Putting the Story Before the Sentence
Explore how sentencing mitigation videos inform the decisions of judges and district attorneys in the criminal justice system.
Project Leads
Sharif Mowlabocus, Faculty of Arts & Science
Cheryl Bader, Clinical Associate Professor of Law
David Simpson, Fordham Law Criminal Defense Clinic
Project Description
Whether as a form of evidence, a means of giving testimony, or as a mechanism for informing the public, recorded video has been a mainstay of the US criminal justice system for over fifty years. Most recently, this medium has begun to be used by criminal defense attorneys during plea negotiations and sentencing conferences. Initially, sentencing mitigation videos were only available to those able to afford the cost of production, but public defenders in New York City have led the way in creating opportunities for their clients to benefit from these ‘social biographies’ in both pre- and post-conviction settings.
While there is a strong sense that these videos can play an important role in case resolutions and sentencing decisions, there is almost no evidence-based research that confirms this. Little is known about how Judges and prosecutors perceive and evaluate such videos, and even less is known about the effect that they have on those who participate in their production (including family members, community members and the individuals facing charges). This project sets out to address that lacunae and aims to identify both the primary and secondary effects of sentencing mitigation videos.
Achieving such a goal requires a multi-year, transdisciplinary approach; one that draws on expertise from the fields of Law, Psychology and Media and Cultural Studies. It requires a critical understanding of this visual form, a comparative analysis of sentencing decisions, and a social-psychological assessment of viewer engagement. It also requires genuine and sustained collaboration with key stakeholders in the criminal justice system including the NY Legal Aid Society, video producers (such as Courthouse Documentaries), Prosecutors and Judges. Finally, it requires a diverse set of methodological tools including surveys, interviews, textual analysis, workshops and archival research. Through such a process, this project will clarify the utility of this video form, and examine the affordances that social biography can offer key stakeholders in the criminal justice system.