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Alumni Spotlight

Proloy Das, JD'00

Proloy K. Das JD’00

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.”

Doctor of Jurisprudence (JD)

Areas of Focus

Criminal Law and Procedure

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.

Courses

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.

Other Related Courses
Student Activities and Opportunities
  • The Inmate Legal Assistance Project provides the opportunity for students to work under attorney supervision on intra-institutional problems of federal prisoners at the Terre Haute penitentiary.
  • The Protective Order Project brings together law students, members of the bar, and a local shelter for abused women to assist victims of abuse in obtaining protective orders from the courts. Students and attorneys represent clients in civil cases.
  • The Trial Competition Team is part of the law school’s comprehensive litigation curriculum. It is made up of third-year students, selected on the basis of their performances in the School’s trial tournament. The team participates in several competitions each year, including the annual intercollegiate competition sponsored by the American Association for Justice.
Related Opportunities

The 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.

Faculty

Jeannine Bell has expertise in issues of policing and hate crimes. She is the author of the book Policing Hatred: Law Enforcement, Civil Rights, and Hate Crime (New York: New York University Press, 2002), and numerous articles on hate crime enforcement. Craig Bradley, a former federal prosecutor and law clerk to Chief Justice Rehnquist, is a regular contributor to Trial magazine on issues of criminal procedure. Joseph Hoffmann is a renowned expert on habeas corpus and the death penalty, and the author of numerous articles on those topics. He drafted the Fundamental Justice Amendment, a major reform of appellate review in capital cases, which was enacted by the Illinois legislature in 2003. He also served as co-chair and reporter for the Massachusetts Governor’s Council on Capital Punishment.