Lynching and the Death Penalty Conference with keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson
Friday, March 23
12:30 – 12:45: Welcoming Remarks
12:45 – 1:15: Keynote: Bryan Stevenson, Lynching, Racial History and Death Penalty Disqualification
1:30 – 3:15: Panel One: Lynching, a General Historical Perspective
Summary: This panel will discuss the practice of lynching in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including its social and political significance, its role in maintaining racial caste, and its connection to other practices (including criminal punishment).
Speakers: Philip Dray, NewYork University, Institute for the Humanities
Grace Hale, University of Virginia, Departments of History and American Studies
Amy Louise Wood, Illinois State University, Department of History
George C. Wright, Prairie View A&M University
Moderator: David Oshinsky, University of Texas, Department of History
3:30 – 5:00: Panel Two: The Relationship between Lynching and the Death Penalty during the Lynching Era
Summary: Thispanel will focus on the relationship between lynching and capital punishment during the era of active lynching, including the similarities/dissimilarities of those practices, the extent to which capital punishment and lynching served as “substitutes” for each other, and the connection between lynching reform movements and criminal justice policies.
Speakers: Carol Steiker, Harvard Law School
Jordan Steiker, University of Texas School of Law
Margaret Vandiver, University of Memphis, Criminology and Criminal Justice
Moderator: Cary Franklin, University of Texas School of Law
Saturday, March 24
8:45 – 10:15: Panel Three: Lynching’s Legacy and Contemporary Capital Practice
Summary: This panel will discuss the extent to which contemporary capital punishment is influenced by, understood through, or reflective of the practice of American lynching.
Speakers:
David Oshinsky, University of Texas, Department of History
Rob Owen, University of Texas School of Law
Frank Zimring, University of California Berkeley, School of Law
Moderator: Justin Driver, University of Texas School of Law
10:45 – 12:00: Panel Four: Lynching and Contemporary Litigation
Summary: This panel will examine the continuing role of race discrimination in general and lynching in particular on contemporary American criminal justice, focusing on the significance of past lynchingpractices – as an integral part of community histories of racism – in contemporary capital litigation.
Speakers:
Maurie Levin, University of Texas School of Law
Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative
Christina Swarns, Director, Criminal Justice Project, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Moderator: Jim Marcus, University of Texas School of Law
Co-sponsored with the Capital Punishment Center.