Criminal Justice in Connecticut, Past and Present—An Avery Point UConnReads Event
Date: Wednesday, March 23
Time: 4:00-6:00 p.m. (refreshments included)
Room: Avery Point Campus, Marine Sciences 103 (find it here: http://averypoint.uconn.edu/directions/)
Panelist Information:
“Is the Death Penalty on Life Support?”—Richard Cole, a constitutional law specialist, received his MA and PhD at UConn. A graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and a career officer in the Coast Guard, Dr. Cole teaches Public Law courses in Political Science at UConn Avery Point. Dr. Cole will discuss the recent tendency of the Supreme Court to narrow the application of the death penalty (both as to who is eligible and for which offenses). He will discuss a recent steady decline in the number of defendants who have been sentenced to the death penalty and in the number of executions, as well as recent indication by two Supreme Court justices that the death penalty will soon be taken up by the Supreme Court.
“The Solemn Sentence of Death”—Lawrence Goodheart, Professor of Emeritus of History at UConn and Connecticut Death Penalty expert, has taught at UConn since 1988. He is the author or editor of seven books. His book The Solemn Sentence of Death: Capital Punishment in Connecticut (2011) figured prominently in the abolitionist decision of Connecticut v. Santiago (2015) and currently in the state appeal of Connecticut v. Peeler. Dr. Goodheart will discuss major turning points in the 400-year history of the death penalty in the colony and state that preceded prospective abolition in 2012 and total abolition in 2015.
“for Mischief done”—Jan Schenk Grosskopf received her B.A. in History at Connecticut College. After a corporate career, she attended graduate school at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in History. She taught at UConn for five years. Dr. Grosskopf’s research focuses on Colonial America, and it was through that research that her first novel, for Mischief done, was conceived. Dr. Grosskopf will discuss her research for the book, which is historical fiction centering on a case in which a youth of Indian and African descent was hanged for a crime in 18th Century New London, Connecticut. Dr. Grosskopf will do a short reading from her book and then discuss the background, sources and ethics regarding the case.
“Reasonable Doubt”—Tom Condon, a recently retired chief editorial writer and columnist for The Courant, and now writing for the Connecticut Mirror, is a native of New London and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the University of Connecticut School of Law. Tom will discuss his 23-year campaign to win a new trial for Richard Lapointe, a mentally handicapped man convicted of a brutal rape and murder in Connecticut. Convicted by a specious confession sweated out of him with no lawyer or recording, Mr. Lapointe was incarcerated from 1989 to 2015 before being freed last year when the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial. “The system,” argues Condon, “attempted to get a conviction, not to do justice.”
For more information, contact: Laurie Wolfley at laurie.wolfley@uconn.edu