OSU Law Prof examines role of feminists in achieving justice for criminally accused women

Ohio State University Law Professor Joshua Dressler, one of the nation's most respected criminal law scholars, will question the role of feminists in achieving justice for women accused of criminal activities when he delivers the third Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Criminal Justice Forum of the school year. The event takes place on April 21 at 5 p.m., at the law school on East 18th Street and Euclid Avenue.

In his lecture, A Liberal Scholar’s Reflections on Feminist Criminal Law Reform Efforts: An Uneven Story, Professor Dressler will discuss efforts of some feminists, on the one hand, to broaden self-defense law, while, on the other hand, narrowing or abolishing the provocation defense. He will argue that, although reform in both areas may be appropriate, their efforts go too far: potentially justifying vengeance in self-defense cases, and yet denying legitimate claims for mitigation of provoked homicides.

This lecture is approved for one free hour of CLE credit.

Joshua Dressler is author of a widely used casebook, CASES AND MATERIALS ON CRIMINAL LAW (West 5th ed.: 2009). In recent years, he has examined the rights of women accused of crimes in lectures and in such articles as Battered Women, Sleeping Abusers: Some Reflections in the OHIO STATE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW (2006), Criminal Law, Moral Theory, and Feminism: Some Reflections on the Subject and on the Fun (and Value) of Courting Controversy in THE SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY LAW JOURNAL (2004), and Why Keep the Provocation Defense?: Some Reflections on a Difficult Subject, 86 MINNESOTA LAW REVIEW 959 (2002).

Professor Dressler is the Frank R. Strong Chair in Law at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. He is Editor-in-Chief of the four-volume ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CRIME AND JUSTICE (MacMillan 2002) and the primary creator of the OHIO STATE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW. Before joining the OSU faculty in 2001, he held the first Distinguished Professor and Scholar Chair at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where he was also honored with the University’s Eberhardt Teaching and Scholar Award. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Michigan, the University of California-UCLA, the University of California at Davis and the University of Iowa, and has also taught courses at the University of British Columbia, Seattle University, and University of Auckland in New Zealand. In 2007, he received the Distinguished Scholar Award from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. His undergraduate and law degrees are from UCLA.

For more information please call 216.687.6886.

About Cleveland State University

Founded in 1964, Cleveland State University is a public research institution that provides a dynamic setting for engaged learning. With an enrollment of more than 16,000 students, 8 colleges and more than 250 academic programs, CSU provides a hands-on learning environment that connects students, ideas and real-world experience. Visit www.csuohio.edu for more information.

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