Criminal

On Friday, Feb. 6, after several town hall meetings in which Harvard Law students and faculty shared their experiences and observations of discrimination and systemic injustice, as well as hopes for pedagogical and cultural shifts at the law school, the HLS community convened to discuss a somewhat more familiar law school topic: legal and policy reforms.

HLS Professor Carol Steiker is using her year as the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study’s Rita E. Hauser Fellow to work with her brother and frequent collaborator, Jordan M. Steiker, on a book about the past half-century’s experiment with the constitutional regulation of capital punishment in America. She recently spoke with the Harvard Gazette about the history and future of the death penalty in the United States.

And discussions have continued into the new year about the policy and procedures of police, prosecutors and the community at large.

In an op-ed in the Boston Globe, “Trust in the legal system must be regained,” Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow and Yale…

At a time when policing, prosecutorial discretion, the death penalty, and criminal justice as a whole are under tremendous scrutiny in the United States, a new initiative at Harvard Law School seeks to analyze problems within the U.S. criminal justice system and look for solutions.

Until last spring, scores of destitute people—virtually all of them African-Americans—were locked up in the city jail of Montgomery, Alabama, for traffic tickets they couldn’t pay, sentenced to a day in jail for every $50 they owed. They could earn a $25 credit daily by providing free labor, scrubbing blood and feces off jail floors and cleaning buildings.

Benjamin B. Ferencz ’43, known for his role as chief prosecutor in the Nuremburg Trials and for his work promoting an international rule of law and the creation of an International Criminal Court, has been awarded Harvard Law School’s highest honor: the Medal of Freedom.

A panel convened by Harvard Law School Professor Charles J. Ogletree Jr., director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, reflected on what the recent crisis in Ferguson, Mo. means for broad policy issues, including racial discrimination, political disenfranchisement, policing, and the criminal justice system.

Until last month, scores of destitute people—virtually all of them African Americans— languished in the city jail of Montgomery, Ala., for unpaid traffic tickets they…

Crystal Yang ‘13, a scholar specializing in criminal law and consumer finance, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as an assistant professor in July.

Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., clinical professor of law and director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, recently spoke with the Harvard Gazette about racial and national sentencing disparities, the economic and social costs of mass incarceration, and the sentencing reforms now under consideration.

From March 15-23, many Harvard Law students used their spring break to learn about the law outside the classroom.

In an April 16th ceremony, Harvard Law School student Jessica Frisina ’14 and alumnus David Singleton ’91 were honored with the Gary Bellow Public Service Award.

Nearly 70,000 young people in the United States are held by law in detention or correctional facilities that treat, confine, punish, assist and, occasionally, harm…

Harvard Law School Professor of Practice Nancy Gertner has been selected as a recipient of the 2014 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established by the ABA Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession.

For decades, Alan M. Dershowitz has led a frenetic life as author of dozens of books, legal counsel to a multitude of celebrities and ubiquitous TV commentator on myriad issues of the day. Known to many around the world for his brash style and high-profile cases, after 50 years, Dershowitz is now leaving the role he loves best: Harvard Law School teacher.