NASC 2014 Annual Conference Schedule
NASC 2014 Annual Conference Schedule
Subject to change
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Sunday- August 3rd
2:00- 5:00Registration
Omni Hotel, Lobby
3:00Special Presentation- film screening and discussion
Omni Hotel, Temple Room
The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax Prison.
This film is a depiction of Connecticut’s sole supermax prison, where many inmates are held in solitary confinement for months and even years at a time. The film includes interviews with a range of experts and administrators interwoven with the stories of the inmates and corrections officers who spend their days in the prison. View Trailer
The viewing will be followed by a discussion with:
Panelists: Eric Parrie, Director of the The Worst of the Worst: Portrait of a Supermax Prison
Hope Metcalf, J.D.,Associate Research Scholar in Law, Yale University
James E. Dzurenda, Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Corrections
Moderator:Craig Prins, Executive Director, Oregon Criminal Justice Commission
5:00- 7:00Opening Reception
Omni Hotel, Harbor Room
Welcome: Toni Harp, Mayor, New Haven, Connecticut
Art Gallery Tour
Dine Around New Haven
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Monday- August 4th
7:30Breakfast
Omni Hotel
Registration
Yale Law School
8:30Welcome
Yale Law School, Room 127
Jacey Skinner, President, National Association of Sentencing Commissions
The Honorable David M. Borden, Chair, Connecticut Sentencing Commission
9:00Plenary Session I- Current Drug Sentencing Policies: Interaction and Enforcement of State and Federal Laws
Yale Law School, Room 127
Recent changes by the Department of Justice in the enforcement of federal drug laws, have had an effect not only in federal courts, but in the way that states across the country are enforcing their own laws. This session will look at the changes in policy at the Department of Justice, the response and action of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and the effects on states and their policies and enforcement efforts.
Speakers: Jonathan Wroblewski, Department of Justice, Ex-Officio Member, United States Sentencing Commission
Rachel Barkow, Professor, New York University School of Law, Commissioner, United States Sentencing Commission
10:00Plenary Session I-Response Panel
Panelists: Steve Marshall, District Attorney, Alabama
Sarah C. Walker, Commissioner, Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission
10:30Break
Yale Law School, Room 124
10:45All States’ Update
Yale Law School, Room 127
This session will focus on the opportunities and challenges being faced by sentencing commissions around the country. We will review a recent survey of sentencing commissions and hear directly from representatives from each jurisdiction in attendance.
Moderator: Kelly Mitchell, Executive Director,Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
12:00Luncheon
Richard P. Kern Memorial Keynote Speaker
Woolsey Hall, President’s Room
Honoree: Richard Frase, Professor, University of Minnesota School of Law
1:30Breakout Sessions
Breakout 1- European/American Prison Project
In February 2013, delegations from Colorado, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, visited Germany and the Netherlands to tour prison facilities, speak with corrections officials, and interact with inmates. The goal was to expose project participants to radically different correctional systems and practices in order to advance international dialogue around effective corrections practices and to stimulate reform efforts in the United States. The project was funded by the Prison Law Office and managed by the VERA Institute of Justice.
Speaker: Sara Sullivan, Senior Program Associate, Vera Institute of Justice
Moderator: Mark Bergstrom, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing
Breakout 2-Disparity and Discrimination in Sentencing
In 1918, the Bureau of the Census published a report on the “Negro Population.” The authors of the report noted that blacks made up only 11 percent of the population but constituted 22 percent of the inmates of prisons, jails, reform schools, and workhouses. The authors then asked whether this disparity might “be to some extent the result of discrimination in the treatment of white and Negro offenders.” Researchers have conducted dozens of studies designed to untangle the complex relationship between race and punishment and to determine if racial disparities result “to some extent” from overt or unconscious racial bias and/or the implementation of policies and practices with racially disparate effects. In fact, this issue has been a major focus on research for the past eight decades. Over this time period, the questions asked became more theoretically sophisticated and the methodologies used to answer those questions more analytically rigorous. The findings generated by these five waves of research on race and sentencing and the conclusions drawn by their authors also vary.
Speaker: Cassia Spohn, Professor, Arizona State University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Breakout 3-Problem Solving Courts- When They Aren’t the Answer to the Problem.
