Jonathan
Abel
Associate Professor of Law
- Office 342-200
- Email Address abeljonathan@uchastings.edu
- Telephone 628-227-0746
Biography
Abel’s scholarly research focuses on informational asymmetries in the criminal justice system and the structural injustices these asymmetries produce. His research on police misconduct records and their availability to criminal defendants has been widely cited in scholarly journals, newspapers, and court cases. Abel has also written about the unexpected role police officers play in plea bargaining, the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges, and the retroactive sealing of public records, among other topics. His articles have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, and Stanford Law Review.
Prior to becoming a law professor, Abel worked as a criminal defense lawyer doing capital habeas corpus litigation and direct appeals. He has served as an attorney at the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, the Northern California Federal Defender’s Office, and the Arizona Federal Defender’s Office. Before law school, he worked as a newspaper reporter at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida.
Expertise
Education
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Stanford Law School 2012
J.D.
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Harvard University 2005
A.B., Magna Cum Laude
Selected Scholarship
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Batson’s Appellate Appeal and Trial Tribulations 2018
118 COLUM. L. REV. 713
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Cops and Pleas: Police Officers’ Influence on Plea Bargaining 2017
126 YALE L.J. 1730
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Brady’s Blind Spot: Impeachment Evidence in Police Personnel Files and the Battle Splitting the Prosecution Team 2015
67 STAN. L. REV. 743
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Do You Have To Keep the Government’s Secrets?: Retroactively Classified Documents, the First Amendment, and the Power To Make Secrets Out of the Public Record 2015
163 U. PA. L. REV. 1037
