Crime, Punishment and State Power from America Unfinished: 250 Years of Law and Governance

Rule of law in the criminal process has long been elusive for the powerless, but until recently it has functioned relatively well for the privileged. This webinar is inspired by Alexandra Natapoff’s essay “American Criminal Law: From Inequality to Impunity,” in which she argues that elite criminal institutions such as DOJ are devolving in ways that mirror the unprincipled workings of the rest of the criminal process. Webinar participants will explore the criminal governance infrastructure and the current as well as perennial challenges that it poses to an egalitarian democracy.

Moderator
Valena Beety, Chair of Criminal Law Section, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Speakers
Alexandra Natapoff, Harvard Law School
Tracey Meares, Yale Law School

Register for this Zoom event.

This event is part of a series from The Association of American Law Schools on foundational themes explored in the book America Unfinished: 250 Years of Law and Governance (MIT Press, 2026). Edited by Alexandra Natapoff (Lee S. Kreindler Professor of Law) and Guy-Uriel Charles (Charles Ogletree, Jr. Professor of Law), the book assembles short essays from over 60 members of the Harvard Law School faculty, written from the perspectives of their many diverse fields, analyzing the issues facing our country’s bold experiment in democratic governance at this important milestone in American history.