Wrongful Convictions and the American Criminal Justice System

I’ve been putting a lot of effort into a major writing project this week, in addition to preparing for the course I will teach this semester.  Thinking back, I don’t think I left the apartment on Wednesday.  All of Wednesday and most of Thursday morning were spent in writing.  It is hard for me to get on a roll with research/writing projects, but when I do I really enjoy it.

On Thursday afternoon I had a meeting with my department head at the university to discuss my course.  I like her a lot, and we ended up having coffee with another professor from the department, chatting about the similarities and differences between the American and European approaches to constitutional law.  Thursday evening, I met the other Fulbright lecturer in Bulgaria this semester for dinner.  She is teaching journalism at the American University in Blagoevgrad and was in Sofia for a lecture on social media.

Friday morning I wrote a bit more, and then shifted gears back to final preparations for my first course meeting.  In the afternoon I went to the university to meet with the students in the Erasmus program, a European exchange program.  They are each spending a year away from their home institutions at Sofia University, studying in the law department here.

This is where I work. 

Late in the afternoon, I had my first class meeting.  The title of my course is Wrongful Convictions and the American Criminal Justice System.  Since most of the SU students have limited formal exposure to the American legal system, the first part of the course will be an introduction to our criminal justice system.  We will then look at the phenomenon of wrongful convictions, and the causes that have been identified.  Finally, we will discuss the exoneration process and systemic reform. 

While I have a definite content agenda, I also think that we will spend a fair bit of time discussing more general issues related to the American legal and governmental system.  I think these additional discussions are very worthwhile in that they further the Fulbright mission of cultural exchange and engagement.  Since I have a limited knowledge of the Bulgarian system, I am also looking forward to the students providing some comparative element to our discussions.  My students range from first year law undergrads to fourth and fifth year students, and seem very bright and engaged. 

I like my students, and I like my faculty colleagues.   It should be a fun semester.