The Case Review Project: New Orleans District Attorney Civil Rights Division

The Case Review Project at Loyola is taking place in conjunction with the Civil Rights Division of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office (OPDA) and is led by JSRI Fellow, Attorney Bidish Sarma. The first year of the project was a huge success, with nearly 120 individuals resentenced to lesser terms of years or exonerated. The project received an additional year of funding for an interview project led by Loyola Associate Professor of Sociology, Dr. Marcus Kondkar, which will document the Division’s progress and study the re-entry of individuals released from prison through the Civil Rights Division. In this second year of the project, JSRI Fellow Bidish Sarma will continue to supervise paid Loyola undergraduate interns to compile case review information that will facilitate the sentence review process.

Justification: The Case Review Project is the embodiment of the Jesuit principle of a faith that does justice. JSRI Fellow, Bidish Sarma, is ensuring that the criminal legal system reform efforts of the past decade are applied to those still suffering the consequences of decades of “tough-on-crime” policies. What could be a more impactful way to “walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, in a mission of reconciliation and justice.?”