Bernard Harcourt

Bernard E. Harcourt is a critical theorist and empirical researcher who writes in the area of crime and punishment. He is the Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology at the University of Chicago and the author most recently of " [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/198485.ctl Against Prediction: Profiling, Policing, and Punishing in an Actuarial Age] " (University of Chicago Press 2007). He has also written on broken-windows policing in his book " [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/HARILL.html Illusion of Order: The False Promise of Broken-Windows Policing] " (Harvard University Press 2001) and on youth gun carrying in " [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/167997.ctl Language of the Gun: Youth, Crime, and Public Policy] " (University of Chicago Press 2005). He also founded and edits a new critical journal called " [http://www.thecarceral.org/index2.html The Carceral Notebooks] ".

Education

Harcourt (born on January 28, 1963) was raised in New York City and attended the Lycée Français de New York. He earned his bachelor's degree in political theory at Princeton University studying under Sheldon S. Wolin. He then attended Harvard Law School where he earned his J.D. in 1989. He later returned to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies in political science, receiving his Ph.D. in June 2000. At Harvard, the chair of Harcourt’s dissertation committee was Seyla Benhabib, and he also studied extensively with Richard Tuck and Bonnie Honig.

Career

Harcourt clerked for the Honorable Charles S. Haight, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. From 1990 to 1994, Harcourt lived in Montgomery, Alabama and represented death row inmates on direct appeal, in state post-conviction, in federal habeas corpus, and at retrial. He practiced at the Equal Justice Initiative (formerly known as the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center) and continues to represent Alabama death row inmates pro bono.

Harcourt was appointed Senior Fellow in the Graduate Program at Harvard Law School from 1995 to 1997. During that time, he also served on human rights missions to South Africa and Guatemala. He then pursued Ph.D. studies in political theory in the Government Department at Harvard University.

Harcourt was on the law faculty of the University of Arizona College 1998 to 2002, with a courtesy appointment in the Philosophy Department. He was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School during the 2001-2002 academic year and at New York University School of Law in the Fall of 2002. He was appointed Julius Kreeger Professor of Law and Criminology at the University of Chicago Law School in 2007, where he has taught since 2003. He also serves as Director of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice.

Works

His writings focus on issues of crime and punishment from a critical empirical and social theoretic perspective. Harcourt has written extensively on the broken windows theory and on Giuliani-style policing. He published a book on the topic, "Illusion of Order", as well as several recent articles including [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=743284 “Broken Windows”] and [http://www.bernardharcourt.com/documents/marijuana-arrests.pdf “Reefer Madness”] .

"In Language of the Gun", Harcourt develops a post-structuralist theory of social science. He argues that social scientists need to embrace the ethical choices that they make when they interpret data. He argues for a more transparent and open discussion of those ethical choices, which, he argues, are embedded in the methodological and interpretive decisions that researchers necessarily make in the course of their research.

Harcourt addresses the issues of criminal and racial profiling, and more generally, the use of actuarial methods in crime and punishment in his newest book, "Against Prediction: Profiling, Policing, and Punishing in an Actuarial Age". He argues there that profiling is most likely counter-productive and ineffective, and distorts our notions of just punishment. He has also written about these topics in the "New York Times".

Harcourt is now conducting research on the relationship between prison and asylum populations in two new papers on the topic. He has also been guest blogging about the topic on the [http://volokh.com/posts/chain_1177998929.shtml Volokh Conspiracy] . Harcourt is also writing about the virtues of randomization in crime and punishment and has a new essay titled [http://ssrn.com/abstract=948774 “Post-Modern Meditations on Punishment.”]

External links

Personal website: [http://bernardharcourt.com/ http://bernardharcourt.com/]

Homepage at the University of Chicago Law School: [http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/harcourt/ http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/harcourt/]

University of Chicago Experts: [http://experts.uchicago.edu/experts.php?id=57 http://experts.uchicago.edu/experts.php?id=57]

Social Science Research Network: [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=141624 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=141624]

Books and Edited Volumes

2007. "Against Prediction: Punishing and Policing in an Actuarial Age". University of Chicago Press.

2006. "L'illusion de l'ordre: Incivilités et violences urbaines: tolérance zéro?" Éditions Descartes.

2005. "Language of the Gun: Youth, Crime, and Public Policy." University of Chicago Press.

2005 – 2006 (editor). "Carceral Notebooks", Vol. 1 -2.

2003 (editor). "Guns, Crime and Punishment in America". New York University Press.

2001. "Illusion of Order: The False Promise of Broken Windows Policing". Harvard University.