Prof. JaneAnne Murray Testifies Before the Minnesota Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on the Survivor Justice Act

Professor JaneAnne Murray, director of the Clemency Project Clinic, testified in support of the Survivor Justice Act, sponsored by Senator Clare Oumou Verbeten. The Act aims to encourage consideration of a criminal defendant's experience of domestic violence and sexual assault at sentencing, where this trauma was a contributing factor in their offense. Murray was asked if judges could consider these issues under the current sentencing landscape, and she replied that they can, but often they don't, partly because lawyers do not raise these arguments. The goal of the SJA, like the Veterans' Restorative Justice Act, is to encourage all parties in the criminal system to explore and take into account an individual's history of trauma in plea bargaining and in sentencing.