MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Lori Sitler or Janice Fitzsimons
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Date: October 14, 2004BRADY TO PARTICIPATE IN ABA SYMPOSIUM ON JURY SYSTEM
(Wilmington, DE): On Friday, October 15, 2004, Attorney General Jane Brady will participate in the American Bar Association’s (ABA) National Symposium on the American Jury System at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, VA. The Symposium will be convened to discuss the consolidation and updating of the current ABA standards on the jury system. Judges, lawyers, academics, jury experts, court administrators, and bar leaders have been invited to help shape the ABA policy on issues central to the American jury system. The American Jury Project of the ABA has worked for the past several months on a comprehensive review, unification and updating of standards related to juries.
Attorney General Jane Brady will serve as the representative of the National Association of Attorneys General on the Advisory Committee to the Project. She will offer comment and provide perspective to the Project and oral testimony at the Symposium. The Project’s goal is to examine and formulate policy on various measures to enhance the jury experience for counsel, the courts and jurors themselves.
Brady said, “I am pleased to bring the prosecution and victim advocacy perspectives to the Symposium’s effort. I hope we establish new ways to assure fairness and quality for those who serve in this significant role citizens have in our democracy.”
Valerie Hans, Ph.D., a professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware and a noted scholar on the jury system, will also be in attendance at the Symposium. Hans commented, “The ABA conference offers a remarkable opportunity to develop sound standards for trial by jury. The conference will bring together judges, attorneys, policymakers, and jury scholars to discuss and debate the best practices for jury trials. I’m pleased that both Attorney General Brady and I will be able to contribute to this important effort.”
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