Sarat, Austin 1947- (Austin Dean Sarat)

PERSONAL:

Born November 2, 1947, in Fall River, MA; son of George Joseph (in business) and Lillian Sarat; married, 1993; children: three, including Lauren and Emily. Education: Providence College, B.A., 1969; University of Wisconsin—Madison, M.A., 1970, Ph.D., 1973; Yale University, J.D., 1988.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Amherst, MA. Office—Department of Political Science, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002.

CAREER:

Political scientist, lawyer, educator, writer, editor, and consultant. Amherst College, Amherst, MA, associate professor of political science to William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science, 1974—. Yale University, research associate, 1976-81; University of Wisconsin—Madison, senior staff civil litigation research project, 1979-81, research associate, 1981-83. Member of staff of U.S. Department of Justice Office for Improvement in the Administration of Justice, 1978-79. Member of National Advisory Commission on Small Claims Courts, 1976-77; research director of Council on the Role of Courts, 1978-79; visiting fellow at Oxford University, Oxford, England, 1985-86; testified before the U.S. House of Representatives; consultant to RAND Corp., Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and National Center for State Courts. Visiting faculty member at numerous colleges and universities, including Yale University, 1976-77, 1993, 1996, Johns Hopkins University, 1977-78, University of Indiana, 1998-99, Cornell University, 2001, Georgetown Law Center, 2002, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002-04, and Harvard University, 2004.

MEMBER:

American Political Science Association, Law and Society Association (member of board of trustees, 1978-81), American Judicature Society, Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Woodrow Wilson fellow, 1969-70; Russell Sage Foundation fellow, 1978, 1985; Social Science Research Council grant, 1978-79; Karl Loewenstein fellow in political science and jurisprudence, 1985-86; National Science Foundation Research Grant, Law and Social Sciences Program, 1981, 1985, 1994, 1996, and 1999; Award for Excellence and Innovation in Alternative Dispute Resolution (corecipient), Center for Public Resources, 1989; Book Prize, Denver University Law Review, for contribution to "Quality of Dispute Resolution SymposiumIssue"; Keck fellow, University of California-Berkeley, 1992; Seelbach Fellow, University School, Cleveland, Ohio, 1996; Braun Memorial Distinguished Lecture and Symposium, John Marshall Law School, 1996; Corry Lecturer, Queen's University, 1997; Harry Kalven Prize, Law & Society Association, 1997, for distinguished body of scholarly work that has contributed most effectively to the advancement of research in law and society.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Sheldon Goldman, and contributor) American Court Systems, W.H. Freeman (San Francisco, CA), 1978.

(With Malcolm Feeley) The Policy Dilemma: Federal Crime Policy and the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 1968-1978, University of Minnesota Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1980.

The Rule of Law and the American Legal System, Duxbury, 1982.

(With Stanton Wheeler and Kenneth Mann) Sitting in Judgment: The Sentencing of White-Collar Criminals, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1988.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) The Fate of Law, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1991.

(Editor, with Martha Minow and Michael Ryan) Narrative, Violence, and the Law: The Essays of Robert Cover, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1992.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) Law in Everyday Life, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1993.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) The Rhetoric of Law, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1994.

(With William L.F. Felstiner) Divorce Lawyers and Their Clients: Power and Meaning in the Legal Process, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) Identities, Politics, and Rights, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1995.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) Justice and Injustice in Law and Legal Theory, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1996.

(Editor, with Dana R. Villa) Liberal Modernism and Democratic Individuality: George Katab and the Practice of Politics, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1996.

(Editor) Robert V. Wolf, Captial Punishment, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1997.

(Editor) Josh Wilker, Classic Cons and Swindles, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1997.

(Editor) Laura D'Angelo, The FBI's Most Wanted, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1997.

(Editor) Bruce Chadwick, Infamous Trials, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1997.

(Editor) Robert V. Wolf, The Jury System, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1997.

Race, Law, and Culture: Reflections on Brown v. Board of Education, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

(Editor) Robert W. Dolan, Serial Murder, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1997.

(Editor, with Stuart Scheingold) Cause Lawyering: Political Commitments and Professional Responsibilities, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor, with others) Crossing Boundaries: Traditions and Transformations in Law and Society Research, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 1998.

