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Carol Steiker

  • District attorneys discuss Vera Institute findings on racial disparity in criminal cases (video)

    December 8, 2014

    Addressing racial disparities in criminal prosecutions was the focus of discussion at Harvard Law School on Nov. 20 at an event sponsored by the new Criminal Justice Program of Study, Research and Advocacy at Harvard Law School.

  • Federal judge rules California death penalty unconstitutional

    July 22, 2014

    In an indictment of California's death penalty, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that decades-long delays and uncertainty about whether condemned inmates will ever be executed violate the constitution's ban on cruel or unusual punishment…Carol Steiker, a criminal law professor at Harvard Law School and an expert on the death penalty, described Carney's decision as "stunning" and "path-breaking." "That's a ruling of tremendous breadth," she said. "We haven't seen very many rulings from the federal courts declaring a whole state's system unconstitutional. That's quite stunning."

  • A Pre-eminent Influence

    July 1, 2013

    When Harvard Law Professor Daniel Meltzer ’75 was named director of the American Law Institute in January, he joined a long line of members of the HLS community who have helped shape the direction of the law from inside the ALI.

  • “Henry Friendly: Greatest Judge of His Era.”

    A conversation on the legal legacy of Judge Henry Friendly (video)

    November 26, 2012

    On Wednesday, Nov. 14, a panel of distinguished judges and professors gathered with author David Dorsen '59 to discuss and celebrate his recent biography, entitled “Henry Friendly: Greatest Judge of His Era.”

  • Carol Steiker, Anne Holton and Tim Kaine

    Work-life balance: a conversation with Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, First Lady Anne Holton

    March 22, 2012

    On March 6, the husband and wife team of former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine ’83 and First Lady Anne Holton ‘83 gave a talk at Harvard Law School on how to construct a long-term public service career that is able to change and evolve and is meaningful, fun and that allows room for family, friendship, and community involvement.

  • Professor Carol Steiker '86

    Steiker in The New Republic: Death Penalty Opponents Are Closer to Goal Than They Realize

    September 27, 2011

    An essay, Why Death Penalty Opponents Are Closer to Their Goal Than They Realize, by HLS Professor Carol Steiker ’86, appeared in the Sept. 27 edition of The New Republic. The essay focuses on the decline of the death penalty in practice, politics and law, and how the present moment brings the genuine possibility of permanent abolition via judicial decision.

  • Professor Carol Steiker '86

    Steiker in New Republic: Don’t Blame Perry for Texas’s Execution Addiction

    September 2, 2011

    An essay,  "Don't Blame Perry for Texas's Execution Addiction. He Doesn't Have Much To Do With It," by HLS Professor Carol Steiker ’86 and her brother, Professor Jordan Steiker '88 of the University of Texas School of Law appeared in the Sept. 2 edition of The New Republic. The essay focuses on the relationship between Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry and Texas's standing as the execution capital of the United States.

  • Professor Carol Steiker '86

    Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appoints Steiker to the Committee for Public Counsel Services

    April 27, 2011

    Harvard Law School Professor Carol Steiker ’86 has been appointed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to a three-year term on the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). The 15-member committee oversees the statewide provision of public defense services and other legal representation for indigent persons in criminal and civil court cases and proceedings in Massachusetts.

  • HLS Professor Carol Steiker ’86

    Steiker discusses the invisibility of race in capital punishment

    November 12, 2010

    The history of the death penalty in America has been racially inflected, yet the death penalty reforms and regulations that have taken place over the past 40 years have given very little mention to race. That was the core message delivered by Harvard Law School professor Carol Steiker in a talk sponsored by the Harvard Law School American Constitutional Society.

  • Professor Carol Steiker '86

    Steiker in The National Law Journal: Kagan and the legacy of Marshall

    July 26, 2010

    HLS Professor Carol Steiker wrote an op-ed in The National Law Journal on former HLS Dean Elena Kagan and the legacy of Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall. Steiker, the Howard and Kathy Aibel Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, served as a co-clerk with Kagan for Justice Marshall during the 1987-1988 term of the Supreme Court. Her op-ed, "Kagan and the legacy of Marshall," appeared in the July 26, 2010, edition of the Journal.

  • “Here, Have a Seat”

    July 1, 2008

    Often, there’s a bond between the donor of a new chair and the scholar who occupies it.

  • Steiker, taking Aibel chair, explores the quality of mercy

    April 3, 2008

    Professor Carol Steiker ’86 formally took the Howard J. and Katherine W. Aibel Professorship of Law in a Langdell Hall ceremony yesterday, and celebrated the occasion with a lecture exploring the role of mercy in the criminal justice system.

  • The Supreme Court

    HLS team wins in three Supreme Court decisions

    April 30, 2007

    Harvard Law School Professor Carol Steiker ’86, several students, and two HLS alumni celebrated a supreme victory on April 25 when the high court ruled that death sentences in three cases from Texas should be overturned. Steiker and several of her research assistants contributed to the defense of three individuals on death row, along with Jordan Steiker ’88 and Robert Owen ’89, co-directors of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law’s Capital Punishment Clinic.

  • “Oyez! Oyez!—Oy Vey…”

    April 1, 2007

    Professor Carol Steiker ’86 helped persuade the Court to overturn a trio of Texas death sentences in April, convincing the justices that jurors weren’t given the opportunity to take mitigating evidence into account.

  • Recent Faculty Books – Spring 2007

    April 1, 2007

    “Criminal Procedure Stories” (Foundation Press, 2006), edited by Professor Carol Steiker ’86, presents the stories behind the major Supreme Court rulings that have shaped criminal procedure.

  • Professor Carol Steiker ’86

    Who lives and who dies?

    July 1, 2006

    “Stay in role!” exhorts Professor Carol Steiker ’86, as some 90 students in her upper-level course Capital Punishment in America split into groups for an exercise in which they’ll argue whether a death sentence should be reversed due to ineffective assistance of counsel. “Don’t say, ‘If I were the lawyer, I would … ’”

  • At Home Abroad

    April 24, 2003

    HLS faculty and students look to other countries to better people's lives and increase their own understanding of the world of law.

  • Teaching Lessons

    July 1, 2002

    Guided by their professors, students find HLS a training ground for academic careers.

  • Public Interest Auction a Sight to Behold

    July 1, 2001

    “Bid, Justin, bid!” the crowd chanted. In the end, Justin Lerer ’02 did just that, bidding $1,800 on dinner and a poker game for four,…