I recently received in this mail a hard-copy version of the May 2018 issue of the Boston University Law Review devoted entirely to examining misdemeanors in the US criminal justice system. The full title of the symposium, which had a live component late last year, was "Misdemeanor Machinery: The Hidden Heart of the American Criminal Justice System," and the article all looks terrific. This Editors' Foreword sets the tone:
Misdemeanor courts across the nation churn through millions of cases each year. Misdemeanors are understudied by scholars and underreported by the media. While these cases may be less significant than felonies in the eyes of the public, they have far-reaching consequences in the lives of individual defendants. Collateral consequences often far outstrip criminal sanctions and affect defendants’ housing, employment, education, and status in the United States. As Professor Malcolm M. Feeley aptly put it, “the process is the punishment.”
Periodically, attention is drawn to the misdemeanor courts. This tends to occur in times of discontent and unrest. Historically, reform efforts have largely been short-lived or entirely unsuccessful. But in the wake of public attention to misdemeanor practices in Ferguson, Missouri, the time is ripe for reform.
A dedicated group of scholars met at Boston University School of Law to explore the misdemeanor machinery on November 3-4, 2017. The conference featured both scholars and practitioners seeking to define “misdemeanor,” empirically analyze the misdemeanor system in the United States, explore the ramifications of misdemeanor charges, identify ethical concerns, and propose meaningful reform. The pieces in this Symposium Issue represent each of these perspectives and offer thoughtful next steps for research and reform.
And here are links to all the pieces:
How To Think About Criminal Court Reform by Malcom Feeley
The Scale of Misdemeanor Justice by Megan Stevenson and Sandra Mayson
The Innocence Movement and Misdemeanors by Jenny Roberts
The History of Misdemeanor Bail by Shima Baughman
The Prosecutor’s Client Problem by Irene Joe
Proportionality and Other Misdemeanor Myths by Eisha Jain
Toward Misdemeanor Justice: Lessons from New York City by Greg Berman and Julian Adler
Errors in Misdemeanor Adjudication by Samuel Gross
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