Need a study break? Mitchell Hamline will be hosting a community event in the Auditorium on Saturday morning, April 27, from 10:00-noon, to hear from crime survivors, prosecutors and other leaders about sentence review and protection of victims’ rights, including:
- Jennifer Thompson, the victim of a rape who came to national attention when the man she identified as her attacker, Ronald Cotton, was exonerated with DNA evidence. Jennifer and Ronald partnered to advocate for improving eyewitness identification procedures. Thompson has since founded Healing Justice, a non-profit organization that advocates for prosecutors to meet the complex needs of crime victims in the exoneration process.
- Hillary Blout, an advocate in the non-profit organization For the People, which works with state legislators to advance and prosecutors to implement prosecutor-initiated (sometimes called “second look”) re-sentencing to correct inequities in the criminal legal system. Minnesota has recently become the sixth state to adopt such legislation.
- John Choi (Ramsey County Attorney) and Keith Ellison (Minnesota Attorney General) will also be there to address what their offices are doing in response to these national initiatives.
The panel will be followed at noon by a discussion for crime victims and their families with information about their rights, safety planning, and services.
In addition to attending, there are opportunities to help with this event. If you are interested in volunteering to help with the staffing and logistics on the morning of 4/27, please contact Professor Kate Kruse at kate.kruse@mitchellhamline.edu.