Jody David Armour
Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law
Jody David Armour is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at the USC Gould School of Law, where he has been on the faculty since 1995. He is a nationally prominent scholar whose work examines the intersection of race, criminal justice, and the rule of law, with a particular focus on how racial bias infiltrates legal standards of reasonableness. His books Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism and N*gga Theory have been widely read and debated across legal academia and beyond. He is a Soros Justice Senior Fellow and a graduate of Harvard and Berkeley Law, and his scholarship has appeared in the Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, and other leading journals.
Teaching Style
Professor Armour is a charismatic and challenging teacher who uses criminal law and torts to explore how racial bias operates within the legal system. His Socratic method is intense and provocative, pushing students to confront uncomfortable truths about implicit bias, stereotyping, and systemic racism in legal decision-making. He cold-calls frequently and expects students to engage with difficult questions about race, reasonableness, and justice with intellectual honesty and courage. His classes are known for spirited discussions and for fundamentally changing how students think about the law.
Cold Call Tips
- 1Be prepared to discuss how racial stereotypes and implicit biases affect legal standards like reasonableness and self-defense
- 2Think critically about the concept of the 'reasonable person' in tort and criminal law and who it includes and excludes
- 3Read Professor Armour's work on reasonable racism to understand his analytical framework before class
- 4Be ready to engage with challenging questions about race and justice with intellectual openness and rigor
Areas of Expertise
Education
- J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall)
- A.B. in Sociology, Harvard University
Notable Publications
- Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America (NYU Press, 1997)
- N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law
Research Interests
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