Creative Clinical Pedagogy in an Era of Mass Incarceration

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Session Type: AALS Programs

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Salon 5 and 8

Floor: Third Floor

In the current context of mass incarceration, clinicians and law students providing legal services to poor clients and marginalized communities must think critically about the impact of imprisonment and other carceral forms of punishment and how they contribute to systemic inequality. These conversations are particularly relevant given a recent wave of new efforts to reform the criminal system spreading across the country that may transform the legal world in which our students will practice. These efforts to reform and transform the system raise important, complicated questions about the efficacy of incarceration as a remedy for harm. The goal of this session is to explore the ways in which we can encourage students to apply a critical lens to their understanding of the role of incarceration and punishment in the administration of justice. This session is open to anyone teaching in the clinical setting, regardless of practice area, as we know that the consequences of incarceration are not limited to criminal law.
Our session will begin with a discussion on our teaching goals—what are the particular critiques of incarceration and its consequences that we want to encourage students to consider? We will then move on to a conversation about how those goals are reflected in our clinical pedagogy, including classroom teaching, case selection, and supervision.
We will then break into small groups to discuss the challenges that we experience or anticipate in implementing these teaching goals and brainstorm potential solutions. How do we navigate institutional pressures that might be counter to our goals? What resistance can we anticipate from students when raising these questions?
We will conclude with a group reflection on the outcome of our small group conversations and a return to our teaching goals for a final revision and conclusion.