CrimProf Blog

Criminal Forensic Seminar, Friday March 3 at DePaul

Information here

Conference Announcement: Castle Rock v. Gonzales at Denver

Castle Rock v. Gonzales Conference: Some are Guilty–All are Accountable Accountability in the Age of Denial March 16 - 17, 2006

University of Denver Sturm College of Law http://www.law.du.edu/castlerock/

To register:  http://www.law.du.edu/castlerock/registration.htm. 

Panel Discussion, "The Reporter as Witness for the Prosecution," Feb. 10

Yale Law School will host a panel discussion on Friday, February 10, at 12:30 p.m., in Room 129, titled "The Reporter as Witness for the Prosecution." The panel will feature Robert G. Kaiser, associate editor of the Washington Post; Robert Post, the David Boies Professor of Law at YLS; and Kate Stith, the Lafayette S. Foster Professor of Law and a former federal prosecutor. Marcia Chambers MSL '81, a former reporter for The New York Times, will moderate.

In recent years, reporters for print, television, and a variety of online publications have faced legal sanctions if they refuse to identify their sources to prosecutors, grand juries, and attorneys representing civil litigants. Most recently reporters from the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Time magazine, among others, have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury identifying the leak of the identity of a CIA agent. The CIA leak case led to the indictment of I. Lewis Libby, the vice-president's former chief of staff. Libby's lawyers recently asked a federal judge to compel prosecutors to turn over all information the prosecution has from journalists. In all likelihood the New York Times reporters who broke the National Security Agency's use of warrantless wiretapping of American citizens will soon be called to testify. If reporters refuse, they face contempt charges and jail time.

Judges have issued contempt findings against reporters in a civil case brought by Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear physicist who has sued the government for disclosing his name during an espionage investigation. An appeals court has upheld the judgment, now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The panel will address such questions as: Do journalists need more protection from prosecution? Should they be required to talk to a grand jury? At what price? Should a federal shield law be enacted?

Hate Crimes Lecture at William Mitchell

More than 40 years since the United States was aroused by the Civil Rights movement, racially-based hate crimes still occur. In honor of Black History Month, William Mitchell will host the lecture "Hate Crimes: Examining the case of R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul and Current Events" on Wednesday, February 22, at 6 p.m.

This lecture is free and open to the public. Minnesota CLE credits will be applied for.  More . . .  [Mark Godsey]

Western Law Teachers of Color Meeting

San Diego, March 31-April 2.  Info here.

William Mitchell to Host "Lawfare" a National Security Forum on Due Process after 9/11

William Mitchell Law School is hosting the National Security Forum: Lawfare--Terrorism and the Courts--Due Process after 9/11 to take place: Thursday February 16, from 7-9 p.m. in the law school's auditorium. 

Here is an overview of the forum: "Can we trust the courts with classified information? It’s a question of immediate importance for terrorism cases, civil cases that involve state secrets, and the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in obtaining judicial approval of wiretaps. These issues will be examined at William Mitchell as a part of the college's National Security Forum.  This event is free and open to the public. Application has been made for elimination of bias Minnesota CLE credit.

• Register online or contact (651) 290-6370 or alumni@wmitchell.edu
• Directions to campus
• All upcoming lectures and symposia at William Mitchell

This lecture features Judge Gerald Rosen, U.S. District Court, Detroit, who presided over the Koubriti “sleeper” cell case; Judge John Tunheim, U.S. District Court, Minneapolis, the chair the chair of the Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board; and James Rosen, a Minneapolis Star Tribune national security correspondent in Washington, D.C.

William Mitchell Associate Professor A. John Radsan, a former federal prosecutor and former assistant general counsel at the CIA, will moderate the event. Radsan is the director and founder of the National Security Forum at William Mitchell. The forum furthers the discussion on national security matters and explores the balance between individual liberty and public safety in the post 9/11 world. The forum will host several lectures each year featuring renowned experts, scholars, and policymakers on national security issues." More on the Forum. . . [Mark Godsey]

Law Review Focuses on Medical Marijuana Use

Lewis & Clark Law Review issue focused on Gonzales v. Raich.  [Mark Godsey]

