25th Anniversary of the Sentencing Reform Act
Sponsored by Congressional Black Caucus Community Re-Investment Taskforce and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice
Harvard Law School
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
4:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Ways and Means
1100 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C.
Welcome and Opening remarks by
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX)
Rep. Danny Davis (IL)
Rep. Charles Rangel (NY)
Welcome and Introduction of A.G. by CBC Justice & Civil Rights Task Force
Rep. John Conyers (MI)
Remarks by Eric Holder, Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
Introduction of Justice Breyer by
Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. Executive Director
Charles Hamilton Houston, Institute for Race & Justice
Harvard Law School
Remarks by Hon. Stephen Gerald Breyer
Supreme Court of the United States
Mandatory Minimums
Panel One: Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) History of Mandatory Minimums
- Nancy Gertner, Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
- Hon. J. Spencer Letts, Judge, U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- Eric Sterling, President, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.
Panel Two: Rep. Bobby Scott (VA) the need for repeal including legislative update
- A.J. Kramer, Federal Defender, Federal Public Defender of the District of Columbia
- Julie Stewart, President, Families Against Mandatory Minimums
- Marc Mauer, Executive Director, Sentencing Project
- Margaret Love, Former Pardon Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice
Disparity between Crack and Powder Cocaine
Panel Three: Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX)
- Hon. Reggie B. Walton, Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Hon. William Sessions, Vice Chairman, U.S. Sentencing Commission
- Bruce Nicholson, Legislative Counsel, American Bar Association
- David Kirby, Former United States Attorney for the District of Vermont
Good Time, Overcrowding and Community Corrections
Panel Four: Rep. Danny K. Davis (IL)
- Hon. Ann Aiken, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court of the District of Oregon
- Loretta S. Martin, Chief Probation Officer for the Central District of California
- Harley G. Lappin, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons (Discuss overcrowding)
- Jane Browing, Executive Director, International Community Corrections Association