"The New York Death Penalty in Context" has been planned to stimulate and enrich dialogue about capital punishment and its implementation among lawyers, legislators and the general public.

Organizers note that this dialogue has been markedly absent in New York, pointing out that the death penalty bill passed the state legislature last spring with little debate. They add that district attorneys in the most densely populated counties of New York have voiced dissatisfaction with the new death penalty law, which went into effect on Sept. 1, 1995, and that prosecutors throughout the state have been less than eager to apply the new statute.

Participating in the day-long conference will be some of the nation's leading experts on capital punishment, as well as Erie County District Attorney Kevin Dillon.

Topics to be discussed will include problems in implementing the death penalty, the likely impact of New York's new death penalty law, the responsibility of jurors and miscarriages of justice in death cases, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court's death penalty decisions and recent efforts to reform federal courts' review of state death sentences.

The registration fee of $50 ($25 for UB faculty and students) includes breakfast, coffee breaks, lunch and conference materials. Registration deadline is Feb. 12.

For more information about the conference, call Professor Markus Dubber, 645-2101/6213 (phone), 645-2064 (fax), or dubber@acsu.buffalo.edu (e-mail).