News
View All“The Return”: Resentencing, Reentry Support, and a Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Evolving Roles
June 21, 2016
“The Return” reveals why a lawyer, deeply involved in the resentencing of Three Strikers as a way of reducing mass incarceration, placed reentry services near the top of his concerns.
Prison Portraits: Photographic Self-Representation in an Image Desert
December 7, 2015
As the Docs Program undertakes visual work on behalf of lifers incarcerated for decades because they are ineligible for parole, we confront a ban on photographing and filming in prisons. Prison Portraits may be useful in providing not only a way to deal with the ban, but also an argument why it is wrong.
Forget Flattery: The Attributes of a Good, Effective Sentencing Video
May 29, 2015
A sentencing video should be more than a flattering portrait of a defendant; it should tell the story of what the defendant has done to deserve a lighter sentence and why he or she is unlikely to reoffend.
Confronting the Digital Reality: Producing Visual Advocacy and Scholarship (PVAS) in Law Schools
December 5, 2014
Visual legal advocacy and scholarship (PVAS) are being taught and produced in law schools around the country today and the PVAS Working Group intends to support their expansion.
“Get Digi With It”: AUDIOVISUAL TECHNOLOGY’S CHALLENGE TO RESTRICTIONS ON RECORDING IN PENNSYLVANIA PRISONS
October 21, 2014
The PA Department of Corrections’ nearly complete ban on recording in its facilities by lawyers and the media needs to be reexamined in light of advances in the use of digital audiovisual technology and visual legal advocacy.
When HBO or POV Comes Calling: Defense Counsel’s Role in an Observational Documentary of a Criminal Proceeding
September 21, 2014
Supreme Court precedent required that a juvenile offender serving four consecutive terms of LWOP be resentenced. Learn about the role his defense lawyers played in representing him as the subject of the observational documentary “15 to Life.”
To Ask or Not to Ask? The Law, Ethics, & Etiquette of Capturing the Public for “DIY Stock”
August 28, 2014
What guidance should law students be given about capturing candid images of the public, in public and without the subjects’ consent, for a “DIY Stock” gallery?
Storytellers Needed! Collaborations and the Promise of i-Docs
August 14, 2014
When social justice collaborations and storytellers are in short supply, visual legal advocates should pursue the promise of i-Docs (Interactive Documentaries) to encourage participation and activism for change.
VLA Production Sine Qua Non: A DIY “Stock” Image Gallery with a “Street Vibe”
August 3, 2014
Having a DIY gallery of stock images of your own making is a sine qua non to teaching and practicing visual legal advocacy. Capturing stills and video footage with the characteristics of street photography in mind will really enrich the collection.
Teaching Advocacy Video Production in Law School: Getting by with a Lot of Help from My Collaborators
July 26, 2014
This is the first in a series of “how-to” posts on structuring a course that involves law students, supported by a host of collaborators, in producing and directing short social justice advocacy documentaries.
The First-Graders Who Were “The Memphis 13”: A Different Visual Take on Brown v. Board
June 23, 2014
“The Memphis 13” is not only a powerful and thought-provoking short documentary; it also illustrates the potential contributions of visual legal scholarship.