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Panelists will examine the high rate of incarceration in the US, the impact of sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimum sentences, the importance of judicial discretion and the disproportionate impact of incarceration on minorities.
These panelists will include: Steve Saltzburg, Kennedy Commission Chair, George Washington School of Law; Glenn Ivey, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney; Jim Wyda, Federal Public Defender for Maryland; and Bill Missouri, Administrative Judge for Prince George’s County and Seventh Judicial Circuit.
The moderator for this event will be André Davis, U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy challenged the American Bar Association to study the criminal justice system and to "help start a new public discussion about the prison system." Justice Kennedy concluded that "[o]ur resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, our sentences too long." This three-part forum series presents the findings of the ABA's Kennedy Commission, a year-long, comprehensive examination of the US criminal justice system. Organizers of the series hope that it will be part of a "new public discussion" in Maryland.
This story was published on January 5, 2006.