Penn CrimProf Robinson to present at Illinois

Paul H. Robinson, the Colin S. Diver Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania will speak at the College of Law on Thursday, December 1 at 4:30 p.m. in the Faculty Lounge.  Professor Robinson will be participating in the College of Law's ongoing Criminal Colloquium, which brings some of the top scholars in the country to the law school to discuss their research.  Professor Robinson will be presenting his paper, "Intuitions of Justice," which he is co-authoring with Robert Kurzban. The Colloquium is presented by the Illinois Program in Criminal Law & Procedure.  For more information, visit www.law.uiuc.edu/Criminal

Booker Conference at Houston Law; CrimProfs Abound

HOUSTON, Nov. 15, 2005 – University of Houston Law Center's Criminal Justice Institute and the Houston Law Review present “The Booker Project: The Future of Federal Sentencing” on Nov. 18 at UH.  Federal judges, nationally-recognized scholars, and federal practitioners will examine the meaning and legacy of the controversial 2005 U.S. Supreme Court’s “Booker” decision that examined the constitutionality of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

Registration is complimentary for students of any law school and the judiciary; however, all attendees are required to register in advance for conference planning purposes. For registration information, go to http://www.law.uh.edu/news/Booker.pdf.

The Booker Project brings together experts to address the future of federal sentencing in this new world of “advisory” guidelines.

Principal speakers include:

Professor Ron Wright from Wake Forest University School of Law, one of the leading scholars on sentencing commissions. He teaches and writes about Criminal Justice and Administrative Law. His areas of expertise include prosecutorial charging decisions, plea bargaining, crime politics, criminal sentencing and the use of sentencing commissions in state and federal government to develop sentencing rules. Before entering academia in 1988 he was a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Professor Nancy King from Vanderbilt University Law School, a national expert on jury sentencing. A frequent contributor to conferences on jury research, her work focuses on juries and on the post-investigative features of the criminal process including plea bargaining, trials, evidence, sentencing, double jeopardy, and post-conviction review. She has written numerous articles on jury sentencing, the impact of the decision in Apprendi, capital sentencing, and a piece on the Blakely decision for the Federal Sentencing Reporter. She has authored or coauthored several articles and book chapters on state and federal sentencing issues, two of which have been cited in recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court. In the past year, she has testified before the United States Sentencing Commission, served as one of four panelists for an ALI/ABA web cast on Booker, and spoken about sentencing at Stanford, Duke, Columbia, Indiana, Illinois, and Brooklyn Law Schools.

A former federal prosecutor, Professor Frank Bowman, from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, is recognized nationwide for his expertise in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. In 1995-96, he served as Special Counsel to the U. S. Sentencing Commission in Washington D.C. He is the co-author of the treatise, Federal Sentencing Guidelines Handbook. Prof. Bowman has testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission as well as before Congress regarding sentencing law.

Professor Douglas Berman, from Ohio State University Moritz Law School, is a nationally-regarded expert in federal sentencing. A story in the Wall Street Journal featured his web log, Sentencing Law and Policy, which has been a principal source of information for practitioners and scholars about the Blakely and Booker decisions. He recently co-authored a new casebook, Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines. He has published numerous articles on topics ranging from capital punishment to the federal sentencing guidelines. Prof. Berman also has served as an Editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter for nearly 10 years.

They will be joined by a number of notable commentators, including The Honorable Ricardo H. Hinojosa, Chairman, United States Sentencing Commission; James L. Turner, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Appellate Division, Southern District of Texas; The Honorable Vanessa Gilmore, United States District Court, Southern District of Texas; Marjorie Meyers, Federal Public Defender, Southern District of Texas; Sandra Guerra Thompson, UH Law Foundation Professor of Law and Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at the UH Law Center.

For more information about the event, go to http://www.law.uh.edu/news/bookerbrochure.pdf.

Save the Date: Midwest People of Color Conference in Tucson, May 31-June 4, 2006

"The Midwestern People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference will be holding its 2006 Annual Meeting from Wednesday, May 31, to Sunday, June 4, at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona.  The La Paloma is holding a limited number of rooms at the conference rate of $149.00 per night. In order to ensure that you get a room at this special rate, please call the Westin reservation desk at 1-800-937-8461 to make your reservations as soon as possible."

