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FOR RELEASE: Immediate
UNPRECEDENTED CONFERENCE FEATURES SCORES OF FORMER DEATH-ROW INMATES AND EXPERTS CONCERNED WITH WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
CHICAGO -- An unprecedented conference which will be held at Northwestern University School of Law Nov. 13-15 will shine a bright light on wrongful convictions by bringing together many of the 74 people who have been freed from death row since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, as well as a host of concerned lawyers, journalists, investigators, celebrities, activists and students (registration is required).
Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of America's foremost political figures, will deliver the keynote address at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 at the plenary session introducing the men freed from death row.
Designed to have a major impact on public policy, the "National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty" has a lengthy list of sponsors, including Northwestern's Law School and its Medill School of Journalism, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the MacArthur Justice Center and Amnesty International. It is being presented in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities.
"The conference will highlight the enormous risk of wrongful convictions by showing America the faces of innocent people who had been condemned to death as well as by sharing a wealth of expertise from people who have worked to free them," said Northwestern Law School Professor Lawrence C. Marshall, the conference coordinator and a leader in the representation of the wrongfully convicted and legal initiatives to help them.
In three major plenary sessions and approximately 30 workshop sessions, experts and activists from throughout the world will explore ways to systematically prevent such miscarriages of justice and to launch provocative, new program initiatives on wrongful convictions and the death penalty. "The impact on public policy promises to be great," said David E. Van Zandt, dean of the Law School.
Other prominent participants will include:
--Anthony Amsterdam, the New York University Law School professor who argued Furman v. Georgia;
--Hugo Bedau and Michael Radelet, co-authors of "In Spite of Innocence";
--Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, director of the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted;
--Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., U. S. House of Representatives (D-Ill.);
--Mike Farrell, "MASH" actor and president of Death Penalty Focus of California;
--Bianca Jagger, Amnesty International activist;
--Gareth Peirce, the attorney who represented Gerry Conlon, the member of the famous Irish "Guildford Four" who was featured in the movie "In the Name of the Father";
--David Protess, a professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism whose exposes of wrongful convictions have been widely publicized and whose latest book, "A Promise of Justice," elaborates on his successful crusade to free the famous Ford Heights Four;
--Barry Scheck, professor of law, Cardozo Law School, and director of the Innocence Project; and
-- Bryan Stevenson, director of Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama and a renowned expert on the death penalty.
The list goes on.
Wrongfully convicted participants will include Rolando Cruz, who was dramatically freed from 10 years on death row after Marshall spearheaded his highly publicized legal defense; James Richardson, who was released from his 21-year death sentence in 1989 after an examination of his case by Janet Reno, then State Attorney for Dade County; and two former death row members of the Ford Heights Four, Dennis Williams and Verneal Jimerson, whose stories were brought to light by extraordinary investigative efforts of Northwestern Professor Protess and a team of his journalism students. They will join scores of other former death row inmates from throughout the United States at the conference.
"When the wrongfully convicted share their stories with the public, as a number of them have on several occasions in Illinois, the reaction can be dramatic," said Marshall. "They personify how absolutely broken the machinery of death is and how perilously close it came to executing them. Their voices were key in calls for a moratorium on the death penalty from the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the American Bar Association."
The plenary sessions include:
--"World Perspectives on American (In)Justice," An Examination of How Other Countries Deal with Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty, on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m.;
--"74 Reasons to Care: the Faces and Hard Realities of Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty," an introduction of the men freed from death row and discussion of their stories, on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 3 p.m.; and
-- "Looking Ahead: Promoting an Agenda of Meaningful Change" on Sunday, Nov. 15 at 10:45 a.m.
The 30 concurrent sessions that will be held during the course of the conference fall into the following categories:
--Reforming the Law to Minimize the Risk of Wrongful Convictions.
Focusing on training and funding the defense; race and prosecutorial discretion; jury instructions; jailhouse snitches; recording confessions; federal habeas corpus; post- conviction relief in the state courts; post-conviction forensic testing; executive clemency; and compensation for the wrongly convicted.
-- Framing the Issues and Building Public Support.
Exploring how to frame the issue of capital punishment for public debate; grass roots mobilization training; public campaigns on behalf of defendants; the religious community as a core constituency; the Illinois Moratorium Movement; and opportunities to become involved.
--Role of the Journalist in Wrongful Conviction Cases.
Sessions include telling wrongful conviction stories in the media; the journalist as investigator in such cases; and fighting for media access to prison inmates.
-- The Investigation of Wrongful Conviction and Death Penalty Cases.
A primer on investigations for non-investigators; investigating the state's case; identifying alternative suspects; and the telltale signs of police and prosecutorial misconduct.
-- Psychological Impact on Defendants, Families, Friends & Helpers.
Understanding the effects of incarceration on the currently incarcerated and the effects of incarceration upon those who have been vindicated and released, and the impact of the process on lawyers and other helpers.
--New Initiatives, Programs to Attack the Problem.
Among the initiatives to be discussed and announced: a network of law schools throughout the United States that will work on behalf of the wrongly convicted; a litigation initiative to secure media access to inmates; and a pilot project to create a centralized database to record allegations of official misconduct.
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(Registration is required; suggested registration fee is $250 for professionals who work in this area and $100 for others. However no one will be turned away for lack of funds, and participants may pay what they can afford. Register at www.ncwcdp.com or by fax at (312) 943-7896.)
10/14/98
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