An understanding of criminal justice is fundamental to any lawyer’s education. At UVA Law School, the nation’s leading criminal law faculty offer an in-depth array of courses on both the substantive criteria of guilt or innocence and the procedures used in the arrest, prosecution and punishment of offenders. Working under the auspices of the school’s Center for Criminal Justice, which serves as a hub for scholarship and activities involving criminal law, the faculty are engaged with research designed to help make a more just society.
Virginia students do not study criminal law only from a distance. They also enroll in clinics that offer hands-on involvement in juvenile justice, criminal prosecution or defense, and innocence cases. The Law School supplements its curriculum with a wide range of extracurricular activities dedicated to criminal law, including a journal devoted to criminal law and an active Innocence Project.
Collectively, these experiences lead Virginia graduates to coveted positions in the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program, in U.S. attorneys’ offices, and in district attorney and defense offices across the country.
Professor Josh Bowers introduced prospective students to UVA Law’s curricular, clinical and extracurricular opportunities in criminal justice. This session was part of UVA Law’s 2019 Admitted Students Open House.
Psychology and law, by their nature, are deeply entwined. Both are about human behavior – understanding it, modifying it, regulating it. Psychology’s...
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Like the federal government, states can apply their laws to people beyond their borders. Statutes can reach out-of-state conduct, such as fraud, that...
Psychology and law, by their nature, are deeply entwined. Both are about human behavior – understanding it, modifying it, regulating it. Psychology’s...
Noncarceral conviction is a common outcome of criminal court cases: for every individual incarcerated, there are approximately three who were recently...
Like the federal government, states can apply their laws to people beyond their borders. Statutes can reach out-of-state conduct, such as fraud, that...
This chapter examines several ways that the United States takes advantage of international law’s permissiveness and ambiguity to extend its criminal...
In this brief note I propose a condition called “conditional average monotonicity” that extends the average monotonicity condition from Frandsen et al...
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The following is a list of courses offered during 2024-26. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered, i.e., 2023-24 is coded (24), 2024-25 is coded (25) and 2025-26 is coded (26). (SC) stands for short course and (YR) stands for yearlong.
Cannabis Legalization (SC) (24) Computer Crime Law (24,25) Concepts in Policing: Challenges and Application (SC) (25,26) Corporate Criminal Investigations (26) Criminal Adjudication (24,25,26) Criminal Investigation (24,25,26) Criminal Law Colloquium (24,25,26) Criminal Procedure Survey (24,25,26) Criminology (24) Crimmigration Law: Law and Policy at the Intersection of Immigration Law and Criminal Justice (24) Critical Race Theory and Criminal Justice (25) Domestic Violence and the Law (SC) (26) Education Inside U.S. Prisons Seminar (24,25,26) Evolution of Holistic Defense (SC) (24,25,26) Federal Criminal Pretrial and Trial Practice (24,25) Federal Sentencing (SC) (24,26) Forensic Psychology in Criminal Proceedings (24) Global Business and International Corruption (SC) (24,25,26) Law and Inequality Colloquium (24,25) Law and Public Service (24,25,26) Law of the Police I: Rules, Rights and Regulation (25) New Research in Criminal Justice (25) Plea Bargaining (SC) (24) Political Prisoners (SC) (24,25) Practical Perspectives on Policing: Fair and Effective Policymaking by Law Enforcement (SC) (24) Public Law Colloquium (25,26) Race and Criminal Justice (24) Rethinking Criminal Justice (26) Second Amendment and Gun Violence Colloquium (25) The Great Writ (SC) (24,25) White-Collar Criminal Practice (SC) (26)
Professor Megan Stevenson of the University of Virginia School of Law has received a $610,000 grant to study the impact of incarceration on crime, including a survey of how extensive violent crime occurs within prisons.
Professor Anne Coughlin discusses the U.S. Supreme Court case Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, involving vagrancy law, for a mock class with admitted students.
The following is a list of courses offered during 2024-26. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered, i.e., 2023-24 is coded (24), 2024-25 is coded (25) and 2025-26 is coded (26). (SC) stands for short course and (YR) stands for yearlong.
