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Appellate Attorney, Rome McGuigan, P.C.
“Criminal law cases often present complicated questions concerning constitutional rights and statutory interpretation. My background in criminal law prepared me to confront a wide range of legal issues armed with a respect for procedure that permits me to develop creative and successful arguments.”
The moral and physical force of the law is nowhere more evident than in criminal law. It is here that the law authorizes the government to take a person’s property, liberty, or even their life. The law must both empower government to protect its citizens from lawless behavior and also protect citizens from the wrongful or mistaken application of the ultimate governmental power. In a nation dedicated to the rule of law, the law demands that government define and prove crimes with specificity and that it exercise its power within strict constitutional limitations.
Among the required first-year courses is Criminal Law (B511). For further study in this area, students may select from a broad range of offerings, including several clinics and clinical opportunities.
Indiana University's Department of Criminal Justice has grown to one of the nation’s foremost research faculties in criminal justice and law and society. Faculty research covers important developing areas that bridge the study of crime with the study of law, culture, race, and gender. In addition to major components of the criminal justice system and the causes and distribution of crime, faculty members conduct research in community justice, dispute settlement, violence, cross-cultural studies, and critical theory.