TOWARDS EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER LAW THE IMPACT OF DISPARITIES IN CONNECTICUT’S JUSTICE SYSTEM CONNECTICUT SENTENCING COMMISSION SYMPOSIUM Friday, January 17th, 2020 8:45 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT SCHOOL OF LAW William F. Starr Hall • 45 Elizabeth Street • Hartford, CT 06105 The Connecticut Sentencing Commission is an independent state criminal justice agency Robert J. Devlin, Jr. Jennifer L. Zito established to review, research, and make recommendations concerning Connecticut’s criminal justice system. Chair Attorney The Commission chairperson is Judge Robert J. Devlin, Jr. and Alex Tsarkov serves as the Executive Director. Appellate Court Judge Appointed by: President of the Connecticut Criminal Appointed by: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Defense Lawyers Association The Commission consists of 23 voting members including judges, prosecutors, criminal defense counsel, the John Santa Gail Hardy commissioners of the departments of Correction, Public Safety, and Mental Health and Addiction Services, Vice Chairman State’s Attorney the victim advocate, the executive director of the Court Support Services Division of the Judicial Branch, Malta Justice Initiative Judicial District of Hartford a municipal police chief, the chairperson of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, the undersecretary of the Appointed by: Minority Leader of the Senate Appointed by: Chief State’s Attorney Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division of the Office of Policy and Management, and members of the public appointed by the Governor and the leaders of the General Assembly. Marc Pelka Mark A. Palmer Undersecretary Chief of Police Office of Policy and Management Coventry Police Department Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division Appointed by: President of the CT Police Chiefs Ex officio: Undersecretary for Criminal Association Justice Policy and Planning Division Vacant Patrick L. Carroll, III Chief State’s Attorney Chief Court Administrator Ex officio: Chief State’s Attorney Appointed by: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Christine Rapillo Gary White Chief Public Defender Administrative Judge Ex officio: Chief Public Defender J.D. and GA. 1 Courthouse Appointed by: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D. Commissioner Gary Roberge Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Executive Director Ex officio: Commissioner of the Department of Mental Court Support Services Division Health and Addiction Services Appointed by: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court James Rovella Sarah Russell Commissioner Professor of Law Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection Quinnipiac University Ex officio: Commissioner of Emergency Services & Public Appointed by: Governor Protection William R. Dyson Rollin Cook Appointed by: Speaker of the House of Representatives Commissioner Department of Correction Michael Chase Ex officio: Commissioner of the Department of Shipman & Goodwin LLP Correction Appointed by: Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Natasha Pierre State Victim Advocate Thomas Kulhawik Ex officio: State Victim Advocate Chief of Police Norwalk Police Department Hillary Strackbein Appointed by: Majority Leader of the Senate Administrative Judge New London Robert Farr Appointed by: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Attorney (Retired) Appointed by: Minority Leader of the House of Carleton Giles Representatives Chair Board of Pardons and Paroles Ex officio: Chair of the Board of Pardons and Paroles TOWARDS EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER LAW Kevin Lawlor, Deputy Chief State’s Attorney Isabel Blank, Senior Manager of external Affairs, the Yankee Institute The Impact of Disparities in Connecticut’s Justice System Connecticut Sentencing Commission Symposium 1:45-2:45 p.m. Legislative and Policy Panel: A conversation about Justice & Equity Friday, January 17th, 2020 8:45 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. Moderator: Steven Hernandez, Executive Director, CWCSEO State Senator Gary Winfield, Co-Chair of the Judiciary Committee Marc Pelka, Undersecretary, Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division 8:45 -9:15 a.m. Check-in and Continental Breakfast Daryl McGraw, Justice Impacted Advisor 9:15-9:30 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks Tracie Bernardi, Justice Impacted Advisor Judge Robert Devlin, Jr., Chair, Connecticut Sentencing Commission Jamelia Morgan, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut School of Law 2:45-3:00 p.m. Break 9:30 -10:30 a.m. Keynote: Addressing Racial Disparities in Incarceration 3:00-4:00 p.m. Race and the Criminal Justice System: A Conversation with Civil Rights Attorney Ben Marc Mauer, Executive Director, The Sentencing Project Crump Moderator: Jamelia Morgan, Associate