In May 2018 the Boston University Law Review published a symposium titled “Misdemeanor Machinery: The Hidden Heart of the American Criminal Justice System.”  Links to the articles, which were presented at a conference held in November 2017, are below.  The conference also benefited from presentations by a number of distinguished academics, judges, and policy-makers, including Alexandra Natapoff, Issa Kohler-Hausmann, Jeffrey Fagan and retired Judge Shira Scheindlin.  The full list of speakers is available here.

A recurring theme throughout the conference was how misdemeanors impose significant collateral consequences, including in ways that are deeply disproportionate.  The articles offer valuable insight into how prosecutors, public defenders, lawmakers and judges ought to consider collateral consequences of misdemeanor arrests and convictions.  The entire symposium issue is well worth a read.

How To Think About Criminal Court Reform by Malcom Feeley (Berkeley)

The Scale of Misdemeanor Justice by Megan Stevenson (Antonin Scalia Law School) and Sandra Mayson (University of Georgia)

The Innocence Movement and Misdemeanors by Jenny Roberts (American University Washington College of Law)

The History of Misdemeanor Bail by Shima Baughman (University of Utah School of Law)

The Prosecutor’s Client Problem by Irene Joe (UC Davis School of Law)

Curbing Collateral Punishment in the Big Data Age: How Lawyers and Advocates Can Use Criminal Record Sealing Statutes To Protect Privacy and the Presumption of Innocence by Jenn Borchetta (Bronx Defenders)

Proportionality and Other Misdemeanor Myths by Eisha Jain (University of North Carolina School of Law)

Errors in Misdemeanor Adjudication by Samuel Gross (University of Michigan School of Law)