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Alexandra Natapoff

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Alexandra Natapoff
Occupations
  • Legal scholar
  • public defender
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (2016)
Academic background
Education
Academic work
Sub-discipline
Criminal justice
Institutions

Alexandra Natapoff is an American legal scholar. Originally a federal public defender, she became a law professor at Loyola Law School, University of California, Irvine School of Law, and Harvard Law School, where she is Lee S. Kreindler Professor of Law.[1] A 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, she is author of Snitching (2009) and Punishment Without Crime (2018).

Biography

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Natapoff was raised "as a child of Harvard Square ... just ten blocks away from the campus"; her mother was a Harvard University art professor and her father was a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research scientist.[2] She obtained a BA cum laude in philosophy from Yale University and a JD with distinction from Stanford Law School.[3] She was a clerk for district judge Paul L. Friedman (1995-1997) and circuit judge David S. Tatel (1997-1998).[3]

Originally training as a civil rights lawyer, she became a federal public defender in Baltimore after receiving a job offer at a federal office;[1][2] she served from 2000 to 2003.[4] She became an associate professor at Loyola Law School in 2003, before being promoted to full professor in 2006.[3] She joined the American Law Institute in 2007.[5] In 2017, she moved to University of California, Irvine School of Law where she was appointed Chancellor’s Professor of Law in 2019.[3] She also served as UCI's Center in Law, Society and Culture.[5] In 2020, she moved to Harvard Law School as Lee S. Kreindler Professor of Law.[3]

Natapoff specializes in criminal law.[1] She received an honorable mention for the 2010 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for Books for her book Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice.[6] In 2016, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Law.[7] Her 2018 book Punishment Without Crime addresses the impact of misdemeanor charges in the criminal justice system on inequality.[4] She also co-edited the volumes The New Criminal Justice Thinking (2017) and America Unfinished (2026).[8][9]

Works

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  • Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice (2009)[10]
  • (ed. with Sharon Dolovich) The New Criminal Justice Thinking (2017)[11]
  • Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal (2018)[12]
  • (ed. with Guy-Uriel Charles) America Unfinished: 250 Years of Law and Governance (2026)[9]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Alexandra Natapoff". Harvard Law School. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Milano, Brett (April 14, 2023). "'You can do justice with law; you can also do injustice'". Harvard Law Today. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "CV of Alexandra Natapoff" (PDF). Harvard Law School. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  4. 1 2 Gross, Terry (January 2, 2019). "'Punishment Without Crime' Highlights The Injustice Of America's Misdemeanor System". NPR. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Natapoff joins Harvard Law School". American Law Institute. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  6. ↑ Badertscher, David (June 17, 2010). "2010 ABA Silver Gavel Award Presentation". Criminal Law Library Blog. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Alexandra Natapoff". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  8. ↑ Rich, Joshua (April 3, 2017). "Professor's book cites examples of injustice in criminal justice system". UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  9. 1 2 Reed, Rachel (June 22, 2026). "'America Unfinished' explores the state of the nation at 250". Harvard Law School. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  10. ↑ Taslitz, Andrew E. (2011). "Prosecuting the Informant Culture". Michigan Law Review. 109 (6): 1077–1102. ISSN 0026-2234. JSTOR 41151410.
  11. ↑ Levin, Benjamin (January 1, 2018). "Rethinking the Boundaries of "Criminal Justice"". Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  12. ↑ Bibas, Stephanos (2019). "Small Crimes, Big Injustices". Michigan Law Review. 117 (6): 1025–1042. ISSN 0026-2234. JSTOR 45135190.
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