(Editor, with others) Everyday Practices and Trouble Cases, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 1998.

(Editor, with Bryant G. Garth) How Does Law Matter?, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 1998.

(Editor, with Bryant G. Garth) Justice and Power in Sociolegal Studies, Northwestern University Press (Evanston, IL), 1998.

(Editor) Ann Gaines, Prisons, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

(Editor) Josh Wilker, Revenge and Retribution, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

(Editor) Ann Gaines, Terrorism, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1998.

(Editor) Organized Crime, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1999.

(Editor, with Patricia Ewick and Robert Kagan) Social Science, Social Policy, and the Law, Sage (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) Cultural Pluralism, Identity Politics, and the Law, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1999.

(Editor) Ann Gaines, Private Investigators and Bounty Hunters, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1999.

(Editor) Rose Blue and Corrine J. Naden, The Duty to Rescue, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1999.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) History, Memory, and the Law, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 1999.

(Editor) The Killing State: Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, and Culture, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor) Sara Faherty, Victims and Victims' Rights, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 1999.

(Editor) Tracee De Hahn, Crimes against Children: Child Abuse and Neglect, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

(Editor) Gina DeAngelis, Cyber Crime, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

(Editor) The Grand Jury, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) Law in the Domains of Culture, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2000.

(Editor) Phelan Powell, Major Unsolved Crime, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2000.

(With Richard Worth) Children, Violence, and Murder, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor) Linda Bayer, Drugs, Crime, and Criminal Justice, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor) Daniel E. Harmon, The FBI, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor) Great Robberies, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor) Justin Fernandez, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Impeachment Process, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor, with Thomas R. Kearns) Human Rights: Concepts, Contests, Contingencies, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2001.

(Editor) Richard Worth, The Insanity Defense, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor) Pain, Death, and the Law, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2001.

(Editor, with Patricia Ewick) Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, JAI (New York, NY), 2001.

When the State Kills: Capital Punishment and the American Condition, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2001.

(Editor) Law, Violence, and the Possibility of Justice, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2001.

(General Editor) Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden, Punishment and Rehabilitation, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2001.

(Editor, with Lawrence Douglas and Martha Merrill Umphrey) Lives in the Law, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2002.

(Editor, with Bryant Garth and Robert A. Kagan) Looking Back at the Law's Century, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 2002.

(General editor) Justin Fernandez, Guns, Crime, and the Second Amendment, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2002.

(General editor) Sara Manaugh, Judges and Sentencing, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2002.

(General editor) Nancy Peacock, Great Prosecutions, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2002.

(Editor, with Jonathan Simon) Cultural Analysis, Cultural Studies, and the Law: Moving beyond Legal Realism, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), 2003.

(Editor, with Lawrence Douglas and Martha Merrill Umphrey) Law's Madness, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2003.

(Editor, with Lawrence Douglas and Martha Merrill Umphrey) The Place of Law, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2003.

(Editor) The Blackwell Companion to Law and Society, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 2004.

(Editor) Law in the Liberal Arts, Cornell University Press (Ithaca, NY), 2004.

(Editor) Social Organization of Law: Introductory Readings, foreword by Sally Engle Merry, Roxbury (Los Angeles, CA) 2004.

(With Stuart A. Scheingold) Something to Believe In: Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering, Stanford Law and Politics (Stanford, CA), 2004.

(Editor) Capital Punishment, Ashgate (Aldershot, England), 2005.

(Editor, with Christian Boulanger) The Cultural Lives of Capital Punishment: Comparative Perspectives, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2005.

(Editor) The Death Penalty: Influences and Outcomes, Ashgate (Burlington, VT), 2005.

(Editor) Dissent in Dangerous Times, University of Michigan Press (Ann Arbor, MI), 2005.

(Editor, with Lawrence Douglas and Martha Merrill Umphrey) The Limits of Law, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2005.

(Editor, with others) Law on the Screen, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2005.

(Editor, contributor and author of introduction, with Stuart Scheingold) The Worlds Cause Lawyers Make: Structure and Agency in Legal Practice, Stanford Law and Politics (Stanford, CA), 2005.

Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2005.

(Editor, with Stuart A. Scheingold) Cause Lawyers and Social Movements, Stanford Law and Politics (Stanford, CA), 2006.

(Editor, with Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.) From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in America, New York University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

(Editor, with Lawrence Douglas and Martha Merrill Umphrey) Law and the Sacred, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2006.

(Editor, with Nasser Hussain) Forgiveness, Mercy, and Clemency, Stanford University Press (Stanford CA), 2007.

(Editor, with Lawrence Douglas and Martha Merrill Umphrey) How Law Knows, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2007.

(Editor, with Lawrence Douglas and Martha Merrill Umphrey) Law and Catastrophe, Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Capital Punishment in the United States, edited by Hugo A. Bedau and Chester M. Pierce, AMS Press, 1976; Public Law and Public Policy, edited by John A. Gardiner, Praeger, 1977; State Courts: A Blueprint for the Future, edited by Theodore Fetter, National Center for State Courts, 1978; and NewPerspectives on Criminal Courts, edited by Peter Nardulli, Ballinger, 1979. Contributor to periodicals and professional journals, including Los Angeles Times and the American Prospect. Has served in numerous editorial positions, including member of editorial board of Law and Society Review, 1977-78, 1995-99, 2000—; associate editor of Justice Quarterly, 1986-88; senior editor of the Yale Law Journal, 1987-88; editor of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, 2004—; and general editor of "The International Library of Essays in Law and Society," Dartmouth/Ashgate, 2004—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Austin Sarat is a political science and law professor who has written and edited numerous books focusing on law and culture. One of the author's primary interests is capital punishment in modern society. Among his titles on the subject are The Killing State: Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, and Culture, When the State Kills: Capital Punishment and the American Condition, and Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution.

Sarat edited The Killing State, which contains essays discussing how capital punishment impacts society, everyday culture, and the workings of democracy. "Essays on democracy and the death penalty place the ultimate punishment in historical and international perspective," wrote Mary Carroll in a review for Booklist. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology contributor Leigh B. Bienen commented: "This collection has a literary, postmodern, cultural studies bent."

In When the State Kills, Sarat focuses on the government's use of capital punishment and how it fosters acceptability for this type of punishment among the general public. "The strength of the book lies in the attention the author gives to the connections between capital punishment and broader cultural and political issues," wrote John Langan in America. Langan also noted: "As a result, this is one of the most original and lively books on capital punishment in a long time." Vanesssa Bush, writing in Booklist, noted that the author's "analysis of the controversies surrounding capital punishment is both broad and deep." Even when reviewers did not totally agree with Sarat's assessments of capital punishment in society, they still tended to praise the author for taking on the task of exploring this controversial aspect of judicial system. For example, a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote: "Although not always convincing, this impassioned work raises a number of provocative questions about America's love affair with the death penalty."

As the sole author of Mercy on Trial, Sarat explores the use of the power of clemency within the context of politics and law. In the process, he comments on various instances of clemency, including the incident of Illinois Governor George Ryan pardoning four death row inmates and commuting the sentences of 167 death row inmates just prior to the end of his term. Sarat also explores such issues as the declining use of clemency due to political pressures and public controversy. A Harvard Law Review contributor noted that the author "provides an arresting account of mercy … that will engage readers on all sides of the debate."

Another of Sarat's interests is cause lawyering, when a lawyer takes up a specific "cause" and attempts to further that cause in the courts. For example, the author served as coeditor with Stuart Scheingold of Cause Lawyering: Political Commitments and Professional Responsibilities. The book includes essays and articles by lawyers, political scientists, and sociologists about lawyers who align their professional careers with their own moral beliefs. Among the issues discussed are the kinds of people who become cause lawyers, how practices are organized, how cause lawyers use the law to bring about change, and cause lawyering in various counties throughout the world. "The articles in the book are broadly representative of the field of cause lawyering; they are timely and well written," wrote David C. Saffell in Perspectives on Political Science. Saffell added: "The editors have written a very helpful introduction."

