Symposia

Friday, September 28, 2012

University of Alabama School of Law
Bedsole Moot Courtroom (140)
Speaker List

As is widely known, the United States is one of the most punitive nations in the world. Our prison and jail population is enormous. We lock up more people for longer periods of time than any comparable nation. Moreover, we remain attached to capital punishment long after most of our peer countries have branded it an abuse of human rights. In total our approach to punishment has been aptly labelled “harsh justice.”

The purpose of this symposium is to inquire into the cultural conditions and presuppositions that undergird America’s approach to punishment and the life of punishment in American culture. Among the questions we wish to explore are: What assumptions about persons and social institutions provide the basis for American punitiveness? How does punishment depend on, and influence, prevailing views of free will, responsibility, desert, blameworthiness? Where/how are those views subject to challenge in our punitive practices? How is punishment portrayed in popular culture? And, how do our imaginings of punishment get played out in our practices?”

9:00-9:30 Welcome

9:30-10:45 First Session

10:45-11:15 Break

11:15-12:30 Second Session

12:30-2:30 Lunch and Keynote
Leo Katz, Frank Carano Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania

2:30-3:45 Fourth Session

3:45-4:15 Break

4:15-5:30 Fifth Session

5:30-6:30 Reception