CrimProf Blog

University of Miami Hosts Death Penalty Symposium

The University of Miami School of Law is holding a symposium on the twentieth anniversary of McCleskey v. Kemp, where a panel of distinguished legal scholars, including Professor David Baldus, will explore the legacy of the McCleskey decision and whether it ultimately created an impenetrable barrier to the use of statistics in the context of the death penalty.  The symposium will also discuss the social, historical and statistical connection between race and the death penalty; the problem of unconscious racism will also be a central focus.

The symposium will feature:

• Professor David C Baldus: Author of the Baldus study presented to the Supreme Court in McCleskey v. Kemp
• Professor Stephen B. Bright: Former Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights
• Christina Swarns: Director of the Criminal Justice Project of the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.Professor
• Donald M. Jones:A Professor at the University of Miami School of Law and a Leading Legal Scholar in the Area of Civil Rights [Mark Godsey]

2007 Innocence Network Conference

The 2007 Innocence Network Conference will be held on March 23-25, 2007 .  The New England Innocence Project ("NEIP"), Goodwin Procter LLP, and the Harvard Project on Wrongful Convictions are the local sponsors of this year's Innocence Network Conference.  The Conference will be held at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

The Innocence Network is an affiliation of national and international organizations dedicated to providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove their innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted, and working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions.   The member projects of the Innocence Network are affiliated with the Innocence Project at the Cardozo School of Law in New York.  For more information see:  http://www.innocencenetwork.org/

NEIP, a charitable trust that represents clients in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, is a member of the Innocence Network.   NEIP is a pro bono project of Goodwin Procter LLP and is coordinated by attorneys and staff from Goodwin Procter's Boston office.  For more information see:  http://www.newenglandinnocence.org/

Each year, the Innocence Network Conference is attended by academics, practitioners, students, advocates and exonerees from all around the country and the world.   We have attached a working agenda containing information on the various panels and speakers expected at the 2007 Conference.  Register. . . [Mark Godsey]

Rutgers Hosts "Behind Bars: The Impact of Incarceration on Women and Their Families"

Academics and practitioners will explore the impact and legal implications of incarceration on women and their families at the 2007 symposium of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter at Rutgers School of Law–Newark. “Behind Bars: The Impact of Incarceration on Women and Their Families” will take place from 12:30 – 4 pm on Wednesday, March 7, in the law school’s Baker Trial Courtroom.

Professor Brenda V. Smith of Washington College of Law, American University, will be the keynote speaker for the first panel, which will focus on women’s issues while incarcerated. These include special considerations with respect to women inmates, their healthcare needs, religious beliefs, safety, status of federal and state legislation as it applies to these particular issues, and possible advancements that would achieve improvement for women in prison.

Professor Philip Genty of Columbia Law School will keynote the second panel. This panel will consider the impact of a woman’s imprisonment on her family unit. The discussion will include the role of federal and state laws such as the Adoption and Safe Family Act (“ASFA”), which applies to post-incarceration situations involving state and federal agencies.

The Women’s Rights Law Reporter, a quarterly journal of legal scholarship and feminist criticism published by students at Rutgers School of Law–Newark, is the oldest legal periodical in the U.S. focusing exclusively on the field of women’s rights law. Founded in 1970 by now-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and feminist activists, legal workers, and law students and first published independently in New York City, the Reporter moved to Rutgers in 1972 and became formally affiliated with the law school in 1974. [Mark Godsey]

NEPOC 2007 at Southern New England Law School

The NEPOC 2007 entitled "Moving Forward or Moving Backward?: Criminal Justice and Immigration in the 21st Century will be located at the Southern New England School of Law September 14-15.  Announcing Professor Charles Ogletree will be the Kellis E. Parker Keynote Speaker. 

Two areas of law are undergoing dramatic transformations: criminal justice and immigration.  Powerful forces such as the stresses of globalization and the ever-increasing diversity of the American population demand change. 

This conference will explore the hope and the dangers of these legal evolutions with panels on community criminal justice, national security and the risks of discretion, immigration controversies on the local and global levels, and the increasing intersections of criminal law and immigration law.  Please join us for outstanding discussion of these pressing issues, particularly as they pertain to communities of color, here and abroad.

In addition, we are continuing our strong tradition of supporting and building the community of color in the legal academy.

• This year we are honoring faculty of color in the Northeast who have been in the legal academy for more than twenty-five years.
• We are currently accepting nominations of outstanding legal scholar / activists for the annual Haywood Burns / Shanara Gilbert Awards. 
• We are starting to schedule works in progress sessions on any legal topic.  These sessions are excellent opportunities to receive constructive feedback on drafts in a safe setting.  We strongly encourage junior faculty to consider presenting.   
• We will also have formal mentoring workshops.

If you are interested in making a nomination, doing a work in progress, commenting on a work in progress or have any questions, please visit the conference website at www.snesl.edu/conferences/NEPOC or please contact:

• Professor Elaine Chiu, St. John’s University School of Law at 718-990-6657 or at chiue1@stjohns.edu or
• Dean Robert V. Ward, Jr. at rward@snesl.edu or at 508-988-9600 x.170 

[Mark Godsey]

William & Mary Hosts "Women and Prisons"

On Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007, the William & Mary Law School will host a symposium titled “Women and Prisons.” The symposium is sponsored by the William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law and will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Law School’s McGlothlin Courtroom.

The symposium will explore a variety of issues including, for example, a human rights framework for prison reform, how women’s incarceration affect their families, and the effect of post 9/11 security concerns and anti-immigration policies on incarcerated Latina women and their families. The event’s goal is to help provide a voice to women who suffer silently in prisons and to explore what can be done to ensure a better prison system.

Speakers will include:

• Elizabeth Alexander, Director of the National Prison Project of the ACLU. Ms. Alexander has argued several major prisoners' rights cases before the Supreme Court, including Farmer v. Brennan, Wilson v. Seiter, and Lewis v. Case, and has testified before Congress on the subject of health care within the prison system. Topic: how women’s incarceration affects their families
• Jenni Gainsborough, Director of the Washington office of Penal Reform International. Ms. Gainsborough has worked previously with The Sentencing Project and the National Prison Project of the ACLU. Topic: “The Reality of Prison for Women Worldwide and the Implications of a Human Rights Framework for Prison Reform”
• Sandra Guerra Thompson, Law Foundation Professor and Criminal Justice Institute Director, University of Houston Law Center. Professor Thompson has authored numerous articles, focusing especially on drug sentencing, asset forfeiture and federal law enforcement. She is a former Chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the Association of American Law Schools. Topic: “Latinas and Their Families in Detention: Caught in the Web of Post 9/11 National Security Concerns and Anti-Immigration Policies”
• Kim White, Regional Director, Mid-Atlantic Region, Federal Bureau of Prisons. Ms. White joined the Bureau of Prisons in 1984 and has since held a variety of positions including Warden at FCI Danbury, CT, and Warden at FCI Fairton, NJ. Topic: to be announced.

More Info. . . [Mark Godsey]