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Symposium:

State Constitutions & The Limits Of Criminal Punishments

WHERE: Rutgers Law School | 217 N 5th St | Camden, NJ 08102

WHEN: October 24, 2024

This symposium engaged with the growing legal and intellectual movement to challenge excessive criminal punishments—broadly understood to include both prison terms and conditions of confinement—via the anti-punishment and related clauses in state constitutions. The symposium explored the interplay between state and federal law, and how state courts can emerge from federal law’s shadow through the text, history, traditions, and unique policy goals of their own constitutions to impose meaningful restraints on extreme sentencing, create a more humane legal system, and reduce mass incarceration.

Sponsored By:

Live Event Agenda:

Prof. Robert F. Williams Keynote & Introduction

  • David Shapiro, Executive Director, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
  • Robert F. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law, Emeritus, Rutgers Law School

Panel 1: Substantive Rights That Limit Prison Terms.

Panelists will discuss unique state constitutional clauses (such as rights to “dignity”), theorize on what “cruel” and/or “unusual” mean in the state constitutional context and how such concepts might be applied; question the limits of “death is different” constitutional protections and doctrinal silos that separate harsh conditions and/or collateral consequences from limits on “sentences” and “punishment”; and explore the relationship between state constitutional rights and empirical evidence about the purposes and efficacy of criminal punishment.

  • William W. Berry, III, Associate Dean for Research & Montague Professor of Law, University of Mississippi
  • Salil Dudani, Senior Attorney, Civil Rights Corp
  • Emily Hughes, Edward F. Howrey Professor of Law, Iowa College of Law
  • Maya Menlo, Assistant Defender, Michigan State Appellate Defender Office (SADO)
  • Moderator: Kyle C. Barry, Director, State Law Research Initiative (SLRI)

“A View From the Bench”: Excessive Sentencing.

Current state high court Justices discuss state constitutions and individual rights against harsh criminal punishments.

  • Hon. Goodwin Liu, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California
  • Hon. Scott L. Kafker, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
  • Hon. Rowan D. Wilson, Chief Judge, New York Court of Appeals
  • Moderator: Alicia Bannon, Director, Judiciary Program, Brennan Center for Justice

The Problem Punishment Poses for Democratic Orders: Ruination and Rights

  • Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Panel 3: Substantive Rights & Prison Conditions.

Panelists will explore how state constitutions can improve conditions of incarceration, including: Can state constitutions ban or severely limit solitary confinement? Is release from confinement a remedy for intolerable conditions? What flaws or limitations in federal doctrine can state constitutional jurisprudence correct? Discussion will include use of unique state constitutional clauses, particularly protections against “unnecessary rigor,” in these areas.

  • Kristen Bell, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Oregon School of Law
  • Meredith Esser, Assistant Professor of Law & Director, Defender Aid Clinic, Wyoming College of Law
  • Kasia Szymborski Wolfkot, Senior Counsel, Justice Program & Managing Editor, State Court Report, Brennan Center for Justice
  • Tara Herivel, Tara Herivel Law, Portland, Oregon
  • Moderator: Megha Ram, Supreme Court & Appellate Counsel, MacArthur Justice Center

Panel 4: Barriers to Rights Protections.

Panelists will explore barriers to vindicating and developing substantive rights, and how to overcome them, including the role of courts, legislatures, and the executive. Topics will include access to counsel; procedural bars to collateral review; prosecutor-led conviction integrity review units; Section 1983 & state equivalents that create private rights of action.

  • Eli Savit, Prosecuting Attorney, Washtenaw County, Michigan
  • Rebecca Uwakwe, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU of New Jersey
  • Marcus Gadson, Assistant Professor of Law, Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, Campbell University
  • Moderator: Hernandez D. Stroud, Senior Counsel, Justice Program, Brennan Center for Justice

Closing Remarks

  • Robert F. Williams