The 8th Annual Stephen D. Doyle Criminal Justice Symposium will take place on Monday, April 14 in McIntyre Rooms B and C.
This Symposium will address New Jersey’s abolition of the death penalty, and features speakers at 10:00 and 11:00 a.m.
At 10:00 a.m., Vanessa Potkin, Esq., of Innocence Project, and Mr. Byron Halsey, a N.J. Death Row exoneree will speak. Mr. Halsey served 19 years on New Jersey’s Death Row after being wrongfully convicted of murder. With the help of Innocence Project, Mr. Halsey was exonerated in 2007 after DNA evidence proved Mr. Halsey’s innocence, and established that the real killer was the state’s star witness. Innocence Project is Barry Scheck’s organization of legal volunteers who work to exonerate wrongfully convicted inmates through the use of DNA and other physical evidence.
At 11:00 a.m., Ed Martone of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty will speak about the philosophy and grassroots movement behind the abolition of New Jersey’s death penalty. In addition to being an integral part of the movement that ended capital punishment in our state, Mr. Martone is Director of Public Education and Policy for the New Jersey Association on Correction, and also serves as Chair of North Jersey Community Research Initiative (an HIV/AIDS service provider). Ed is the former Executive Director of the ACLU-NJ and a former Mayor and Councilman in North Arlington New Jersey.
All faculty are encouraged to bring their classes to this event, which is open to the public and sponsored by the Criminal Justice Department. For more information, please contact Kari Larsen at klarsen@spc.edu.
Saint Peter’s College is the Jesuit College of New Jersey. Founded in 1872, Saint Peter’s has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. The main campus is located in Jersey City. The College has a branch campus for adults in Englewood Cliffs, NJ and also offers courses at various corporate sites at the Jersey City waterfront and in South Amboy, NJ.