2/25/03--The Boston College Law School chapter of the American Constitution Society will be hosting the last speaker in the ACS Death Penalty Series on Friday, February 28 at 12:30 p.m. in East Wing room 120. Professor Paul Marcus, who teaches at William & Mary School of Law in Williamsburg, VA, will be giving a presentation entitled "Death Penalty Prosecutions: Experience of Virginia Jurors."

The talk focuses on a few research projects in Virginia conducted by law students, under the supervision of Professor Marcus, in partnership with the capital resource center of the Cornell Law School. There will be a presentation and discussion on various questions the group encountered regarding jurors understanding of the system, and their reaction to evidence, lawyers, and instructions. Professor Marcus subsequently published an article on the subject in the Cornell Law Review (85 Cornell L. Rev. 627, 2000, with Garvey and Johnson), titled "Correcting Deadly Confusion: Responding to Jury Inquiries in Capital Cases."

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) is a national organization of law students, law professors, practicing lawyers and others. ACS wants to help revitalize and transform the legal debate, from law school classrooms to federal courtrooms, and to counter the dominant vision of American law today—what they consider to be a narrow, conservative vision that lacks appropriate regard for the ways in which the law affects people's lives. ACS seeks to restore the fundamental principles of respect for human dignity, protection of individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, and access to justice to their rightful—and traditionally central—place in American law.