ABA JUSTICE KENNEDY COMMISSION TO HEAR TESTIMONY
FROM LEADING TEXAS CRIMINAL JUSTICE EXPERTS AND OFFICIALS
DURING PUBLIC HEARING IN SAN ANTONIO

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004 – The American Bar Association Justice Kennedy Commission will hear testimony from some of Texas’s leading criminal justice and corrections experts during a public hearing in San Antonio on Friday, Feb. 6. The hearing will address topics such as drug sentencing, mandatory minimum sentences, prison conditions, parole and pardons issues, and the challenges former inmates face when attempting to reenter society. It will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel beginning at 9:00 a.m.

The Justice Kennedy Commission was formed in October 2003 by ABA President Dennis W. Archer, and was charged with addressing the "inadequacies - and the injustices - in our prison and correctional systems" identified by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in a speech to the ABA Annual Meeting in August.

Next week’s hearing, the first in Texas, follows a similar set of hearings held in Washington, D.C., in November. It will include testimony from:

• Sen. John Whitmire, chair of the Criminal Justice Committee of the Texas Senate;
• State Rep. Ray Allen;
• Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley;
• District Court Judge and Texas Sentencing Commission member John Creuzot;
• Bonita White, chief of probation for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
• Carl Reynolds, former general counsel of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
• Bryan Collier, chief of parole of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
• Douglas Dretke, head of corrections for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice;
• Gerald Garrett, former chair of the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole
• Ann Del Llano, ACLU advocate for sentencing reform;
• Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle; and
• Fred Cohen, editor of Corrections Law Reporter

For more information on the commission, visit the commission’s Web site at www.abanet.org/leadership/initiative/initiative4.html or contact Damien LaVera in ABA Media Relations at 202/662-1094.

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership association in the world. With more than 400,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.