This year's Wayne Law Review Symposium will bring together judges, scholars and practitioners on Friday, March 24, to discuss "The Changing Face of the War on Drugs: Mass Incarceration, Overcriminalization, and Evolving Drug Policy."
Denise Page Hood, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, will deliver the keynote address.
The symposium will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium at Wayne State University Law School, 471 W. Palmer St. The event is free and open to the public. Parking is available for $7.50 (credit and debit cards only) in Structure No. 1 across West Palmer Street from the law school. The event includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Register by Friday, March 17, at law.wayne.edu/lawreview2017.
The Wayne Law Review Symposium is made possible through the support of the Cohn Family Endowed Fund.
Recent national attention given to increased opioid addiction, pain management and the criminal legal system has incentivized the legal community to re-examine the war on drugs and other matters such as aggressive policing, prosecutorial discretion, excessive bail and all of the collateral consequences of such practices. For this year's symposium, judges, scholars and practitioners from across the country will converge to discuss these timely issues and generate new intersectional solutions.
Wayne State University Provost Keith Whitfield; Lauren Potocsky, editor-in-chief, Wayne Law Review; and Interim Dean Lance Gable, will deliver opening remarks at 8:30 a.m. At 9 a.m., Gable will introduce Hood for the keynote address.
Blanche Cook, assistant professor of law, Wayne Law, will moderate a panel discussion on "Contextuality and a Historical Approach: Mass Incarceration, the War on Drugs, and Evolving Drug Policy," at 9:30 a.m. Panelists will be:
- Jelani Jefferson Exum, professor of law, University of Toledo College of Law
- Toussaint Losier, assistant professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Glenn E. Martin, founder and president, JustLeadershipUSA
- Priscilla Ocen, associate professor of law, Loyola Law School
- Mark Osler, professor and Robert and Marion Short distinguished chair in law, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Kristen Barnes, associate professor of law, University of Akron School of Law, will moderate a panel on "Intersectionality: An Intersectional Approach to Mass Incarceration, the War on Drugs, and Evolving Drug Policy," at 11 a.m. Panelists will be:
- Donna Coker, professor of law, University of Miami School of Law
- Taja-Nia Henderson, professor of law, Rutgers Law School
- Tamara Lawson, professor of law and associate dean for faculty development, St. Thomas University School of Law
- Teri McMurtry-Chubb, associate professor of law, Mercer University School of Law
- Melynda J. Price, Robert E. Harding Jr. associate professor of law, University of Kentucky College of Law
Dr. Nazgol Ghandnoosh, research analyst, The Sentencing Project, will moderate a panel discussion on "Transformative Change and Intersectional Policy Solutions," at 1:45 p.m. Panelists will be:
- Marcia Cooke, judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- Saul Green, senior counsel, Miller Canfield
- Rev. Vivian Nixon, executive director, College and Community Fellowship
- Shaakirrah Sanders, associate professor of law, University of Idaho College of Law
- Heather Thompson, professor of history, University of Michigan
- Nicole Sappingfield, symposium editor, Wayne Law Review, will provide closing remarks at 3:45 p.m. A networking reception will follow.
Published: Tue, Feb 14, 2017
