Prisoners of Politics: A Discussion with Prof. Rachel Barkow

The Notre Dame Law ACS Student Chapter and the Future Prosecuting Attorneys Council, are proud to host a conversation with Professor Rachel Barkow of NYU Law School. 

To attend this event, please click here to register. 

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Speaker Bio:

Rachel Barkow’s scholarship focuses on applying the lessons and theory of administrative and constitutional law to the administration of criminal justice. She has written more than 20 articles, is a co-author of one of the country’s leading criminal law casebooks, and is recognized as one of the country’s leading experts on criminal law and policy. Her book, Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration (Harvard/Belknap 2019), demonstrates the ways in which our current criminal justice policies undermine public safety and explains how we can get better outcomes by relying less on a flawed political process and instead making institutional changes that allow data and evidence to guide our choices while respecting important constitutional limits. She received the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award in 2013 and the Law School’s Podell Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007. In June 2013, the Senate confirmed her as a member of the United States Sentencing Commission. She has been a member of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel since 2010. In 2015, she co-founded a clemency resource center that obtained sentencing commutations for 96 people as part of President Obama’s clemency initiative. For her work on clemency with NYU students, she received the NYU Making A Difference Award, given to those who have made a profound and lasting impact for the better on the city, region, nation, or globe. After graduating from Northwestern University (BA ’93), Barkow attended Harvard Law School (’96), where she won the Sears Prize. She served as a law clerk to Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the DC Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia of the US Supreme Court. Barkow was an associate at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel in Washington, DC, before joining the NYU Law faculty.