16-year-old that did not air in the documentary, according to Drizin, who is waiting for a federal judge to review Dassey’s case after his appeal was rejected.

Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery, are serving life sentences for the 2005 sexual assault and murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach. Now 26, Dassey will be eligible for early release in 2048.

The free lecture on the fifth floor of the University Library South Wing is open to the public and will be Drizin’s only speaking event when he visits Southern California this week. Seating will be limited.

Avery’s defense attorneys, Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, spoke in downtown Los Angeles last week as part of a national tour.

Drizin will lay out the basis of the habeas corpus petition he filed on behalf of Dassey; he expects a ruling in one year.

“The film highlighted really basically one passage of Brendan’s interrogation where the detectives are feeding to Brendan the fact that Teresa had been shot in the head in the garage, and it didn’t really show any footage from any of the earlier interrogations,” Drizin said. “It also didn’t show any of the most coercive tactics that were used by the detectives to break Brendan down to a place where he felt he had no choice but to confess.”

“Making a Murderer” focuses largely on Avery, who had been released from prison in 2003 after serving 18 years for a sexual assault until DNA evidence exonerated him.

More than 19 million people streamed the 10-part series in the first month after it debuted on Netflix in December 2015.

Drizin called the film a “godsend” for the world of juvenile justice reform.

“This is a series that has gone global and has opened the eyes of the general public to the problem of coerced and false interrogations of juveniles in a way that few other stories or series can match,” Drizin said. “It’s led a number of states to debate new laws to provide greater protections for young people during interrogations.”

He noted that Senate Bill 1052, which would give minors in California the opportunity to consult with an attorney prior to being interrogated by police, recently made it out of committee.

“Clearly, the introduction of the bill capitalized on some of the momentum and discussions surrounding the film,” Drizin said.

Shari Berkowitz, an assistant professor of criminal justice administration at Cal State Dominguez, said the university is “beyond thrilled” to have booked Drizin for its Social Justice Distinguished Speakers Series.

“It is huge that CSUDH is hosting Drizin, one of the world’s most influential experts on false confessions and juvenile justice,” Berkowitz said in an email.

Berkowitz, who recently published a study on sleep deprivation and false confessions, believes true crime shows are increasingly capturing the interest of young people in criminal justice.

“While it is common for some of my friends/colleagues and me to sit around the dinner table and discuss legal cases, it seems that ‘Making a Murderer’ has prompted conversations on injustice in the criminal justice system for millions of dinner tables around the country,” she said. “The show provides a rare opportunity for many millennials to get their first glimpse of a criminal case and follow it from beginning to end.”

Berkowitz and fellow assistant professor Jennifer Sumner will moderate the afternoon discussion with Drizin, who will take questions from the audience.

Drizin believes the greatest benefit of “Making a Murderer” is its power to dispel misconceptions about false confessions.

“I think there a lot of people who are shocked to learn that in most interrogations, children are left to fend for themselves against police officers,” Drizin said.

When it comes to whether young “Making a Murderer” fans will be inspired to take interest in their local courts, Drizin is unsure, but believes their engagement with the presidential election is a good sign.

“There are members of this generation that are very engaged, want to see change and are willing to work hard to make that happen,” he said. “Whether that translates into millennials getting involved in criminal justice reform issues remains to be seen.”

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Want to go?

What: “Making a Murderer and the True Story of Brendan Dassey’s False Confession”

When: 4:30-6 p.m. Monday

Where: Fifth Floor of the University Library South Wing, Cal State Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson

Information: Contact Shari Berkowitz at sberkowitz@csudh.edu