Cannabis Legalization (SC) (24) Computer Crime Law (24,25) Concepts in Policing: Challenges and Application (SC) (25,26) Corporate Criminal Investigations (26) Criminal Adjudication (24,25,26) Criminal Investigation (24,25,26) Criminal Law Colloquium (24,25,26) Criminal Procedure Survey (24,25,26) Criminology (24) Crimmigration Law: Law and Policy at the Intersection of Immigration Law and Criminal Justice (24) Critical Race Theory and Criminal Justice (25) Domestic Violence and the Law (SC) (26) Education Inside U.S. Prisons Seminar (24,25,26) Evolution of Holistic Defense (SC) (24,25,26) Federal Criminal Pretrial and Trial Practice (24,25) Federal Sentencing (SC) (24,26) Forensic Psychology in Criminal Proceedings (24) Global Business and International Corruption (SC) (24,25,26) Law and Inequality Colloquium (24,25) Law and Public Service (24,25,26) Law of the Police I: Rules, Rights and Regulation (25) New Research in Criminal Justice (25) Plea Bargaining (SC) (24) Political Prisoners (SC) (24,25) Practical Perspectives on Policing: Fair and Effective Policymaking by Law Enforcement (SC) (24) Public Law Colloquium (25,26) Race and Criminal Justice (24) Rethinking Criminal Justice (26) Second Amendment and Gun Violence Colloquium (25) The Great Writ (SC) (24,25) White-Collar Criminal Practice (SC) (26)
Professor Megan Stevenson of the University of Virginia School of Law has received a $610,000 grant to study the impact of incarceration on crime, including a survey of how extensive violent crime occurs within prisons.
Professor Anne Coughlin discusses the U.S. Supreme Court case Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, involving vagrancy law, for a mock class with admitted students.
Students provide relief and legal support to people and communities that have been harmed by the criminalization of poverty and other forms of discrimination or deprivation of rights.
The semester-long Criminal Defense Clinic allows students to represent defendants in criminal cases in the local courts under the direct supervision of an experienced local criminal defense attorney. Students perform all of the lawyering functions associated with their cases, including interviews, investigation, research, negotiation and courtroom advocacy.
This clinic assists formerly incarcerated people with resolving the collateral consequences of arrests and convictions, and with creating sustainable and effective reforms in their communities.
The Federal Criminal Sentence Reduction Clinic works to reduce the sentences of indigent federal inmates and gives students a unique opportunity to practice in federal court.
Students represent youths on delinquency matters, as well as related school discipline and special education matters, in order to help keep youth in their homes, schools and communities with appropriate supports.
This clinic takes on collaborative projects with organizations interested in criminal justice reform, with the goal of producing supportive research and reliable data.
In this yearlong clinic, students work with prosecutors to try cases in local jurisdictions. Students explore a range of issues involved in the discharge of a prosecutor’s duties, including the exercise of discretion in the decision to initiate, prosecute, reduce or drop charges; interaction with defense counsel, investigative agencies and law enforcement personnel; and dealing with victims and other witnesses.
Messiah Johnson, a longtime client of the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia School of Law, will receive state compensation after being fully exonerated of a 1998 armed robbery conviction for which he served more than 20 years in prison.
This student-edited journal is one of only a handful at leading law schools focused on criminal law. The journal, which also sponsors legal symposia and conferences, publishes twice a year.
This pro bono student organization educates the Law School community about domestic violence and monitors domestic violence–related criminal justice proceedings in local jurisdictions. The project assists the commonwealth’s attorney offices of Charlottesville and of Albemarle County in their prosecution of these cases by interviewing victims of domestic violence. The group also organizes police ride-alongs and more.
Students assist clinic attorneys in evaluating claims of innocence by prisoners in Virginia and assessing the appropriate avenues of legal relief available.
Second-year University of Virginia School of Law student Katie Ahn discusses her pivot from labs to the law and what she’s learned and experienced firsthand during her externship in New York.
Dean Risa Goluboff and Juval Scott, federal public defender for the Western District of Virginia, discuss the value of public service and share their experiences at the 1L Public Service Kickoff. Noa Jett ’25, membership co-chair for the Public Interest Law Association, introduced Scott.
Professor Megan Stevenson of the University of Virginia School of Law explores the origins of risk assessment tools in a new co-authored paper, highlighting the role that eugenic criminology played in their inception and early years.
Clinics at the University of Virginia School of Law represented inmates seeking parole, helped tenants facing eviction and taught teens about state government, among other accomplishments in the past year.
