Friday, February 5,
9:00 am — 4:15 pm
Subotnick Center,
250 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn
About the Program
This Symposium will discuss the nature, ethics, and law of imposing punishment on collective entities. Does it make sense to impose blame on a group as a group, as opposed to its individual members? Even if blame is appropriate, how do we decide the proper form and amount of punishment? How do we even conceive of a group as having its own independent existence or identity? The answers to these questions have significant implications for the scope and enforcement of criminal law. Over the course of several panels, the Symposium will seek to derive broad general insights from various academic disciplines and will consider the practical legal applications of those findings. It will address the psychological processes that lead people to treat groups as having independent existence, and the moral and philosophical consequences of doing so. Later discussion will apply these lessons to the specific legal context of corporate crime.
About the David G. Trager Public Policy Symposium
This symposium is named for the Honorable David G. Trager, Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, who served with great distinction as Dean of Brooklyn Law School from 1983 to 1993. Judge Trager continues to be a dedicated member of the Brooklyn Law School family through his active role on the Board of Trustees and as a member of the adjunct faculty.
Previous Trager Symposia have included “Behind Closed Doors: Secret Justice in America” (April 2000), “Our New Federalism? National Authority and Local Autonomy in the War on Terror” (November 2003), and “End-of-Life Care: Bioethical Perspectives and Conflict Resolution” (February 2007).
About the Journal of Law and Policy
The Journal of Law and Policy is a scholarly journal of analysis and commentary whose mission is to promote the debate of law related issues and public policy through the publication of articles written by legal scholars, law students, and distinguished members of the legal and policymaking communities.
Symposium Co-Chairs
Brooklyn Law School Professors Michael T. Cahill and Miriam H. Baer have organized this symposium.