UHLC - Criminal Justice Institute




Criminal Justice Institute - Archived News
A Lecture on Mexican Criminal Justice The Criminal Justice Institute will host a lecture by Superior Court Justice Elba Rojas of the State of Puebla, Mexico on Tuesday, April 10th from 12:00-1:00 in room 240 BLB. Justice Rojas, an appellate court justice, will be joined by several trial court judges from Puebla who are part of a delegation of Mexican judges visiting Houston on a legal exchange organized by the Mexican Consulate in Houston. Justice Rojas will discuss the Mexican criminal justice system, focusing on some of the differences between the Mexican system and that in the United States. Lunch will be provided.
The Criminal Justice Institute of the UH Law Center presents "An Integrated Approach to Science-Law Controversies in the Courtroom" by Professor Joëlle Moreno, New England School of Law and former criminal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. Her talk will explore why it is that legal scholars tend to approach science-law questions in a fragmented way. She argues that the legal system is ill-served by maintaining the traditional disciplinary divides between scientific and legal experts. Finally, Professor Moreno presents a discussion of the theoretical and practical advantages of a more integrated approach to the science-law controversies of the future. Thursday, November 16th Room 209 BLB, Noon, Lunch provided

	2nd Annual Believer Awards Benefit Dinner May 19, 2006 Click here for more information.
'The State of the Community and Restorative Justice' February 10, 2006 The forum will consist of two panels of judges from Harris County District Courts, Drug Courts, Houston Municipal, and Harris County Criminal Justice System, as well as criminal justice officials from TDCJ, Correctional Institutions Division, Parole Division, Chaplaincy, Reentry & Rehabilitation, and Harris County Probation (HCCSCD). Click here for more information.

	The Booker Project: The Future of Federal Sentencing November 18, 2005 UH Law Center's Criminal Justice Institute and the Houston Law Review presented The Booker Project: The Future of Federal Sentencing. Federal judges, nationally-recognized scholars, and federal practitioners examined the meaning and legacy of the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision that examined the constitutionality of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

	Presentation of "The Exonerated" to Benefit Texas Justice Alliance September 30, 2004 "The Exonerated" is a hit off-Broadway play based on the true stories of innocent survivors of death row. A benefit presentation of “The Exonerated” will be presented at the Alley Theater, 615 Texas Avenue, on Thursday, September 30, 2004. The event will benefit the Texas Justice Alliance, a partnership of the Texas Defender Service and the Texas Innocence Network, two non-profit organizations working to improve the quality of legal representation in Texas and serve indigent prisoners most in need: the wrongly convicted and those facing the death penalty. TJA will honor Mandy Welch and Richard Burr for their efforts in the field. For additional information, please contact: Eden Harrington, member of Board of Directors for TDS and TIN, (512) 232-7068, eharrington@mail.law.utexas.edu or Karen Hamilton, Deputy Director of Texas Innocence Network, (713) 743-7552, khamilt2@central.uh.edu.

	Supreme Court Relies on CJI Prof. Paust' s Article in Deciding "Enemy Combatant" Case The influence of one of University of Houston's CJI professors, Professor Jordan Paust, recently reached the highest level of the American judiciary. In deciding an important case involving the powers of the federal government vis-à-vis " enemy combatants" captured on the battlefields in Afghanistan by American forces, the United States Supreme Court recently adopted the position argued by Professor Paust in one of his articles. Professor Paust was quoted by the Supreme Court in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 524 U.S. __ (2004). The case involved the legal rights of an American citizen who had allegedly taken up arms with the Taliban and was captured by American forces in Afghanistan. Justice O'Connor's plurality opinion cites and quotes from Professor Jordan Paust' s article Judicial Power to Determine the Status and Rights of Persons Detained Without Trial, 44 Harvard International Law Journal 503 (2003).

	UHLC Named Lead Institution on ABA Death Penalty Assessment Project for Texas UH Law Center's CJI Director, Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, has been named as Chair of the ABA's Death Penalty Assessment Team for the State of Texas . Professors David Dow and John Jay Douglass will serve as members of the team, as well as a diverse group of leaders from around the State. The team will supervise a statewide investigation of the laws, policies, and procedures applicable to death penalty cases and draft a report for presentation at a national conference in Washington in the summer of 2005.

	UHLC to Offer NITA Death Penalty Workshop in Fall ‘04 The Blakely Advocacy Institute of the University of Houston Law Center will present a Death Penalty Workshop sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy on September 9-11, 2004 at the Law Center. Details on the program are to be announced.

	CJI Co-Sponsors Successful CLE Program on "Representing Immigrants in Criminal Matters" CJI and UHLC Continuing Legal Education program, with the assistance of Immigration Clinic Director Joe Vail, sponsored a well-attended program on June 26, 2004 , addressing the representation of immigrants in criminal court. Attorney Terry W. Yates, of Yates Law Offices, and City Councilman Gordon Quan, of Quan, Burdette & Perez, P.C., served on the Advisory Committee for the program. A special presentation was provided by Ambassador Eduardo Ibarrola, Deputy Chief of Mission for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C. The faculty for the program included: Attorney Brian K Bates, Judge Marc C. Carter, Assistant District Attorney Scott A. Durfee, Attorney Nancy Falgout, Attorney Rusty Hardin, Attorney George D. Murphy, Jr., Assistant Federal Public Defender Brent E. Newton, Attorney Richard Prinz, and Judge Larry W. Standley.