SSSP Law and Society Division
2022 Business Meeting Minutes
Friday, August 5, 2022
4:30pm - Bunker Hill 


Attendance:
Michael Branch
James Maddox


Agenda:
1. Welcome and introduction to the division
   1. Introducing in-coming chair: Dr. Catherine Hastings
   2. Introducing newsletter editor: Hannah Schwendeman

   2. Awards announcements
   1. Alfred R. Lindesmith Paper Award Winner: "The Right to Mobility: A Critical Examination of Citizenship, Territorial Expansion, and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States,” Nathalie Rita, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

      3. Soliciting ideas for the 2023 conference's Law and Society sessions
      1. Sole sessions (up to 3)
      1. One should be a thematic session
      2. Interested in keeping one roundtable session to encourage graduate student participation
      2. Co-sponsored sessions (up to 7)
      3. Ideas: 
      1. Family courts (processes, applied practices, bringing in practitioners) - could collaborate with a local non-profit in Philadelphia
      1. Family
      2. Youth, Aging, and the Life Course
      3. Sociology and Social Welfare 
      2. Gender, sexuality, and the law
      1. Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities
      2. Gender
      3. Legal need and access to justice in an unequal world [submitted by Catherine Hastings via email]
      1. The role of legal systems, structured inequalities and the structures of, for example, housing, disability, health and immigration on the production of legal problems/legal needs for marginalized populations
      2. How is access to justice limited/unequal for some? e.g. How individual capability, knowledge of and confidence in the law, trauma, human capital, socioeconomic status, distribution of legal and social/community services in rural areas (etc) contribute to unequal access to justice
      3. Applied focus on amelioration and transformation: the diagnosis of problems stemming from inequality, law and systems reform, development and evaluation of policy, models for service delivery

         4. Soliciting volunteers for sessions and committees
         1. Alfred R. Lindesmith Paper Award
         1. 2-3 person committee
         1. Graduate student participation encouraged
         2. Solicit committee members via business meeting, listserv, and newsletter
         2. Solicit papers in Fall via newsletter and listserv
         3. Papers submitted in January (CFP deadline)
         4. Review/decision by late spring
         5. Committee members should offer constructive feedback on the papers received
         2. Edwin H. Sutherland Book Award
         1. 2-3 person committee
         1. Solicit committee members via business meeting, listserv, and newsletter
         2. Solicit nominations in Fall via newsletter and listserv
         3. Review/decision by late spring
         4. Winner, runner-up, and honorable mention

            5. Soliciting volunteer for social media manager
            1. Will recruit through listserv and newsletter

               6. Elections
               1. Call for nominations for Vice Chair Elect (term to begin August 2023), with election to take place Fall 2022
               1. Will recruit through listserv, social media, and newsletter



                  7. Discussing the division's newsletter
                  1. Tabled for future discussion

                     8. Discussing the division's awards
                     1. Tabled for future discussion

                        9. Discussing future direction of the division and ways to get involved
                        1. Questions for division meeting – to inform the survey to members (in conjunction with Fall newsletter!)
                        1. What do you consider to be the primary purpose/s of the Law & Society Division of SSSP?
                        2. Why did you join the Division (i.e. what do you want to get out of your membership)?
                        3. What do you value most about your membership?
                        4. What types of activities would you like the Division to organize
                        1. During the year (in addition to those at the annual meeting)?
                        1. Virtual (e.g. via Zoom) or
                        2. In-person
                        2. As a workshop at the Annual Meeting in 2024?
                        2. Suggestion that Law and Society may need to consider consolidating with another division due to limited participation, difficulty recruiting new (vice) chairs, and minimal engagement with the division