The Changing Relationship Between Local Prosecutors and State Governments

2024 Symposium

February 29, 2024 | 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. | Lincoln Hall

Time	Panel	Location
9:00 a.m. to 9:20 a.m.	Meet and greet with coffee
9:20 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.	Welcome and overview
9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.	Brenner Fissell, Associate Professor of Law at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law: Asking is it more “democratic” for an elected local prosecutor to determine what crimes to charge? Or do the state voters have a stronger claim to “democracy.” John Pfaff, Joel Reidenberg Distinguished Research Scholar and Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law: Accounting the various methods that states employ to hamstring prosecutor’s efforts that the state disagrees with. Hannah Myers, Director of Policing and Public Safety at the Manhattan Institute: Presenting on how state-wide regulation can stymie the job of a prosecutor.	Moderated by Professor Stephanie Didwania.
11:00 a.m. to 11:10 a.m.	Break
11:10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.	Ronald Wright, Needham Yancey Gulley Professor of Criminal Law at Wake Forest University School of Law: Presenting multi-site empirical research about prosecutor-initiated resentencing. Alexandra Harrington, Associate Professor, Director of the Criminal Justice Advocacy Clinic, Director of the Innocence and Justice Project at the University at Buffalo School of Law: Presenting on resentencing initiatives and progressive prosecution	Moderated by Professor Jamelia Morgan
12:00 p.m. to 12:15 p.m.	Break and lunch pickup
12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.	Keynote address by Larry Krasner, District Attorney of the City of Philadelphia	Lincoln Hall
1:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.	Break
1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.	Rick Su, Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law: Presenting The (Local) Prosecutor, a paper written with Professor Carissa Hessick. Anthony O’Rourke, Advocacy Institute Director and Professor of Law at the University at Buffalo School of Law along with . . . . Guyora Binder, Hodgsen Russ Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law at the University at Buffalo School of Law, Presenting on how prosecutors interact with police agencies	Moderated by Professor Nadav Shoked
2:30 p.m.	Symposium concludes

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Archive of Past Symposia

(2023) Reflections on the Future of American Criminal Law

(2022) Do Hate Crime Laws #stophate, #stophatecrimes, & #standagainsthate

(2020) Progressive Prosecution: Legal, Empirical, and Theoretical Perspectives

(2019) Voluntariness of Confessions

(2018) Bail Bond Reform

(2016) The Death Penalty’s Numbered Days? | Schedule

(2015) Improving Forensic Science

(2014) Conviction Integrity Conference

(2014) Champion of Justice: A Celebratory Event to Honor Rob Warden’s Quest to Free the Innocent