Assistant Professor - Law, Crime, and Punishment - Jurisprudence & Social Policy Program - Scho

Position Overview

Position title: Assistant Professor of Law

Salary range: The current salary range for this position is $203,900 - $333,600 (9-month academic year salary); however, off‑scale salary and additional pay components may be offered to meet competitive conditions.

Anticipated start: July 1, 2027

Open date: June 26, 2026

Next review date: Friday, Aug 14, 2026 at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time). Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Aug 14, 2026 at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time). Applications will continue to be accepted until this date.

The Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) PhD Program in the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley invites entry‑level and early‑career lateral applicants for a full‑time, tenure‑track faculty position with a primary research and curricular focus on the criminal legal system in its practical, institutional, historical, social, economic, and political contexts. We seek applications from scholars versed in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods with a demonstrated record of and/or potential for outstanding scholarship that contributes to the interdisciplinary development of the field.

Possible areas of specialization might include, but are not limited to, criminal courts; policing and civil rights; mass incarceration; race and the carceral state; abolition and reform; punishment and society; the economics of crime; and the politics of law and order. We welcome applicants who engage with social impact, public engagement, and social justice in their scholarship. Our search is open to comparativists and scholars whose work is primarily on a non‑U.S. legal system;

however, we are particularly interested in applicants who will have at least a substantial comparative interest in the U.S. criminal legal system.

JSP represents disciplinary and interdisciplinary training across the social sciences, history, and philosophy/political theory, and takes primary responsibility for directing a diverse student body in our PhD program. JSP faculty also are primarily responsible for and teach core courses in Berkeley's interdisciplinary undergraduate Legal Studies major.

The JSP Program encourages scholars who are willing and able to mentor graduate and undergraduate students whose research uses a range of methods and theoretical traditions. The program is committed to addressing faculty family needs, including dual‑career couples and single parents, and to supporting candidates with non‑traditional career paths or time off for family reasons.

The law school strives to educate responsible, effective, and forward‑thinking advocates who will serve the public through legal practice, public policy, academic scholarship, and related fields. In doing so, the school addresses pressing challenges by leveraging its strengths in teaching and research to improve law, policy, and public institutions. At the heart of Berkeley Law's public mission is a commitment to access, affordability, and empowering students from all backgrounds to pursue impactful careers across a wide range of professional paths.

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

• Hold a Ph.D. or equivalent international degree, or have advanced to candidacy status for a Ph.D., or equivalent international degree.

Preferred qualifications

• Primary research focus is on law, crime, and punishment in the United States, and/or comparative research in which law, crime, and punishment in the United States is a component. Open as to the field. We particularly welcome scholars versed in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods and theories.
• Ability to teach at least one introductory graduate course on law, crime, and punishment.
• Ability to work with students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.
• Ability to mentor a diverse student body, including those from non‑traditional and underrepresented minority backgrounds.
• Ability to contribute to building an equitable, diverse, and interdisciplinary learning environment for all students, including those with nontraditional backgrounds.
• Ability to teach within the…