Military Commission Chief to Speak at W&M Law on Detainee Operations in War on Terror

John D. Altenburg, Jr., the retired Army major general in charge of the trials of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will present a lecture titled “Detainee Operations in the War on Terror” at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at William & Mary Law School. The talk, part of the Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Human Rights and National Security Law Program, is free and open to the public and will be held in room 127.  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld appointed Altenburg to serve as the appointing authority of military commissions in 2004. In this role, Altenburg is responsible for approving charges against individuals detained at Guantanamo Bay, approving plea agreements, and appointing members of military commissions.  Prior to being named to this post, Altenburg had retired from active duty, following 28 years as a U.S. Army lawyer. From 1997-01, he served as the assistant judge advocate general for the department of the Army and, in that post, provided advice on major legal and policy issues and was responsible for legal services provided by the department’s civilian and uniformed attorneys around the world.

A graduate of Wayne State University, Altenburg earned his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He joined the law firm of Greenberg Traurig in Washington, DC, in 2002, following his retirement from active duty.

For more information, call the Law School at 757-221-1840 (lawcom@wm.edu).

CrimProf Stephen Bright to Speak at Wash U. Law

Nationally recognized attorney and human rights advocate Stephen Bright will discuss his views on the death penalty and the current state of the U.S. prison system in a talk entitled, "Crime, Prison, and the Death Penalty: The Influence of Race and Poverty." The talk, part of Washington University's Assembly Series and the School of Law's "Access to Justice" series, will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom, Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Bright is best known as Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, based in Atlanta. This public interest legal project provides poor people who have been convicted of crimes or who are in prison with greater access to lawyers and more equal treatment in America's courts. The Center also provides legal representation to people facing the death penalty and to prisoners facing cruel and unconstitutional prison conditions.

As head of the Center since 1982, Bright has worked tirelessly to eliminate the inequality and racial discrimination that he sees poor people and minorities encounter in the judicial system. He believes that "The criminal justice system is the part of our society that [has] been the least effected by the civil rights movement."

Bright has also become one of the nation's most outspoken opponents of the death penalty, representing people facing the death penalty at trials and on appeals since 1979. In 1988, he argued the case of Amadeo v. Zant before the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the death sentence was set aside because of racial discrimination. He has testified before committees of Congress and at the state level in a number of southern states.

In addition, he has been involved in several programs to increase the quality and fairness of representation of poor people in the judicial courts. Bright served as a legal services attorney with the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, representing poor people in the coal fields of eastern Kentucky in jail conditions, welfare rights and other civil litigation. In 1981, he also served as the executive director of the District of Columbia Law Students in Court Program, which gives law students the opportunity to provide legal assistance to the impoverished in civil and criminal cases.

Bright currently teaches courses on the death penalty and criminal law at Yale and Harvard law schools. He earned his bachelor's degree and his law degree at the University of Kentucky.

Bright has written extensively on the topics of criminal justice, corrections and judicial independence. His articles have been published in prominent law journals around the country, such as the New York University Law Review and the Yale Law Journal.

Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards and honors, including the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award in 1998, the Roger-Baldwin Medal of Liberty presented by the American Civil Liberties Union in 1991, and the Kutak-Dodds Prize by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association in 1992.

Assembly Series lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, please call 935-4620 or go online to assemblyseries.wustl.edu.

Art Looting Conference at American

Former Asst. U.S. Attorney; National Archives Inspector General; Art Crime Experts to Discuss U.S. Response to Looting of Map, Manuscript and Book Collections, Oct. 25

Contact: Kathy Thompson, AU WCL Public Relations, 202-274-4279; Cell Phone: 703-855-5556

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 21, 2005) – Criminal legal experts will discuss “Addressing a Global Criminal Operation: The Looting of Rare Map, Manuscript and Book Collections, and the United States’ Response.” The event will be held in Room 603 of American University Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Ave., NW, from 4:30 p.m. until 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25. These experts in the field will address issues such as recent thefts from the National Archives and from the Vatican and Yale libraries.

