Mission

The Buffalo Criminal Law Center pursues three objectives, one legislative, one scholarly, and one pedagogic:

• to provide state and federal legislatures with in-depth analyses of criminal justice issues to encourage the development of long-term approaches to the problem of crime and punishment,
• to serve as a forum for innovative research on criminal law to reinvigorate the study of criminal law in the United States, and
• to permit students at the State University of New York Buffalo School of Law to conduct advanced research on criminal law under close faculty supervision.

"Reforming American Penal Law," a detailed discussion of the Center's integrated program to reform American penal law teaching, scholarship, and practice, is now available on-line, with hyperlinks (in Word) and without (in pdf).  It also has been published at 90 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 49 (1999) (click here for a reprint).

Programs & Activities

The Center hosts an Annual Criminal Law Conference, publishes the Buffalo Criminal Law Review, maintains the most comprehensive collection of on-line materials related to domestic and international criminal code reform, and co-hosts (with the Buffalo Criminal Law Society) the Herbert Wechsler National Criminal Law Moot Court Competition.  Since the fall of 1999, the Center also offers a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Criminal Law, the only program of its kind in the United States.

At the heart of the Center lies an intensive seminar for advanced law students who have specialized in the study of criminal law, the Criminal Law Colloquium. The Colloquium in turn forms the cornerstone of the Criminal Law Concentration, a sequence of courses designed for law students who wish to develop an expertise in subjects related to criminal law. Colloquium students participate in the Center's activities by conducting collaborative research on criminal law and assisting the Director in the organization of the Center's Annual Criminal Law Conference and the publication of the Buffalo Criminal Law Review.

Return to the Buffalo Criminal Law Center Home Page.

Please send comments about this page to criminal-law@acsu.buffalo.edu.