Workshop on Criminal law & Procedure - Discussion Group: Vulnerability and the Criminal Justice System

This discussion group will address how the criminal justice system handles vulnerable offenders from the moment they enter the system through the conclusion of their sentences. For purposes of our discussion, the term “vulnerable offender” includes minors; individuals who are mentally, physically or developmentally disabled; those who may be perceived as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or gender nonconforming; first-time offenders; and political prisoners. Topics for discussion include: the right to counsel for minors, the disabled, and the mentally retarded; the sentencing of juveniles after Graham and Miller; conditions of confinement, including solitary confinement; the role of neuroscience in identifying vulnerable offenders and/or their conditions of confinement; whether sentencing should reflect likely offender hardship; prison violence; and therapeutic jurisprudence