Marquette University Law School is hosting a conversation on district attorneys in Eckstein Hall’s Lubar Center on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 12:15 p.m.
Join for a presentation of some of the latest reserach from Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick, who directs the Prosecutors and Politics Project at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Hessick will be followed by comments from three distinguished Wisconsin prosecutors: John Chisholm, district attorney in Milwaukee County; Christian Gossett, former district attorney in Winnebago County; and Theresa Wetzsteon, district attorney in Marathon County.
Michael O’Hear, professor of law at Marquette, will introduce and moderate the conversation.
The event is complimentary; however, registration is required online.
District attorneys are lawyers, but, in Wisconsin and most other states, they are also elected officials, which can give a political character to their role. In recent years, the political dimension of prosecution has received greater attention in a few big cities with the advent of the “progressive prosecutor” phenomenon. But more generally, how do politics intersect with prosecution? The question is of undoubted importance, given the central role of the prosecutor in the American criminal justice system.
Recent reports by the project have focused on such topics as campaign contributions in prosecutor elections, lobbying by prosecutors and electoral challenges to incumbent prosecutors.