Professor of Law & Robert D. Glass Research Scholar, University of Connecticut School of Law 10:30-10:45 a.m. Break 4:00-4:15 p.m. Final Remarks 10:45-12:00 a.m. Racial Profiling: What Does the Data Tell Us? Judge Robert J. Devlin, Jr., Chair, Connecticut Sentencing Commission Moderator: Bill Dyson, Chair, Connecticut Racial Profiling Advisory Board Ken Barone, Project Manager, Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy Michael Gailor, Middletown State’s Attorney Ronnell Higgins, Chief of Police, Yale Police Department Tamara Lanier, Connecticut Racial Profiling Advisory Board Joseph Race, Captain, Madison Police Department Dr. Stephen Ross, Professor of Economics, University of Connecticut 12:00-12:45 p.m. Lunch 12:45-1:45 p.m. Elimination of Money Bail: Obstacles and Solutions Moderator: Hon. Jonathan E. Silbert, Retired Superior Court Judge Judge Robert Devlin, Jr., Chair, Connecticut Sentencing Commission Christine Rapillo, Chief Public Defender Judge Robert J. Devlin, Jr. has served as an Appellate Court Judge Marc Mauer is one of the country’s leading experts on sentencing since May 15, 2019. Prior to his appointment to the Appellate Court, policy, race and the criminal justice system. He has directed programs Judge Devlin served as a Superior Court judge, having been appointed on criminal justice policy reform for more than 30 years and serves to this position by Governor Lowell Weicker in 1993. In this role, Judge as Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit Devlin heard criminal cases in the judicial districts of New Haven, organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice policy. New London, Fairfield, Hartford and Stamford. During this time, he Mr. Mauer has written extensively and testified before Congress and other presided over several notable trials including State v. Beth Carpenter, legislative bodies. His critically acclaimed book, Race to Incarcerate, was State v. Russell Peeler and State v. Christopher DiMeo. named a semifinalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He is also the co-editor of Invisible Punishment, a collection of essays that examine From 2010 to 2017, Judge Devlin served as the Chief Administrative the social costs of incarceration and the co-author of The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Judge for the Criminal Division of the Superior Court, representing Sentences. Mr. Mauer frequently lectures before a broad range of national and international audiences, the Chief Court Administrator on matters of policy affecting criminal appears regularly on television and radio networks, and has served as an adjunct faculty member at matters, advising and assisting other judges assigned to criminal court, and soliciting advice and George Washington University and Payne Theological Seminary. Mr. Mauer is the recipient of the suggestions from judges and others. He currently serves as the chair of the Connecticut Sentencing Donald Cressey Award for contributions to criminal justice research, the Alfred Lindesmith Award for Commission. drug policy scholarship, and in 2018 was selected as a Frederick Douglass 200 awardee as one of the Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Devlin served as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. “individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Frederick Douglass.” Department of Justice in its Organized Crime Strike Force. In 1992, he was recognized by the U.S. Attorney General as one of the outstanding federal prosecutors in America for his work as a member of the prosecution team that secured convictions of the hierarchy of the New England Mr. Dyson has a long and distinguished record of public service, mob. Judge Devlin is a lifelong resident of Connecticut and an honors graduate of the University of having served in the Connecticut House of Representatives for Connecticut School of Law. thirty-two years, including a long tenure as House Chair of the Appropriations Committee. Mr. Dyson recently worked at Central Jamelia N. Morgan’s current scholarship focuses on issues at the Connecticut State University as the holder of the Governor William A. intersections of race, disability, and criminal law and punishment. Her O’Neill Endowed Chair in Public Policy and Practical Politics, housed research examines the development of disability as a legal category, in the Center for Public Policy and Social Research. how law shapes disability as an identity in prison and jails, and the Awarded his BA from Morris College, and a master’s in urban studies and a Sixth-Year degree criminalization of dissent and non-normative identities and expressions. from Southern Connecticut State University, Mr. Dyson is a life-long public-school teacher and Morgan’s additional research projects have explored the ways in administrator, having served in the New Haven Public School System for 36 years. which doctrinal tensions and political discourse