Letter from the editor

• Author: Victoria T. Sheber
• Position: Editor-in-Chief
• Pages: 1367-1368

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Whether directly or indirectly, the American criminal legal system affects

every person living in the United States. How we choose to criminalize and

punish behavior speaks to what we value as a society and how far we are will-

ing to go to protect those values. The American Criminal Law Review is proud

to have been a predominant platform for the debates over how best to trans-

form and reimagine a criminal legal system that better reflects and protects our

shared values.

To that end, the American Criminal Law Review, in partnership with Fair and

Just Prosecution (“FJP”), is pleased to present the Volume 60 Symposium Issue,

Reform-Minded Prosecution. Prosecutors hold a tremendous, arguably the largest,

amount of power in the criminal legal system. A growing group of prosecutors is

choosing to use that power to reform, rather than re-entrench, criminal justice

norms. This Symposium and Issue aims to highlight and even challenge some of

those reforms. Through Articles and panels discussing the correction of past injus-

tices, prosecutorial discretion, pushback to reforms, and more, we wish to spur

innovative thinking and inspire students, practitioners, scholars, and activists to

create a more fair and just criminal legal system. In short, we believe criminal jus-

tice requires “taking a new step” and hope this Symposium and Issue inspire more

leaders to do so.

The editorial board and staff of Volume 60 owe a huge thanks to all who have

made this Symposium possible. Thank you to the authors, panelists, and guests

who attended the Symposium in October 2022. We are grateful to the Executive

Director, Miriam Krinsky, and the rest of the staff at Fair and Just Prosecution for

providing financial and intellectual support as we put together relevant and intrigu-

ing panels for our guests. We are additionally indebted to our faculty advisors,

Professors Michael R. Dreeben, Shon Hopwood, and Julie R. O’Sullivan, for their

continued guidance to our journal. We would also like to thank Claire Jenets,

Senior Symposium Editor, and Sephora D. Grey, Editor-in-Chief, of Volume 59

for their leadership in initiating this symposium. We want to express the sincerest

gratitude to Professors Justin Murray of New York Law School and Maybell

Romero of Tulane Law School for proposing a brilliant topic and guiding us for

over two years as we executed their initial vision. Lastly, but perhaps most impor-

tantly, we congratulate and thank Robert Cetrino, Senior Symposium Editor of

Volume 60, for his truly phenomenal work ethic and dedication to making this

Symposium and Issue the best it could be.

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