May 25, 2021
Moving Justice Forward
Explore the impacts of the criminal legal system on individuals, communities, and American society.
The CJP has several key areas of focus, including police brutality and accountability, criminal law and immigration enforcement, pretrial detention and bail policy, collateral consequences of criminal convictions, youth justice and the family regulation system, restorative and transformative justice, and alternatives to policing and prosecution. Research undertaken by CJP faculty and staff help to inform criminal law and policy at both the national and local levels. The CJP also engages law students directly in research, policy advocacy, and legal advocacy in the fields of criminal law and youth justice.
Research
Faculty affiliated with UCLA Law’s Criminal Justice Program publish impactful scholarship on a wide range of issues, including qualified immunity, the criminalization of immigration, the collateral consequences of criminal convictions, comparative criminal law, fines and fees in the criminal system, Fourth Amendment law, policing, the impact of racial bias on charging and sentencing decisions, plea bargaining, juvenile justice, prison conditions, and much more.
Education
UCLA Law offers a full menu of criminal law courses. In addition to the first-year criminal law class, students have the opportunity to take core advanced courses like Evidence, Criminal Procedure—Investigations, and Criminal Procedure—Adjudications. UCLA Law also offers numerous courses in international and comparative criminal law, including Global Perspectives on Criminal Procedure, and International and Transnational Criminal Justice. There are also many specialty seminars to choose from, including Current Topics in Criminal Law, Suing the Police, The Eighth Amendment Punishments Clause, and Re-envisioning the Lawyer's Role: Trauma Informed Lawyering and Restorative/Transformative Justice.
UCLA Law also offers numerous experiential courses for students interested in criminal practice. Courses such as Criminal Trial Advocacy and Advanced Criminal Trial Advocacy teach valuable courtroom advocacy skills. In addition, students may represent clients under the supervision of experienced faculty in the following experiential courses:
Projects
Empowering Communities with Information
The Criminal Justice Program conducts research and data analysis, creates know-your-rights trainings and information, and provides technical assistance on a wide variety of issues in criminal justice.
COVID-19 and Criminal Justice
The Criminal Justice Program's initiatives during the COVID-19 crisis.
Resources to Reimagine Community Safety
A framework for sustainable change in jurisdictions that are investing in non-law enforcement responses.
Know Your Rights
Resources for public defenders and the families of those incarcerated to assist with representation of clients in pretrial detention.
Covid-19 Behind Bars Data Project
The Project tracks Covid-19 conditions in jails and prisons and the efforts to decrease prison populations and improve conditions.
Restorative Justice
Students learn how various communities are implementing the practices of restorative justice which views crime as a harm to individuals and society and focuses on repairing these harms through a cooperative process.
Youth Justice
Supporting the transformation of the juvenile justice and child welfare/family regulation systems.
Prison Law and Policy Program
The Prison Law and Policy Program is committed to examining the "back end" of the penal system.
Who We Are
- Core Faculty and Staff
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Affiliated Faculty
Norman Abrams
Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus
Acting Chancellor EmeritusCharles T. Anderson
Lecturer in LawPeter L. Arenella
Professor of Law EmeritusStuart Banner
Norman Abrams Distinguished Professor of LawPaul Bergman
Professor of Law EmeritusDevon W. Carbado
The Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of LawGeorge S. Cardona
Lecturer in LawBeth A. Colgan
Vice Dean of Faculty & Intellectual Life
Professor of LawJulie Cramer
Lecturer in LawKimberlé W. Crenshaw
Distinguished Professor of Law
Promise Institute Chair in Human RightsSharon Dolovich
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, UCLA Prison Law & Policy ProgramIngrid Eagly
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, Criminal Justice ProgramFanna Gamal
Binder Clinical Teaching FellowLaura E. Gómez
Professor of Law
Rachel F. Moran Endowed Chair in LawMark Greenberg
Michael H. Schill Endowed Chair in Law and Professor of PhilosophyMáximo Langer
David G. Price and Dallas P. Price Professor of Law
Director of the UCLA Transnational Program on Criminal JusticeAaron Littman
Binder Clinical Teaching FellowJennifer L. Mnookin
Dean, Ralph and Shirley Shapiro Professor of Law, and Faculty Co-Director, PULSE @ UCLA Law (Program on Understanding Law, Science & Evidence)Herbert Morris
Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law EmeritusSunita Patel
Assistant Professor of Law
Faculty Director, UCLA Veterans Legal ClinicJoanna C. Schwartz
Professor of LawLara Stemple
Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies and International Student Programs
Director, Health and Human Rights Law ProjectSherod Thaxton
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and PolicyEugene Volokh
Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law
Events
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Criminal Justice Law Review Annual Symposium
Whose Streets? Building Safe Communities For All--Fall 2020 Symposium Series
Sponsored by the Criminal Justice Law Review, the Criminal Justice Program, and the Center for the Study of Women. This series focused on emerging community-centered alternatives that are taking hold amidst calls to defund the police. During each webinar, a panel of scholars, policymakers, lawyers, and activists looked at an iconic neighborhood space--the street, the home, and the school--and explored the possibilities and legal obstacles to creating new forms of response to public safety incidents that are safe and effective for all.