Problem solving courts are the popular answer for dealing with an ever-broadening array of criminal populations, and viewed as an alternative to traditional sentencing.
This session will look at the important evidence based elements of problem solving courts and for whom they are truly appropriate, the application of those elements to traditional sentencing, the problems associated with the inappropriate use of problem solving courts, and the transferability of problem solving court best practices to general sentencing practices.
Speakers: Rick Schwermer, Utah Administrative Offices of the Courts
The Honorable Dennis Fuchs, Senior Judge and Consultant, State of Utah and American University
Moderator:Jacey Skinner, President, National Association of Sentencing Commissions
3:00Break
Yale Law School, Room 124
3:15Plenary Session II- Sentencing Policy and the Effect on Incarceration: Views From Administrators
Yale Law School, Room 127
Speakers:Judith Resnik, J.D., ArthurLiman Professor of Law, Yale University
Hope Metcalf, J.D.,Associate Research Scholar in Law, Yale University
4:00Plenary Session II- Panel Discussion
Yale Law School, Room 127
Panelists: A.T. Wall, J.D., Director, Rhode Island Department of Corrections
George Camp, Executive Director of the Association of State Corrections Administrators
James E. Dzurenda, Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Corrections
4:45Department of Justice, State Data Project
6:30-9:00Reception and Dinner-
Union League Café: 1032 Chapel Street, New Haven 2nd Floor
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Tuesday, August 5th
8:00Breakfast
9:00Plenary Session III- Sentencing Commissions 101
Yale Law School, Room 127
Many of the jurisdictions represented at NASC have sentencing commissions. But their mandates and missions are varied. Some are focused primarily on the development and maintenance of sentencing guidelines while others have a broader criminal justice focus and are more central to driving change within their state. This session will explore the various roles that commissions can and do play, and a panel of members from jurisdictions utilizing different models will discuss the pros and cons of their jurisdiction’s broad or narrow focus.
Moderator: Richard Frase, Professor, University of MinnesotaSchool of Law
Speakers: Barbra Toombs-Souvey, Executive Director, D.C. Sentencing and Criminal Code Revision Commission
Honorable David Borden, Chair, Connecticut Sentencing Commission
JullianV. Roberts, Professor, Oxford Law
10:30Special Topic Session- Annals of Research and Knowledge presentation
Yale Law School, Room 127
Presenter: Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D., Chief of Science, Law & Policy, National Association of Drug Court Professionals
Most sentencing conferences currently focus on research and evidence based sentencing practices but focus on concepts without direction. To be effective and cost-efficient, dispositions for drug-involved and mentally ill offenders require substantial modifications based upon the risk-and-needs profiles of the individuals. This presentation will review a typology of risk-and-needs profiles and discuss the clinical and supervisory adaptations required for various subtypes.
12:30Lunch/NASC Business Meeting
Woolsey Hall, President’s Room
1:50State Focus Breakouts
Breakout I- Integration of Risk Assessment into Sentencing Guidelines
The use of risk assessments in sentencing has been the focus of a large number of recent criminal justice system reform discussions. This session will look at the Virginia Sentencing Guidelines, which was integrated the use of risk assessment into the Guidelines themselves, and will look at the efforts of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing to make risk assessment a factor of their existing guidelines.
Speakers: Meredith Farr-Owens, Executive Director, Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
Mark Bergrstrom, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing
Breakout II- Advisory vs. Mandatory Guidelines
This session will look at the differences, benefits, and drawbacks of advisory and mandatory guidelines by looking at states with both systems. The session will also look at the experience of the Alabama Sentencing Commission, which recently changed the nature of their guidelines from advisory to mandatory.
Speakers: Bennet Wright, Executive Director, Alabama Sentencing Commission
Scott Schultz, Executive Director, Kansas Sentencing Commission
Breakout III- Certificates of Rehabilitation
Speakers:Alec Ewald, Associate Professor, University of Vermont
Sarah RussellJ.D., Associate Professor, Quinnipiac University, School of Law
Renee LaMark Muir, Research Analyst, Institute for Municipal & Regional Policy, Central Connecticut State University
Moderator: Andrew Clark, Executive Director, Connecticut Sentencing Commission
3:00 Adjourn