By Nancy Gertner and Judith Resnik | Sept 3, 2013 | The Boston Globe

Just as Attorney General Eric Holder was rightly decrying the impact of onerous drug sentences for low-level, nonviolent offenders this summer, the federal Bureau of Prisons began to implement plans that would dramatically increase the burdens of imprisonment on women inmates. The sole federal prison for women in the Northeast — a facility for 1,100 in Danbury, Conn. — is scheduled to be converted into an institution for men, and many of the female prisoners will be transferred to rural Alabama, making family visits virtually impossible.

Only 200 beds for women will remain in Danbury, attached in a lower-security camp — far too few to hold the roughly 900 women from the Northeast who receive federal prison sentences each year.

Read the Full Piece at BOSTONGLOBE.COM.

Writing on WBUR’s “Cognoscenti” blog, retired judge, Harvard Law Professor, and CLBB faculty member Nancy Gertner warns of the difficulty—and importance—of finding an impartial jury for the high-profile Whitey Bulger trial.

Jury selection for the trial began this week in Boston; opening statements from prosecutors and defense are expected Wednesday, June 10.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper told a first pool of 225 potential jurors that they would not be excluded simply for having heard or read something about the case—restrictions that would be very difficult to meet given what Gertner calls the “saturation publicity” the case has received. Rather, the court will look for jurors they believe capable of putting aside what they’ve heard and relying on what they learn in the courtroom. Two additional pools of 225 potential jurors were also to be brought in, and all were to fill out lengthy questionnaires; a selection will also be questioned individually. Twelve regular jurors and six alternates will be chosen.

Writing for WBUR, Gertner emphasized the importance of private, rather than group questioning.

“The only technique in our arsenal,” Gertner writes, “is to ask individual questions of individual jurors as if you really want to know the answer, under circumstances maximizing their candor. What do you know of the case? How closely have you followed it? What have you read? What details do you remember?”

Bulger, the reputed former leader of the Winter Hill Gang, is accused of a long list of crimes, including participating in 19 killings. Authorities say he committed the crimes while he was an FBI informant. Now 83, Bulger became one of the nation’s most wanted, and most notorious, fugitives after fleeing Boston in 1994. He was captured in Santa Monica, California, in 2011.

Gertner also joined WBUR’s “Morning Edition” to discuss the “extraordinarily difficult process” of vetting potential jurors. Listen below.

As Boston recovers from the bombing of the Boston Marathon, the dramatic pursuit of suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and the ultimate capture of the younger brother, Dzhokhar, the next chapter of the story — its legal handling — is only beginning.

Former Federal Judge, current Harvard Law Professor, and CLBB faculty member Nancy Gertner joined fellow Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on Radio Boston to discuss some of the most pressing issues in the case, including how to ensure a fair trial, whether the death penalty will be sought, and Dzhokhar’s Miranda Rights.

View the criminal complaint and a read a transcript of the legal proceedings from Tuesday’s initial appearance of Tsarnaev before the Court at Radio Boston.

On January 31, 2013, CLBB hosted an evening event at Harvard Medical School on the changing science of memory and its implications for the court. Experts in the neuroscience of memory distortion, post-traumatic stress, and the laws of evidence discussed the complicated use of memory in the courtroom. Speakers included Harvard Professor of Psychology and best-selling author of The Seven Sins of Memory, Daniel Schacter, PhD; Harvard Medical School Professor and PTSD expert, Roger Pitman, MD; and Harvard Law School Professor and Retired US District Judge, Judge Nancy Gertner. Award winning investigative journalist Dick Lehr introduced the event with a story he had covered for the Globe about a wrongful conviction due to eye-witness misidentification.  CLBB co-director Judith Edersheim moderated an interdisciplinary panel discussion following remarks from each speaker, followed by audience Q&A.

Watch the individual presentations and panel discussion below, or visit our “Memory in the Courtroom” channel at Vimeo.com.

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