Criminal Law

About Angela J. DavisKatheryn Russell-Brown

Katheryn Russell-Brown is the Chesterfield Smith Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.  Professor Russell-Brown received her undergraduate degree from the University of California Berkeley law degree from the University of California Hastings and Ph.D. in criminology from the University of Maryland.  Prior to joining the University of Florida law faculty in 2003 Professor Russell-Brown taught in the Criminology and Criminal Justice department at the University of Maryland for 11 years.  She has been a visiting law professor at American University and the City University of New York (CUNY).  She has been a lecturer at Howard University and her first teaching position was at Alabama State University.  Professor Russell-Brown teaches researches and writes on issues of race and crime and the sociology of law.  Her article The Constitutionality of Jury Override in Alabama Death Penalty Cases was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Harris v. Alabama (1995).  In 2009 Professor Russell-Brown was awarded a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship.  Her project focused on ways to integrate criminal justice issues into the elementary education curriculum.  Professor Russell-Browns work includes the textbook Criminal Law (Sage 2016) (co-authored with Angela J. Davis) and books The Color of Crime 2d edition (New York University Press 2009) Protecting Our Own: Race Crime and African Americans (Rowman and Littlefield 2006) and Underground Codes: Race Crime and Related Fires (New York University Press 2004). Angela J. Davis is a professor of Law at the American University Washington College of Law where she teaches Criminal Law Criminal Procedure and Criminal Defense: Theory and Practice. Professor Davis has been a Visiting Professor at George Washington University Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. She has served on the adjunct faculty at George Washington Georgetown and Harvard Law Schools. Professor Davis is the author of Arbitrary Justice: The Power of the American Prosecutor (Oxford University Press 2007) the co-editor of Trial Stories (with Professor Michael E. Tigar) (Foundation Press 2007) and a co-author of the 6th edition of Basic Criminal Procedure (with Professors Stephen Saltzburg and Daniel Capra) (Thomson West 2012). Professor Davis other publications include articles and book chapters on prosecutorial discretion and racism in the criminal justice system. Professor Davis received the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching in a Full-Time Appointment in 2002 the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship in 2009 and the Washington College of Laws Pauline Ruyle Moore award for scholarly contribution in the area of public law in 2000 and 2009. Professor Davis book Arbitrary Justice won the Association of American Publishers 2007 Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division Award for Excellence in the Law and Legal Studies Division. She was awarded a Soros Senior Justice Fellowship in 2004. Professor Davis is a graduate of Howard University and Harvard Law School. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Sentencing Project and the Southern Center for Human Rights.Professor Davis served as the Executive Director of the National Rainbow Coalition from 1994 - 1995. From 1991 - 1994 she was the Director of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS). She also served as the Deputy Director from 1988 1991 and as a staff attorney at PDS from 1982 1988 representing indigent juveniles and adults charged with crimes. Professor Davis is a former law clerk of the Honorable Theodore R. Newman of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.