Dr. Carol Steiker

Biography

Carol S. Steiker is the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and serves as the Dean's Special Advisor for Public Service. She was the Faculty Co-Director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Policy Program from 2015 to 2020. Professor Steiker specializes in the broad field of criminal justice, focusing on substantive criminal law, criminal procedure, and institutional design, with a special emphasis on capital punishment. Her recent publications include 'Comparative Capital Punishment,' co-edited with her brother Jordan Steiker, and 'Courting Death: Supreme Court Capital Punishment,' co-authored with Jordan Steiker. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she was the first woman to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review in its 99-year history. Her practical experience includes clerking for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. She has worked as a staff attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, representing indigent defendants throughout the criminal process. In addition to her scholarly work, she engages in pro bono efforts for indigent defendants in death penalty cases and serves on the board of the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Massachusetts. Professor Steiker also sponsors the Capital Punishment Clinic, providing students with externship opportunities and supervising clinical work.

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