Romania took hold of my heart in 2015 and since then has consumed my mind and soul. As with any genuine commitment, my relationship with this beautiful, complex country has grown and deepened over time as I have learned of its many tragedies, as well as its many triumphs. I have surrendered myself to Romania. [...] As I continue my Romanian journey, I marvel over the resiliency and fortitude of the people. I am fortunate to have developed close relationships, familial in many ways, with many Romanians. And I am eternally grateful to have been granted a Fulbright and honored to become part of this amazing community.
Crime Without Punishment
The annual conference of the European Society of Criminologists was held in Bucharest this year for the first time in the Society’s history. The University of Bucharest hosted more than 1500 participants from September 11 to 14. Fulbright Scholar Amy Gershenfeld Donnella, a lawyer who has spent more than 40 years representing people sentenced to death in the United States and who is teaching this semester at the law school, gave two presentations at the conference.
The first, entitled “Crime Without Punishment,” raised the question of whether, in light of fast-developing research that human behavior is tightly constrained by our biology and environment, punishment is either sensible or justifiable. The second, entitled “Those Who Know Killers, and the Way They’re Killed, Best,” provided a description of the little-known work done by post-conviction death penalty defense lawyers in the United States. The talk also served as an invitation to those throughout the criminology community to rely on lawyers who do this work as resources to provide insights into the lives and circumstances of this isolated, often despised group of people.