LAW 7096 :
Villanova Sentencing Workshop

Prerequisite: Setencing and Punishment (LAW 7095) or the prerequisite may be waived with permission from the professor via e-mail. Correspondence must be forwarded to the VLS Registrar for Prerequisite Waiver before the end of the Add/Drop period. SPECIAL SCHEDULING: Two Workshop sessions (Thursday at noon through Saturday mid-day). February 3-5, 2022 and March 17-19, 2022(tentative) ATTENDANCE AND ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AT THESE SESSIONS IS MANDATORY. The Villanova Sentencing Workshop brings together students, sitting judges, criminal law practitioners, and others for two sessions during the Spring Semester to discuss sentencing policy through the lens of pre-screened, real cases.

The heart of the Workshop is the student-judge interaction, and discussion of real cases during two intensive multi-day sessions. Specifically, the workshop will include two sessions, each beginning on a Thursday at noon and ending mid-day on Saturday. The Workshop participants will include approximately 12 students, six trial judges, a prosecutor and a defense attorney, and other professionals. Each of the workshop sessions will resolve around actual cases submitted by the judges. Before each workshop session, the participants will read voluminous amounts of information on each case (often including source materials such as police reports and court transcripts), determine an appropriate sentence, and prepare a very brief sentencing memorandum explaining their sentencing decision. This sentencing information will be distributed to the other workshop participants in order to facilitate discussion of the cases. Most of the sessions will be devoted to discussing the cases and learning the factors that go into the sentencing decision. Meals (at which attendance is mandatory) are included during the Workshop.

In addition, the students will meet as a group with the instructor (without the judges and others) in regula