Veterans Law Practicum III

Catalog description

The Women's Decarceration Practicum will give students the opportunity to work with incarcerated women in the following contexts: (1) effective research, writing, and mitigation investigation for post-conviction relief efforts (clemency, parole, and/or 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)); (2) prison and reentry lawyering for incarcerated and recently released women's biopsychosocial health; and (3) policy briefing and testimony preparation for legislative education opportunities. Used here, decarceration means working to address the myriad ways people affected by the criminal justice system are and remain unfree. True decarceration recognizes that release from prison is a necessary but insufficient condition for each person--and society--to scale their healthful human capacity. Commensurately, women is used here to include the diversity and nuance of women's lived experiences; that is, to include trans-women, cis-women, and any person who identifies as woman, regardless of their state- or birth-assigned gender. Among other learning objectives, students will improve their client and witness interview skills, will learn how to incorporate storytelling in persuasive legal writing, will identify the nuanced and intersectional ways women experience the criminal punishment system, and will learn how to incorporate those experiences in legal advocacy.