Real-World Training
With eight criminal law clinics, myriad advanced courses in substantive and procedural criminal law, internship opportunities, and influential policymakers and practitioners regularly converging on Washington Square, students interested in a career in criminal law have unparalleled opportunities to get a tangible understanding of the specialty.
Criminal law at NYU is a rich discipline that begins with the first-year course in Criminal Law, which covers general principles of criminal responsibility. Top scholars who teach first-year Criminal Law include: Rachel Barkow, James Jacobs, Erin Murphy, Kim Taylor-Thompson, and Stephen Schulhofer.
Second-year students can take courses in evidence or criminal procedure. Most law schools have only one course in criminal procedure—at NYU, students can choose from four. Upper-level courses in substantive and procedural criminal law include Business Crime, Federal Criminal Law, and Juvenile Justice. And those interested in getting practical, hands-on training can take clinics such as Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic, which Dean Trevor Morrison recently described as “nothing short of life-changing” for students.
Our faculty are leaders in their fields, from capital punishment to the administration of law. They explore critical issues in meting out justice through centers such as the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, the Reiss Center on Law and Security, the Center for Research in Crime and Justice, and the Brennan Center for Justice.