Sarat is also coauthor with Stuart A. Scheingold of Something to Believe In: Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering. The authors discuss how cause lawyers differ from conventional lawyers who view the law dispassionately. Nina C. Ayoub, writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education, commented that the authors define "cause lawyering … [as] using legal skills to pursue ends and ideals that transcend client service," adding that cause lawyers place "moral and political commitments to the center of professional life." Jeffrey Needle wrote in Trial: "Something to Believe In is a thoughtful and intellectual study of an approach to practicing law that elevates principle over pragmatic self-interest."

In The Worlds Cause Lawyers Make: Structure and Agency in Legal Practice, Sarat and coeditor Scheingold present fourteen papers that explore how lawyers work for causes, where they work, how they make decisions, and how they impact society. A reviewer for Reference & Research Book News noted that "contributors present a constructionist view of cause lawyering." In a review in Perspectives on Political Science, Timothy O. Lenz noted: "The inclusion of so many very different case studies provides the reader with a better understanding of comparative developments in cause lawyering."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, September 17, 2001, John Langan, review of When the State Kills: Capital Punishment and the American Condition, p. 27.

American Political Science Review, March, 1996, Roy B. Flemming, review of Divorce Lawyers and Their Clients: Power and Meaning in the Legal Process, p. 201; June, 1997, Nicholas Xenos, "Legal Rights: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives," amd "Identitites, Politics, and Rights," p. 442; December, 1997, David Weinstein, review of Liberal Modernism and Democratic Individuality: George Katab and the Practice of Politics, p. 953; September, 1998, Elliot E. Slotnick, review of Race, Law, and Culture: Reflections on Brown v. Board of Education, p. 715.

American Prospect, June 4, 2001, Gara Lamarche, review of When the State Kills, p. 40.

Booklist, October 15, 1998, Mar Carroll, review of From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State: Race and the Death Penalty in America, p. 376; April 1, 2001, Vanessa Bush, review of When the State Kills, p. 1435.

Christian Century, June 20, 2001, William Vance Trollinger, Jr., review of When the State Kills, p. 24.

Chronicle of Higher Education, October 15, 2004, Nina C. Ayoub, review of Something to Believe In: Politics, Professionalism, and Cause Lawyering.

Ethics, October, 2002, Lloyd Steffen, review of When the State Kills, p. 195.

Harvard Law Review, May, 2005, review of Something to Believe In, p. 2487, and review of Law in the Liberal Arts, pp. 2489-2490; February, 2006, review of Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution, p. 1238.

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, winter, 1999, Leigh B. Bienen, review of The Killing State: Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, and Culture, p. 752.

Library Journal, April 1, 2001, Harry Charles, review of When the State Kills, p. 117.

Michigan Law Review, May, 2002, Wayne A. Logan, review of When the State Kills, p. 1336.

National Journal, May 19, 2001, Carl M. Cannon, review of When the State Kills, p. 1516.

Perspectives on Political Science, summer, 1997, Francis M. Wilhoit, review of Liberal Modernism and Democratic Individuality, p. 184; fall, 1998, David C. Saffell, review of Cause Lawyering, p. 249; spring, 2006, Timothy O. Lenz, review of The Worlds Cause Lawyers Make: Structure and Agency in Legal Practice, p. 115.

Publishers Weekly, April 2, 2001, review of When the State Kills, p. 53.

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2005, review of The Cultural Lives of Capital Punishment: Comparative Perspectives, p. 160, and review of Law on the Screen, p. 251; November, 2005, reviews of The Worlds Cause Lawyers Make, Something to Believe In, The Limits of Law, and The Death Penalty: Influences and Outcomes; August, 2006, review of Cause Lawyers and Social Movements; February, 2007, reviews of Law and the Sacred, How Law Knows, and Forgiveness, Mercy, and Clemency.

Trial, April, 2005, Jeffrey Needle, review of Something to Believe In, p. 67.

Yale Law Journal, December, 2001, Timothy V. Kaufman-Osborn, review of When the State Kills, p. 681.

ONLINE

Amherst College Web site,http://www.amherst.edu/ (May 7, 2007), author's CV.

Yale Law School Web site,http://www.law.yale.edu/ (May 7, 2007), faculty profile of author.