Daniel S. Medwed

The fourth event in Northeastern’s year­long edu­ca­tional series on civic sus­tain­ability last Wednesday focused on sus­pect moti­va­tion, the impor­tance of resilience, and the role of social media.

“Bar­riers to infor­ma­tion and the prospect of a harsher sen­tence can lead the inno­cent to plead guilty,” according to law pro­fessor Daniel Medwed, who deliv­ered the 49th annual Robert D. Klein Lecture.

Monday marks the 50th anniver­sary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s his­toric ruling that indi­gent crim­inal defen­dants have a con­sti­tu­tional right to a court-​​appointed lawyer. But this fair trail right is viewed as more aspi­ra­tional than oper­a­tional, according to law pro­fessor Daniel Medwed.

We asked experts in law, psy­chology, and crim­i­nology to examine last Friday’s Sandy Hook Ele­men­tary School shooting in Con­necticut that claimed the lives of 20 chil­dren and seven adults.