Punishment: The U.S. Record

Punishment: The U.S. Record

A Social Research Conference at The New School took place on Thursday, November 30 and Friday, December 1, 2006

The conference examined the foundations of our ideas of punishment, explored the social effects of current practices and searched for viable alternatives to our carceral state.

To order audio CDs of the conference complete and return this form.

Click to listen to the Special Event,
RICHARD GERE and CAREY LOWELL
Reading Prison Writings

AGENDA SPEAKERS ABSTRACTS OVERVIEW CONTACT

Conference Agenda
(Speakers and times are subject to change. Click on paper titles for a summary of the paper)

Thursday, November 30

10:30 A.M. - 1:15 P.M.
Session I: Why We Punish: The Foundation of Our Concepts of Punishment

Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Punishment Practices
James Q. Whitman, Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law, Yale Law School

The Legacy of Theology (Transgression, redemption, atonement, retribution and forgiveness)
Moshe Halbertal, Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University and the Gruss Professor at NYU Law School

Punishment and the Spirit of Democracy
George Kateb, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Princeton University

Beyond the Cultural Turn: 21st Century Meditations on Punishment
Bernard E. Harcourt , Professor of Law and Faculty Director of Academic Affairs at The Law School, University of Chicago

Moderator: Suzanne Last Stone, Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Director of Jewish Law and Interdisciplinary Studies

2:15 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Session II: What and How We Punish: Law, Justice and Punishment

Changes in the Law: From the Present to the Past to the Present
Michael Tonry, Marvin J. Sonosky Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of Minnesota Law School

Economic Models of Crime and Punishment
John J. Donohue III, Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Retribution and the "Desert" Model: Should Punishment Fit The Crime?
Andrew von Hirsch, Honorary Professor of Penal Theory and Penal Law, Cambridge University and Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics

The Forms and Functions of American Capital Punishment
David Garland, Arthur T. Vanderbilt Professor of Law and Professor of Sociology, New York University

Moderator: James Jacobs, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Professor of Constitutional Law and the Courts Director, Center for Research in Crime and Justice, New York University

5:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M.
Reception

6:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.
Session III: Special Event
Richard Gere and Carey Lowell Read Prison Writings
(The PEN America Center is cosponsoring this event)

Friday, December 1

10:00 A.M. - 12:45 P.M.
Session IV: Who We Punish: The Carceral State

The Rise of the Carceral State
Jonathan Simon, Associate Dean, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, and Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley

Inequality and Punishment
Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology, Princeton University

When is Imprisonment Not a Punishment?: Immigrants and Immigration
Mark Dow, Author of American Gulag

Supermax as a Technology of Punishment
Lorna A. Rhodes, Professor of Anthropology, University of Washington

Moderator: Susan Tucker, Director, The After Prison Initiative, Open Society Institute's U.S. Justice Fund

1:45 P.M. - 4:30 P.M.
Session V: Consequences of a Carceral State

The Social Effects of Imprisonment: A Labor Market Perspective
David Weiman, Alena Wels Hirschorn '58 Professor of Economics, Barnard College

The Impacts of Incarceration on Public Safety
Todd Clear, Distinguished Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York

Hitting Home: How Perpetual Punishment Hurts Families
Elizabeth Gaynes, Executive Director, The Osborne Association

Incarceration and Reentry Reforms in an Era of Robust Democracy
Jeremy Travis, President, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Moderator: Deborah Mukamal, Director, Prisoner Reentry Institute, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York

5:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.
Session VI: Round-table Discussion on Alternatives to a Carceral State

Gordon Bazemore, Professor of Criminal Justice, Florida Atlantic University

Stephen B. Bright, President and Senior Counsel, Southern Center for Human Rights, Visiting Lecturer in Law, Harvard and Yale Law Schools

Nancy Gertner, Judge, U.S. District Court, Boston

Marie Gottschalk, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

James Jacobs, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Professor of Constitutional Law and the Courts Director, Center for Research in Crime and Justice, New York University

Marc Mauer, Executive Director, The Sentencing Project

Christopher Uggen, Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota

Moderator: Brent Staples, Editorial Writer, Member of the Editorial Board, The New York Times

This conference is supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, The Open Society Institute's U.S. Justice Fund, the Ford Foundation and The J.M. Kaplan Fund. The conference is also Cosponsored by the ACLU.