Michelle Madden Dempsey
Professor of Law
Harold Reuschlein Scholar Chair
Biography
Michelle Madden Dempsey joined 无码专区 in 2009, after teaching at the University of Oxford, where she was a University Lecturer (CUF) in Law and Tutorial Fellow. Dempsey teaches and writes in the areas of criminal law, feminist legal theory, and philosophy of law.聽She has served as chair of the American Association of Law School鈥檚 Section on Scholarship and Section on Jurisprudence. She is an elected member of the聽听补苍诲 a聽.
Her book, Prosecuting聽Domestic Violence: A Philosophical Analysis, published by Oxford University Press, was awarded second prize in the UK鈥檚 Society of Legal Scholars Peter Birks Award for Outstanding Legal Scholarship.聽Her articles have been published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies,聽Modern Law Review,聽Ethics, Criminal Law & Philosophy,聽Criminal Law Review (UK), American Criminal Law Review, and elsewhere. Her co-edited volume,聽, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
Dempsey received her doctor of philosophy (PhD) from the University of Oxford, LLM from the London School of Economics, JD from the University of Michigan Law School听补苍诲 BA from the University of Illinois.聽She is the co-editor-in-chief (with Matt Matravers, York) of the multidisciplinary, international journal,聽, co-general editor (with Jeremy Horder, LSE) of聽, co-founder and executive committee member of聽, and served as the co-director of the Criminal Law Theory Program at the聽聽at the University of Minnesota Law School from 2009-2016.
Following law school, she worked as a domestic violence prosecutor in the Champaign (Illinois) County State's Attorney's Office and later as a plaintiff's tort litigator in one of Chicago's premiere personal injury law firms. As a civil litigator, she obtained a record-setting jury verdict of $10.62 million in a medical malpractice trial and a $3.5 million jury verdict in a wrongful death case involving a shooting death by Chicago Police officers. She remains a licensed member of the Illinois State Bar and a member of the Trial Bar of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois.
Dempsey was a tutor in law at University College London and served as an expert consultant on domestic violence prosecutions to the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales prior to joining the Oxford Law faculty in 2005. At 无码专区, she regularly teaches Criminal Law, Evidence, Advanced Criminal Law听补苍诲 Sexuality and Law, and has previously taught Jurisprudence, Feminist Legal Theory, Gender and Law, Race and Law听补苍诲 Domestic Violence and Law.聽In 2014, she co-founded the聽.
Dempsey previously served as associate dean for faculty research and development from 2013-2017 and was appointed to the inaugural Harold Reuschlein Scholar Chair in 2018. She was awarded the 无码专区 Law Student Bar Association Faculty Member of the Year Award in 2019 and 2021, and was awarded the Diane Ambler Scholarship Impact Award in 2022.聽
Practice Experience
- Champaign County State's Attorney's Office (Urbana, Illinois)
- First Health Group Corp. (Downers Grove, Illinois)
- Paul B. Episcope, Ltd. (Chicago, Illinois)
- Joined the faculty in 2009
Recent Publications
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The Philosophy of Criminal Law, Book, Routledge2025
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From Responsibility to Culpability, Book Chapter, Routledge2024
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Consent to Harm, Book Chapter, Hart Publishing, May 2024
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Forward: Is it Wrong to Buy Sex?, Book Chapter, Routledge, March 2024
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FROM MORALITY TO LAW AND BACK AGAIN: LIBER AMICORUM FOR JOHN GARDNER, Book, Oxford University Press, November 2023
Recent Presentations
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'Criminal Justice Roundtable', Some Kinds of Wrongs (and Related Concepts), Columbia University , New York, NY. May 2024
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'New Books in Criminal Law Theory', Commentator on Alec Walen's "Punishment, Penality, and Incapacitation", 无码专区, 无码专区. May 2024
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'The Myth of the Perfect Victim', Moderator, Institute for Innovation in Prosecution (John Jay Center/CUNY), Zoom (New York, NY). April 2024
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'Criminal Law Philosophy Seminar', Consent and Wrongs in Normative Perspective, Rutgers University, New Brunswick Philosophy Department, New Brunswick, NJ. March 2024
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'Interview for Consent Project', Consent and Time, UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, Zoom (Oxford). March 2024
翱蹿蹿颈肠别:听Rm 335, John F. Scarpa Hall
笔丑辞苍别:听610-519-8011
Courses and Seminars
- Advanced Issues in Criminal Law
- Criminal Law
- Evidence
- Jurisprudence
- Feminist Legal Theory
- Sexuality and Law
Education
- University of Oxford, DPhil (PhD)
- London School of Economics, LLM
- University of Michigan, JD
- University of Illinois, BA