CALL FOR PAPERS
Barriers to Innocence: Identifying, Investigating, and Undoing Wrongful Convictions
Current Issues in Law, Policy, Practice, and Science
2023 RUTGERS UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW SYMPOSIUM
Co-Sponsored by the New Jersey Innocence Project at Rutgers University; the Rutgers Center on Criminal Justice, Youth Rights, and Race; and the Rutgers Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic
Rutgers University Law Review (“Law Review”); the New Jersey Innocence Project at Rutgers University; the Rutgers Center on Criminal Justice, Youth Rights, and Race; and the Rutgers Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic are pleased to announce that Law Review’s Volume 75 Symposium Issue will focus on recent legal and policy developments—and the need for changes to federal and state policy—related to wrongful convictions and, more specifically, claims of factual innocence. The Symposium, titled “Barriers to Innocence: Identifying, Investigating, and Undoing Wrongful Convictions,” will include an in-person conference, to be held at Rutgers Law School in Newark, NJ, in Spring 2023.
Among other issues, the Symposium will highlight and explore (1) substantive, procedural, and practical challenges on the federal and state levels to pursuing wrongful conviction claims; (2) the role of the media in identifying, investigating, and reporting cases of wrongful conviction, and collaborations among media, attorneys, and community advocates in this space; (3) the role and function of conviction integrity or review units; (4) challenges to discredited or unreliable science in cases of wrongful conviction and use of recent scientific advances in the courtroom; (5) the role of racial bias and racial disparities in giving rise to and perpetuating wrongful convictions; and (6) false confessions, particularly false confessions of youth, among other topics.
To that end, Law Review invites scholars in law, policy, ethics, social sciences, media studies, and the humanities; current and former prosecutors, defenders, and other practitioners; and people impacted by the criminal justice system to submit paper proposals for inclusion in the Symposium Issue of Volume 75. More information on the procedure for submissions and acceptances is provided below. Authors of papers accepted for publication will be invited to present their work at the Symposium conference.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Submission Procedure. Send your proposals by email, attached as a Word or PDF document, to Rutgers University Law Review at lawreview@law.rutgers.edu by December 2, 2022, 11:59 PM.
Proposals must include (i) your name and contact information; (ii) the title of the proposed article; (iii) a brief (one-page maximum) description of the article; and (iv) a current curriculum vitae. Authors may submit more than one proposal.
Notification. Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis, and authors who submit a proposal will be notified by December 23, 2022, if their proposal has been accepted.
Publication Opportunity. Final drafts of accepted articles must be submitted by April 14, 2023, 11:59 PM. Acceptance for publication of any paper, proposal, or response to a presenter is at the sole discretion of Rutgers University Law Review.
Presentation Opportunity. Authors selected for publication will be invited to present their papers at the Symposium conference on March 31, 2023. Articles need not be finalized to be selected as a participant in the Symposium.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Law Review by email at lawreview@law.rutgers.edu.