Andrew Manuel Crespo
Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law
Andrew Manuel Crespo is the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Executive Faculty Director of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration. He is the first Latino to be promoted to a tenured position on the Harvard Law School faculty. Before entering academia, he served as a staff attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, representing over one hundred individuals charged with serious felonies. His innovative casebook recasts criminal law as a course about the American penal system.
Teaching Style
Professor Crespo is known for his innovative and dynamic teaching of criminal law, which reframes the traditional course around the American penal system and mass incarceration. He uses an active Socratic method, cold-calling frequently with probing questions that push students to examine the power structures behind criminal law. His experience as a public defender brings a practitioner's urgency to classroom discussions. Students consistently rate him among the best teachers at HLS.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Think about criminal law not just as doctrine but as a system -- who has power, how is it exercised, and what are the consequences
- 2Be prepared to discuss the institutional actors in the criminal justice system: prosecutors, defenders, judges, and police
- 3Understand the major criminal law doctrines (mens rea, actus reus, defenses) but also their systemic effects
- 4Read about the history and causes of mass incarceration to engage with Crespo's broader framework
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School
Notable Publications
- Criminal Law and the American Penal System: Cases and Context (casebook)
Research Interests
More Professors at Harvard Law School
Constitutional Law, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Supreme Court Advocacy
Constitutional Law, Law and Religion, International and Comparative Law, First Amendment
Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Behavioral Law and Economics, Regulatory Policy
Environmental Law, Administrative Law, Energy Law and Policy, Climate Change Law
Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Legislation, National Security Law
American Legal History, Constitutional Law, Property