THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN CONNECTICUT’S CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM: Lessons Learned from the International Justice Exchange
The Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy (IMRP) is embarking on a comprehensive educational initiative this Fall, featuring a series of panel discussions across various locations. These sessions will discuss the significant work of the International Justice Exchange (IJE), offering invaluable insights, reflections, and critical information. The panels will include quest speakers from both Norway and Germany.
Our Speakers
James Jeter
Full Citizen’s Coalition | Civic Allyship @Dwight Hall, Yale University
James Jeter recently worked as the Tow Foundation Fellow with the Yale Prison Education Initiative. He is a New Haven native who spent 20 years incarcerated at Cheshire Correctional Institution, where he completed 20 credited college courses with Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. James is currently enrolled at Trinity College and is the co-director of the Full Citizen’s Coalition to Unlock the Vote.
Michael Lawlor
Associate Professor, University of New Haven
Mike Lawlor is a nationally recognized expert on criminal justice reform which was a major focus of his 24 years as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives and as former Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s undersecretary for criminal justice policy and planning in the Office of Policy and Management.
Elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1986 representing East Haven’s 99th district, he chaired the House Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2011, taking a leadership role in a wide variety of criminal justice reforms, including a law that established rights for crime victims.
Lawlor authored the 1999 Connecticut Red Flag Gun law, the first state in the country to pass this law and now considered a national model for preventing mass shootings.
He was a founding board member of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, and he’s served on numerous national criminal justice reform commissions. He also led the push for legislation that made Connecticut the second state in the nation to pass a law allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions.
Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Wolf
Honorary Professor of Criminal Sciences (University of Tübingen)
Rüdiger Wulf was born in 1951. He studied law and criminology at the University of Tübingen. In 1978, he completed his doctorate there with an empirical doctoral thesis on the criminal careers of 141 prisoners serving life sentences. In 1979, he entered the higher judicial service of the state of Baden-Württemberg. He was a criminal judge at the Stuttgart Regional Court and a (juvenile) public prosecutor in Stuttgart. In 1983, he became a clerk, and later counsellor at the Ministry of Justice of Baden-Württemberg. There he was responsible for the supervision of prisons in Baden-Württemberg, for legislative procedures in the penal system and for reform projects in the penal system. He retired in 2017. Since 1985, he has been a lecturer at the Faculty of Law in Tübingen, where he has been an honorary professor of criminal sciences since 2008. He is also a member of the Gambling Research Centre at the University of Hohenheim and 22 the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Tübingen.
Per Sigurd Väge
International Advisor & Director | Kriminalomsorgsdirektoratet, Norway
Per Sigurd Våge is a director in the Correctional Service of Norway. Since graduating from law studies in 1984, he has been a professional practitioner in the governmental field of justice, in various roles as a prosecutor, judge, lawyer in the police, prison governor, and since 2001 the regional director in the Correctional Service. From 2019-21 he was stationed in the bilateral mission in Kyiv, Ukraine as an international expert in the Rule of Law, enhancing the Ukrainian probation service. In all leading roles of management, development, rule of law, and security he has been innovative and motivated to enhance the organization towards evidence-based methods and best practices. His priority and perspective have been strong on each individual person serving their sentences, in a measure of stability to the social contract of each government in office. Per Sigurd is a person with an optimistic and curious mindset in his professional and private life.
Andrew Clark
Director | Institute of Municipal and Regional Policy, UCONN
Mr. Clark works to facilitate efficient and effective solutions to critical issues facing Connecticut policymakers. The IMRP brings together a dedicated team of UConn faculty, staff, and students with state and national experts to provide immediate and long-range policy solutions.