Valparaiso University School of Law's Indiana Supreme Court Lecture will feature a professor who's successfully worked to overturn dozens of capital murder cases and death row sentences involving poor people.

New York University School of Law professor and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala., Bryan A. Stevenson will deliver the lecture, "The Politics of Crime and Punishment: Rethinking Condemnation, Justice, and Mercy" at the 2010 Martin Luther King Celebration and Supreme Court Lecture Jan. 28. The 4 p.m. CST lecture in the Benson Classroom at the law school is free and open to the public.

Stevenson's lecture will examine the impact and legacy of mass incarceration and the political forces that have shaped it in contemporary criminal justice policy debates. He'll also discuss and evaluate the death penalty, life imprisonment without parole for children, three strikes policies, and other sentencing trends.

Stevenson has been recognized as one of the top public interest lawyers in the country, and his efforts to confront bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system has earned him dozens of national awards.