HOUSTON, Aug. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson is stepping down as director of the University of Houston Legislation Center’s Felony Justice Institute. Guerra Thompson has been succeeded by Affiliate Professor of Regulation and Political Science Zachary D. Kaufman and Affiliate Professor David Kwok, who serve as co-directors.
“I thank Professor Guerra Thompson for her management and 18 yrs of support as director of the Institute,” said Dean Leonard M. Baynes. “Her difficult work and efforts elevated the Institute to its high level of prominence now.
“Less than Professor Kwok and Professor Kaufman’s leadership and developing on Professor Guerra Thompson’s accomplishments, I am self-assured that the UH Regulation Centre Felony Justice Institute will achieve extra degrees of prominence and gravitas.”
Guerra Thompson, the Newell H. Blakely Professor of Law, teaches Legal Evidence, Felony Law, Evidence, and Sizzling Topics in Prison Legislation and Technique. Her study on crime labs culminated in a 2015 reserve, “Cops in Lab Coats: Curbing Wrongful Convictions as a result of Independent Forensic Laboratories.” The guide was referenced in September 2016 by the President’s Council on Advisors on Science and Technology, an advisory council proven by then-President Barack Obama. In 2017, she testified at a Congressional hearing on the long run of forensic science.
Guerra Thompson also served as a founding member of the Board of Administrators of the Houston Forensic Science Centre from 2012 to 2019. The Houston Forensic Science Middle, founded by the city of Houston in 2014 to exchange the Houston Police Office Criminal offense Lab, instituted a vast blind proficiency screening software, earning the lab around the world recognition for its excellent assurance program. The lab is also exclusive in getting been eliminated from the handle of a law enforcement office. Below new course, the lab carried out more productive procedures that have eradicated backlogs in DNA work on sexual assault kits.
Since 2019, Guerra Thompson has been an elected council member for the Intercontinental Affiliation of Evidence Science. In Oct 2020, she was the recipient of the Mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Training in the Local community Award, and Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed Sept. 15, 2020, as Sandra Guerra Thompson Working day. Guerra Thompson is also the deputy observe for the federal consent decree in the O’Donnell v. Harris County settlement, which has remodeled Harris County’s misdemeanor bail procedure. She is also the monitor for the Lomas v. Harris County consent decree pertaining to the integrity of the felony charging process.
“For so extended, the Prison Justice Institute has introduced national awareness to the UH Law Center by way of fantastic felony law conferences, symposia, and clinics,” Guerra Thompson reported. “Now Professors Kaufman and Kwok, two nationally-regarded students, will provide new views from their specializations in worldwide prison regulation and white-collar crime, respectively. I could not be happier to depart the CJI in their capable palms as we begin the subsequent chapter of the Institute’s historical past.”
Kaufman joined the Legislation Center’s school in 2019. He writes and teaches in the regions of prison regulation, global regulation, and worldwide justice and atrocities. He is a daily life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves as both co-chair of the American Culture of Global Law’s Human Legal rights Interest Group and secretary (and foreseeable future chair) of the Affiliation of American Law Schools’ Intercontinental Human Legal rights Portion. In addition, he serves on Genocide Watch’s Advisory Board and is a member of equally the Intercontinental Association of Genocide Scholars and the International Network of Genocide Scholars.
Kaufman’s considerable experience in domestic and intercontinental legal justice includes doing work on felony law issues though serving as a U.S. Supreme Court Fellow, specializing in felony legislation challenges though clerking for a choose on the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Initially Circuit, serving in the U.S. Division of Justice’s Criminal Division, performing for the U.S. Senate International Relations Committee on worldwide felony justice challenges, serving at 3 international legal tribunals (including as the to start with American to serve at the International Felony Court docket), and doing the job professional bono on a loss of life penalty situation whilst practising at a law organization.
Kwok, who holds the George Butler Study Professorship, teaches and writes in the regions of white collar criminal offense, whistleblowers, public policy, and regulation and the social sciences. He joined the Regulation Heart school in 2013.
“I am honored to be the new co-director of the Legal Justice Institute,” Kaufman claimed. “It is a testomony to Professor Guerra Thompson’s knowledge and success that it will take two persons to stick to in her major, bold footsteps. I very a lot appear forward to partnering with Professor Kwok to construct on Professor Guerra Thompson’s visionary work as we even more greatly enhance the follow of prison regulation at the local, countrywide, and global concentrations.”
“It is a privilege to take on this new position with the Felony Justice Institute,” included Kwok. “Under Professor Guerra Thompson’s management, CJI has helped deploy tutorial experience during Houston and over and above. I hope to continue on this legacy of compassion, fairness, and excellence in pursuing these beliefs of criminal justice.”
UHLC media contacts: Carrie Anna Criado, UH Regulation Heart Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing and advertising, 713-743-2184, [email protected] Elena Hawthorne, Assistant Director of Communications and Advertising, 713-743-1125, [email protected] and John Brannen, Media Relations Rep, 713-743-3055, [email protected].
About the University of Houston Law Centre
The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is a dynamic, major tier legislation university located in the nation’s 4th major town. UHLC’s Wellbeing Law, Mental Home Regulation rank in the U.S. Information Top rated 10. It awards Medical professional of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Grasp of Regulations (LL.M.) levels, as a result of its academic department, the College of Regulation. The Regulation Centre is more than just a law college. It is a strong hub of intellectual exercise with extra than 11 facilities and institutes which gasoline its academic mission and countrywide track record. UHLC is absolutely accredited by the American Bar Affiliation and is a member of the Affiliation of American Regulation Schools.
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Source University of Houston Legislation Heart