Alternatives to prison subject of symposium

The University of Chicago Law School Roundtable will hold its third annual legal symposium on Friday, Jan. 20, and Saturday, Jan. 21. The symposium -- "Intermediate Punishments: Viable Alternatives to Prison?" -- will focus on alternatives to prison sentencing, including community service, intermediate sanctions and boot-camp-style prisons. The symposium is free and open to the public.

"The symposium will examine the range of alternatives between prison and probation in this country as well as in England and Canada. We've invited a variety of scholars, so there will be a voice for everyone interested in the issues of crime and punishment," said Jesse Ruiz, a third-year law student and Roundtable editor.

The Roundtable is a student-edited journal that addresses legal issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. This year's symposium will host scholars from the fields of criminology, law, public policy, economics and psychology.

Law School faculty members participating in the symposium are Albert Alschuler, the Wilson-Dickinson Professor; Locke Bowman III, Lecturer and Legal Director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the Law School; Richard Epstein, the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor; David Friedman, the John M. Olin Visiting Fellow in Law & Economics; Dan Kahan, Assistant Professor; Tracey Meares, Assistant Professor; Norval Morris, the Julius Kreeger Professor Emeritus; and Randolph Stone, Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic.

Guest presenters at the symposium will be Isaac Ehrlich, professor of economics at SUNY at Buffalo; Anthony Doob, professor of criminology and psychology at the University of Toronto; Shari Seidman Diamond, professor of psychology at the University of Illinois; George Mair of the Home Office Research and Planning Unit in London; Doris MacKenzie, associate professor of criminology at the University of Maryland; and Michael Tonry, professor of law and public policy at the University of Minnesota.

The conference will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, with a panel discussion and will continue on Saturday, Jan. 21, with sessions on intermediate punishments, community penalties, the debate over boot-camp prisons and the future of intermediate sanctions. All panel discussions will be held in the Law School.

The Roundtable will publish a journal containing comments and papers from the symposium in autumn 1995.

For more information, call 702-0223.