The 2023 Quattrone Center Spring Symposium

Welcome back to the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s campus as we once again convene in person for our Spring Symposium!  This year, we will focus on innovations in criminal justice, beginning on May 10 – 11 with Innovations in Prosecution, co-sponsored with the Association for Prosecuting Attorneys, and continuing on May 11 – 12 with Innovations in The Reduction of Wrongful Convictions.

Innovations in Prosecution
(co-sponsored by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys)

Wednesday May 10 – Thursday May 11

State and local prosecutors increasingly find themselves on the front lines of political discussions about criminal justice reform as communities increase their focus on prosecutor elections and divided legislatures seek to influence local prosecutorial policies and discretion.  The Quattrone Center and the APA are bringing together prosecutors who have implemented innovative programs with researchers who help to design and evaluate them.  Learn about the programs through a series of panel discussions and “Profiles in Innovation.”

Potential Topics Include:

• Effective deferral or declination of low-level offenses

• Prosecutorial discretion in a polarized political environment

• How officer and witness failures to appear affect the criminal justice system

• Pre-trial justice:  what the data shows us

• How prosecutors’ offices can effectively coordinate with academic research teams to enhance effective policies for change

• And more . . .

Reducing Wrongful Convictions:  An Holistic Approach

Thursday May 11 – Friday May 12

Since its inception, the Quattrone Center has advocated for a “Systems Approach” to improving the quality and accuracy of the criminal justice system, working with police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, courts, and others to learn from our errors and ensure that innocent people are not convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.  Engage with researchers and policy makers on these important issues:

Potential topics include:

• False confessions:  The latest science and what can be done to eliminate them

• Sentinel event reviews:  Healing communities by learning from criminal justice mistakes

• Field drug tests:  Fallacies and opportunities

• Plea bargains:  Improving a system filled with errors

• Group exonerations:  Righting the wrongs and minimizing their impact

• And more . . .