Topics and Panelists include:

“The FBI Art Crime’s Team Perspective on the Looting of Maps, Manuscripts and Books”
· Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, Art Theft Program, FBI Art Crime Team

“Using the Archaeological Resources Protection Act to Prosecute Theft of Illuminated Manuscript Pages from the Vatican Library and the Cathedral Libraries of Toledo and Tortosa, Spain”
· Dennis Kenney, former assistant U.S. attorney

“Using the Theft of Major Art Work Statute to Prosecute Theft of Manuscript Pages from the National Archives”
· Sarah T. Chasson, assistant U.S. attorney
· Kelly Maltagliati, assistant inspector general, National Archives

This event is co-sponsored by American University Washington College of Law; the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation; the National Park Service Law Enforcement & Emergency Services; and Cultural Resources. The event is free and open to the public.

To arrange to attend the discussion or for other media assistance, contact Kathy Thompson, director of public relations, 202-274-4279; Cell Phone: 703-855-5556; or E-mail: kthompson@WCL.american.edu.

Panel on Death Penalty at Pace Law

WHAT: A distinguished panel of lawyers talking about the future status of the death penalty in NY Mr. Doyle's speech is entitled "Beyond the Obvious: Problems With The Death Penalty We Do Not Even Get To."

WHEN: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 5 pm

WHERE: Pace Law School, Tudor Room, 78 North Broadway, White Plains, New York.

WHO: Keynote speaker is Kevin Doyle, the Director of the New York Capital Defender’s Office. Speakers will include distinguished Pace Professors Ben Gershman and Michael Mushlin, both of whom recently testified before the NY state legislature about prosecutorial misconduct and death row living conditions respectively.

The Booker Project: The Future of Federal Sentencing

November 18, 2005

The University of Houston Law Center's Criminal Justice Institute and the Houston Law Review present The Booker Project: The Future of Federal Sentencing. Federal judges, nationally-recognized scholars (Doug Berman, Ron Wright, Frank Bowman, and Nancy King), and federal practitioners will examine the meaning and legacy of the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision that examined the constitutionality of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The conference, which will carry a registration fee, includes Texas CLE participatory credit (pending), breakfast, lunch, and conference materials.   For more registration, visit www.law.uh.edu. 

Professor Bruce Smith to present "Miranda's Paradoxical Pre-History" at Yale Law School Legal History Forum

Illinois Professor Bruce Smith will present the lecture, "Miranda's Paradoxical Pre-History," at the Yale Law School Legal History Forum Tuesday, October 18 from 4:30-6 p.m. Professor Smith's lecture will center on English pre-trial interrogations in the 18th and 19th centuries.

William Mitchell College of Law to host symposium with CIA expert John Rizzo

”Special Tactics for a Secret War”

Friday, Oct. 28, 6:30 p.m.
William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minn.

Detaining terrorism suspects at secret locations, interrogating terrorism suspects more aggressively than criminal defendants, and rendering terrorism suspects to foreign countries for secret detention and interrogation—the legality and wisdom of these three practices will be explored by keynote speaker John A. Rizzo, acting general counsel of the CIA, and panelists Douglas Jehl, The New York Times, Professor Neal K. Katyal, Georgetown University Law Center, and Professor John Norton Moore, University of Virginia School of Law. William Mitchell Associate Professor A. John Radsan, former assistant general counsel at the CIA, to moderate.

Registration required.

Read more and register online:
http://www.wmitchell.edu/news/articles/38617+John+Rizzo+CIA+director+lectures+on+interrogation+tactics.html

[Mark Godsey]

Juvenile Crime Forum Today at Pitt Law including CrimProf McCarthy

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "The issues of juvenile crime and the courts will be addressed by Rosemary Sarri, professor and former researcher at the University of Michigan, in the Norman J. and Alice Chapman Rubash Distinguished Lecture in Law and Social Work [today, October 6, 2005 from noon to 2 pm in the Teplitz Moot Court Room in the Barco Law Building] at the University of Pittsburgh...

Sarri will talk on "Prosecuting and Treating Juveniles as Adults in the United States." In the 1970s, she participated in research on juvenile justice. Her work spurred a movement away from incarcerating juveniles in adult jails. She believes the trend is now swinging in the opposite direction."  A panel discussion will follow featuring, among others, former Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Gwen Elliott and CrimProf Barry McCarthy of Pitt Law, an expert in juvenile law, criminal law and criminal procedure both in the U.S. and abroad. [Mark Godsey]

Conference on Torture and Terrorism

In the aftermath of 9/11, some Americans favored the use of unconventional methods to obtain information from suspected terrorists to prevent another major attack. But revelations emerging from U.S. detention centers in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan have transformed the use of torture into one of the most controversial issues of our time. Are such practices moral, legal, effective and sound policy? If not, how might they be challenged?

