Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

Barred: Why the Innocent Can't Get Out of Prison

Wed, October 11, 2023
Dinner Program
Daniel Medwed

Thousands of innocent people are behind bars in the United States. But proving their innocence and winning their release is nearly impossible. In this lecture, legal scholar Daniel Medwed will argue that our justice system’s stringent procedural rules are largely to blame for the ongoing punishment of the innocent. Drawing on his research and practical experience, he will offer an overview of how appellate, post-conviction, and executive branch remedies operate in the context of a prisoner’s innocence claim and explore them in the context of a case that he litigated in New York.

**This is a "flipped Ath" event, in conjunction with the Open Academy: the reception will be held at 5:30 PM as usual, followed directly by the public presentation at 6:00 PM. Dinner (and conversation!) will follow at 6:45 PM, and then Q&A at 7:30 PM.**

Daniel Medwed is a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston. He focuses his research and pro bono activities around the topic of wrongful convictions. His recent book, Barred: Why the Innocent Can’t Get Out of Prison (Hachette/Basic Books, 2022), which was named one of the "Best Fall Books" by Bloomberg last year, explores the range of procedural barriers that so often prevent innocent prisoners from obtaining exoneration. He is a founding member of the board of directors of the Innocence Network, a consortium of innocence projects throughout the world, and currently serves on the board of the New England Innocence Project. 

Professor Medwed was appointed to the rank of University Distinguished Professor in 2018, which is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Northeastern faculty member. He has earned many teaching prizes over the course of his career. Prior to joining Northeastern, Medwed taught at the University of Utah. He previously served as an instructor at Brooklyn Law School and helped oversee the school’s Second Look Program, where he worked with students to investigate and litigate innocence claims by New York prisoners. He has also worked as an associate appellate counsel at the Legal Aid Society, Criminal Appeals Bureau, of New York City.

Professor Medwed’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights and the Salvatori Center for Individual Freedom at Claremont McKenna College.
 

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

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