New courses offered this fall at the University of Virginia School of Law include the AI and Legal Tools Lab, Roman Law of Obligations and The Current Supreme Court.
The University of Virginia School of Law’s donor-funded grant program and the student-run PILA+ program are together giving over $1 million to 171 students working in public interest roles this summer.
Pro Bono Award recipient Hayley Richbart, a 2026 University of Virginia School of Law graduate, shares her most meaningful public service work and her advice for students.
UVA Law professor John C. Harrison, former U.S. Pardon Attorney Margaret Love and Yale Law School professor Kate Stith-Cabranes discuss UVA Law professor Saikrishna Prakash’s new book, “The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History.” Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05 moderated the panel and Dean Leslie Kendrick ’06 introduced the event, which was sponsored by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.
A panel of experts explores the relationship between incarceration and race. The panelists are Jeffrey Abramowitz, CEO of the Petey Greene Program; Yusuf Dahl, CEO of The Century Promise; author Barbara Bradley Hagerty; and Marc Howard, a Georgetown University professor. UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Law, introduced the event, and Professor Gerard Robinson moderated the panel. The event was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Law.
Professors Deirdre Enright ’92 and Kelly Orians give admitted students an overview of criminal law and juvenile justice courses and programs at UVA Law.
Alec Karakatsanis, founder of Civil Rights Corps, delivered the keynote address for the eighth annual Shaping Justice conference, titled “(De)Criminalizing Poverty.”
Pro Bono Award recipient Hayley Richbart, a 2026 University of Virginia School of Law graduate, shares her most meaningful public service work and her advice for students.
Alec Karakatsanis, founder of Civil Rights Corps, delivered the keynote address for the eighth annual Shaping Justice conference, titled “(De)Criminalizing Poverty.”
Join the Domestic Violence Project in welcoming Palma Pustilnik from the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society and learn more about direct civil legal services and trauma-informed lawyering. Food will be provided.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
The Innocence Project’s annual Wrongful Conviction Day will feature client Messiah Johnson, who was fully exonerated and compensated by the commonwealth of Virginia for his 20 years of wrongful conviction. Food will be provided.
A lunch panel with attorneys from Akin’s Washington, D.C., office will discuss “White Collar and Congressional Investigations Practice at a Big Law Firm.”
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
In the third installment in Career Development’s “Real Deal” panel series, alumni will discuss their work, career paths and what it is like to represent indigent clients in the criminal justice system. Food provided with RSVP through Events tab in Symplicity by Sept. 11.
What is plaintiff-side law? Why would anyone do that? Why should you do that? These questions answered & more by PLAVA and speaker Chris Godshall-Bennett, an advocate for students’ right to protest. Godshall-Bennett has served as the advocate for Momodou Taal in his case challenging the Trump administration’s executive orders restricting speech.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
This moderated panel focuses on what it is like to work as a prosecutor or a public defender. Hear legal practitioners discuss why they chose to work in criminal law, the challenges they encounter in their work and their prosecutorial discretion.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
This will be an introductory meeting for 1L students to meet with Virginia Law Prison Project members and hear about the organization. Food will be provided.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
Come learn about how to get involved with the Innocence Project at UVA Law. Students can review potential client application, investigate real cases, organize resources for exonerated clients and work to advance policy to help support the wrongfully convicted. Food will be provided.
With the Resilience Education Program, law students teach incarcerated women and earn pro bono hours at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. The curriculum is pre-written and there are both in-person and remote teaching options available on a weekly schedule. Food will be provided.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
This event will explore how legal advocates, organizers and directly impacted communities work together — both inside the legal system and through grassroots organizing — to challenge mass incarceration. Join NLG for a discussion on the role of law in broader movements for justice and abolition. Food will be provided.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
Join NLG to speak with several formerly incarcerated people about their experiences on the inside, their lives since incarceration and the importance of carceral state abolition. RSVP required. Food will be provided.
This event is sponsored by a student organization.
UVA Law professor John C. Harrison, former U.S. Pardon Attorney Margaret Love and Yale Law School professor Kate Stith-Cabranes discuss UVA Law professor Saikrishna Prakash’s new book, “The Presidential Pardon: The Short Clause with a Long, Troubled History.” Professor Micah Schwartzman ’05 moderated the panel and Dean Leslie Kendrick ’06 introduced the event, which was sponsored by the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.
