The DePaul College of Law Symposium
On Atkins v. Virginia
Hosted by
The Center for Justice in Capital Cases
and
The DePaul Law Review

The DePaul College of Law Symposium this year is dedicated to the Supreme Court’s decision in Atkins v. Virginia. In Atkins, the Supreme Court decided that the mentally retarded are to be categorically excluded from the death penalty.  The symposium will explore both the theoretical and practical implications of the decision in Atkins.  From a theoretical standpoint, it will consider whether or not the decision signaled a renewed interest within the Supreme Court in reconsidering or reforming the death penalty.  From a practical standpoint, it will focus on the states’ role in determining mental retardation and what those effects may have on future decisions at both the state and national levels.

We have gathered some of the nation’s best and brightest minds on the death penalty to participate, including: Jim Ellis, J.D., who represented Atkins before the Supreme Court; Susan Bandes J.D., distinguished researcher, DePaul faculty professor, and co-reporter for the Constitution Project’s, “Mandatory Justice, Eighteen Reforms for the Death Penalty;” Dr. Craig Haney, Professor of Psychology at the Univ. of California, Santa Cruz and author of the book Death by Design: Capital Punishment as a Social Psychological System; Bryan Stevenson J.D., Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama and Professor of Law at NYU Law School; Song Richardson J.D., from DePaul University;  Stephen Bright J.D., President of the Southern Center for Human Rights and Visiting Professor of Law at both Yale and Harvard; Carol Steiker, J.D., Faculty Associate Harvard University Edmund J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics; Jordan Steiker, J.D., University of Texas, Cooper K. Ragan Regents Professor; and Andrea Lyon, J.D, DePaul University Faculty professor, Director Center for Justice in Capital Cases, and Executive Director Clarence Darrow Death Penalty Defense College.

The Atkins Symposium will take place on March 9^th, 2007 from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., in the DePaul Conference Center: Room 9005 of the DePaul Center.  Ticket and pricing information will be available shortly.