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April 3, 2024

From Anguish to Action: Improving Criminal System Accuracy: Quattrone Center Spring Symposium

Since its inception, the Quattrone Center has advocated for a “Systems Approach” to improving the quality and accuracy of the criminal justice system, working with police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, courts, and others to learn from our errors and ensure that innocent people are not convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. Engage with researchers and policy makers on these important issues: Topics this year include: Evaluating Collaborative Conviction Review Projects and Hearing from Practitioners in the Trenches How trauma affects conviction review staff: Personal experiences and paths forward Indigent Defense Funding Improving Police Interviews Transparency in Quality Ethics Boards and Prosecutorial Immunity

April 4, 2024

From Anguish to Action: Improving Criminal System Accuracy: Quattrone Center Spring Symposium

Since its inception, the Quattrone Center has advocated for a “Systems Approach” to improving the quality and accuracy of the criminal justice system, working with police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, courts, and others to learn from our errors and ensure that innocent people are not convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. Engage with researchers and policy makers on these important issues: Topics this year include: Evaluating Collaborative Conviction Review Projects and Hearing from Practitioners in the Trenches How trauma affects conviction review staff: Personal experiences and paths forward Indigent Defense Funding Improving Police Interviews Transparency in Quality Ethics Boards and Prosecutorial Immunity

Headshot of Saroeum Phoung, a man wearing a blue shirt, striped tie and vest

January 31, 2024

Quattrone Center Film Screening: A Once and Future Peace

“A Once and Future Peace” is a documentary film about the courage and aspiration to inspire compassion in our criminal justice system. It’s about the partnership between systems and communities who take ownership and work through our differences so that together we can contribute to making a difference for our young people, families, and communities. It’s about seeing conflict as an opportunity to bring people together for restoration, to heal, build trust, forgive, and make amends. After the screening, the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice cordially invites you to participate in a Q&A and discussion session with Saroeum Phong, founder and Chief Visionary Officer for the Peacemaking Institute, who is featured in the film. This program has been approved for a total of 2.5 (1.5 Substantive and 1.0 Ethics) CLE credits for Pennsylvania lawyers. Attendees seeking CLE credit can make a payment via cash or check made payable to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania on the day of the event or prior to the event via the online registration link in the amount of $100.00 ($50.00 public interest/non-profit attorneys). In order to receive the appropriate amount of credit, evaluation forms must be completed. Penn Carey Law Alumni receive CLE credits free through The W.P. Carey Foundation’s generous commitment to Lifelong Learning.

The Stories behind the Sentences

December 14, 2023

The Stories Behind The Sentence: Sentencing Reforms for a More Just Future

Join leaders from all corners of the criminal justice system for a conversation about how reforms in and around sentencing are building a more equitable justice system. Panelists will include Judge Stephanie Sawyer from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Ramsey County (MN) District Attorney John Choi, For The People’s Founder and Executive Director Hillary Blout, and JustLeadership USA’s Executive Vice President Ronald Simpson-Bey. Together, panelists will explore sentencing reforms, alternatives, and innovations — from initial sentencing to post-conviction relief and beyond.

Coming Home: Compensation and Care for the Exonerated

November 9, 2023

Coming Home: Compensation and Care for the Exonerated

Across our nation, more than 3,350 human beings have spent a collective 30,250 years incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Their exonerations free their bodies, but they do not undo the injuries of incarceration to their minds, bodies and families, or fix the damage to our communities. What is our obligation to these innocent people whom we have wrongfully convicted and their families? How do we help the victims of the underlying crimes that led to these errors? And in Pennsylvania, one of only 15 states that has not passed a law to compensate exonerees for their stolen time, how can we help our 123 state and federal court exonerees (and counting) rebuild lives of stability and flourishing? In partnership with Witness to Innocence, and with support from the Independence Public Media Foundation, the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice invites you to “Coming Home: Compensation and Care for the Exonerated,” a panel discussion open to the public featuring Quattrone Center Assistant Director Marissa Bluestine, Exonerees Chester Hollman and Herman Lindsey, Executive Director, Witness to Innocence, and Pennsylvania State Representative and Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton to discuss these and other important issues. Attendance is free and open to the public and will be in person and via Zoom. Reception to follow.

Cover image of book - orange background, with images of people

October 3, 2023

Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Mass Incarceration

“An original argument that the answer to mass incarceration lies not with experts and pundits, but with ordinary people taking extraordinary actions together—written by a leading authority on bail reform and social movements.” The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is proud to host a conversation between Jocelyn Simonson, Professor of Law & Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship at Brooklyn Law School and Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at Penn, moderated by Seema Saifee, Assistant Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School. They will be discussing Professor Simonson’s new book Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Mass Incarceration.

Appearances