Session 1: Street | Monday, October 19, 2020
In this first session, we examine to what extent neighborhood-driven safety models could replace the police's most visible activity—street-level patrols. Are there better ways to handle "quality of life" crimes than citations and arrests? What other institutions could enforce traffic safety violations? What changes are needed in legal regimes to allow for alternatives to take root? This panel brings together speakers to grapple with these questions.
Speakers:
Ronda Goldfein, Safehouse
Farhang Heydari, The Policing Project at NYU Law
Michael Saavedra, Formerly incarcerated Jailhouse lawyer and UCLA Underground Scholar
Professor Sunita Patel, UCLA School of Law, ModeratorThis activity is approved for 1 hour of general MCLE credit. UCLA School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider.
MCLE Readings:
- Pew Research Center, Majority of Public Favors Giving Civilians the Power to Sue Police Officers for Misconduct
- Benjamin Wallace Wells, Can Minneapolis Dismantle its Police Department?
Session 2: Home | Monday, October 26, 2020
Unpredictable, dangerous, and unfortunately common, incidents of intimate partner and family violence are frequently cited as an obstacle to reducing the police presence in a community. However, recent research by the CDC and others suggests that tough on crime approaches to intimate partner violence are less effective at reducing intimate partner violence than programs that provide early violence intervention, prenatal care, shelter, employment, free preschool, and even green spaces. Yet it is still difficult to imagine a safe alternative response to a dynamic situation where violence has been reported, and victims and intervenors may be in danger of immediate, serious harm. This panel brings together experts to discuss what is at stake and what alternatives can and will work.
Speakers:
Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager-Dove, California State Assembly
Mariah Monsanto, BYP100 She Safe, We Safe Campaign
Lisa Sangoi, Movement for Family Power
Dean Allison Korn, UCLA School of Law, ModeratorThis activity is approved for 1 hour of general MCLE credit. UCLA School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider.
MCLE Readings:
Session 3: School | Monday, November 2, 2020
A major focus of the movement to defund the police is the call for K-12 schools and universities to divest from police. Activists argue that police officers on school campuses do not contribute to safety and only serve to disrupt learning environments for students of color, exacerbating educational inequities and contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline. At the same time, proponents of school resource officers argue that in a heavily armed society, schools are no longer presumptively safe spaces, and police officers can be positive role models for students, their presence building trust and understanding between officers and young people. Rounding out our discussion on community-driven public safety, we examine current challenges activists face in the movement to divest from police in schools as well as proposed alternatives to officers in schools.
Speakers:
SA Smythe, Assistant Professor, UCLA, Gender Studies & African American Studies
sarah Djato, LAUSD high school student and member-leader of Students Deserve
Jason P. Nance, Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law
Professor Máximo Langer, UCLA School of Law, Moderator
Additional Speakers to be AnnouncedThis activity is approved for 1 hour of general MCLE credit. UCLA School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider.
MCLE Readings:
- Leadership for Educational Equity, Emerging Models for Police Presence in Schools,
- Institute for Policy Studies, Reimagining School Safety
- Abolish the UC, A Disorientation Guide
Previous Criminal Justice Law Review Symposia
Spring 2020 - Fees and Fines Policy in California: Current Research & Pathways to Change
2019 - Reimagining the Criminal Justice System
2018 - Bail Reform in California and Beyond
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Connecting Art & Law for Liberation
The first Connecting Art and Law for Liberation (CALL) Festival took place on April 12-14, 2019 and brought together visionary artists, activists, attorneys, advocates and legal scholars to share innovative, cutting-edge collaborations at the intersection of art and law. We committed to hosting this festival every other year and 2021’s festival took place over zoom and was “A CALL to Imagine Abolitionist Futures.” For more information visit the CALL Festival website.
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