These will be among the questions addressed in "Torture and the War on Terror," a conference at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. The conference will take place Friday, October 7, from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. at the law school, 11075 East Blvd. in Cleveland. It is free and open to the public, and CLE credit is available. The proceedings will be Webcast live at http://www.law.case.edu/centers/cox/content.asp?content_id=77.

The conference will conclude with the adoption of "The Cleveland Principles," a document containing 10 fundamental principles relating to interrogation and detention standards, signed by many of the conference speakers and other experts from around the world.

"In today’s climate, it is essential to find the proper balance between preserving security and upholding the rights of terrorism suspects," said Gerald Korngold, dean and McCurdy Professor of Law. "Helping society to find that balance is among the most important services the legal community can provide."

The conference features panels on "What’s Wrong with Torture," "Outsourcing Torture and Extraordinary Rendition," "The Role of International Law and Organizations in Suppressing Torture," "Adjudicating Torture in American Courts" and a debate on the White House "torture memos." Among the panelists will be:

• Professor Jose Alvarez of Columbia University School of Law, president elect of the American Society of International Law
• Admiral (ret.) John Hutson, former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy, and plaintiffs’ attorney in the lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld
• Justice Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and Judge of the South Africa Constitutional Court
• Professor William Schabas, member of the International Truth Commission for Sierra Leone
• Andre Surena, former assistant legal adviser for human rights at the U.S. Department of State, who recently represented the United States in the case involving the Guantanamo Bay detainees before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights
• Andrew McCarthy, the lead prosecutor in the World Trade Center bombing case.
• Elisa Massimino, Washington director and chief advocacy strategist for Human Rights First
• DePaul University Law Professor Cherif Bassiouni, who was recently dismissed from his position as U.N. Rapporteur for Afghanistan following allegations of torture by U.S. forces

"The United States should have standards for interrogating enemy prisoners that are effective, lawful, and humane," says Case School of Law Professor Michael Scharf, conference co-chair and a nominee for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. "The Cleveland Principles are designed to supplement the legislation proposed by Senator John McCain, which is scheduled to be debated by Congress shortly after our conference," adds co-chair Amos Guiora, who directs Case’s Institute for Global Security Law and Policy (IGSLP).

The conference is sponsored by the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center and co-sponsored by the IGSLP. It has been designated as a centennial regional meeting of the American Society of International Law, a regional conference of the International Law Association (American Branch) and the annual meeting of the International Association of Penal Law (American National Section).

William Mitchell to Host Conference on Forensic Assessment of Sex Offenders

From a press release:  William Mitchell College of Law is hosting the conference "State-of-the Art Use of Actuarial Instruments in the Forensic Assessment of Sex Offenders," Thursday, October 6, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Actuarial Instruments are necessary tools in the risk assessment of sexual offenders. It is important for forensic psychologists, attorneys and judges to understand their principles and limitations. This conference will review the currently accepted actuarial instruments and discuss significant factors, such as age, that impact their interpretation.

The conference will feature Dr. Howard Barbaree, professor and head of the Law and Mental Health Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. He is also the clinical director of the Law and Mental Health Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He has devoted much of his professional career to research, teaching and clinical practice related to sexual aggression and sexual deviance. Dr. Barbaree has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on the topic and he is co-editor of the Handbook of Sexual Assault: Issues, Theories, and Treatment of the Offender (Plenum), and The Juvenile Sex Offender (Guildford) and editor-in-chief of the journal Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment.

The conference will also feature moderators Dr. Paul Reitman, who is on the staff of four Twin Cities hospitals where he provides clinical and forensic services, and William Mitchell Vice Dean Eric S. Janus, as well as 14 additional panelists including area lawyers and doctors.

The event costs $125 per person. Register online by filling out the attached form. For more information contact Dr. Paul Reitman at (612) 508-9309.

Application will be made for 5.5 Minnesota Continuing Legal Education credits.