Criminal justice reform has been a part of the mainstream national conversation for a decade or more, and has gained new urgency in the last several weeks with the nationwide protests in response to the death of George Floyd. Where previous years saw only halting and ambivalent progress on modest reform measures, more radical calls for defunding and abolition have suddenly entered the mainstream.
Because legal scholarship has been and will continue to be a vital guide to reform efforts in the months and years ahead, the Akron Law Review is seeking to publish an issue devoted to criminal justice reform. Topics may include, but are certainly not limited to:
Recent efforts in and new ideas regarding bail reform, pretrial detention and pretrial “services”, the use of proprietary algorithms to make decisions about pretrial release, and other uses of technology for “predictive policing.”
Exploring new and existing ways of holding police accountable, including changes to qualified immunity, obstruction of justice charges for turning off cameras, changing the burden of proof in federal civil rights actions against the police, and taking charging decisions away from local prosecutors.
Collateral consequences of conviction, easier or automatic expungement, and felon disenfranchisement.
Financial burdens from the criminal justice system including fines, court costs, late payment fees, privatized probation and pretrial services, etc.
“Abolition” of prisons and/or police and alternative ways of securing public safety, and how these might be implemented in our legal system. Do models of policing/public safety/criminal justice in other countries, or historical instances where police forces were disbanded and replaced, have anything to teach us?
Articles published by Akron Law Review average 15–25,000 words. Please email submissions and any questions to lawreview@uakron.edu. Articles submitted on or before September 15, 2020 will receive priority consideration. The submission window will close when the edition is full or on October 15, 2020.