Jocelyn Simonson
@jocelynsimonson.bsky.social
law prof, Brooklyn Law School; author, Radical Acts of Justice, https://thenewpress.com/books/radical-acts-of-justice
For years, @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social & I have been frustrated with what we call the Part IV Problem in legal scholarship, the expectation of neat & feasible prescriptions to end pieces. Our frustrations are heightened in this moment of authoritarianism, as we wrote today at @lpeblog.bsky.social:
Today, @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social and @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social challenge the idea that law review articles should conclude with a set of actionable prescriptions.
This convention, they argue, constrains ambition, sidelines critique, and conflates near-term feasibility with rigor.
This convention, they argue, constrains ambition, sidelines critique, and conflates near-term feasibility with rigor.
Beyond Feasibility in Legal Scholarship
Law review articles are expected to conclude with a short section, often “Part IV,” that translates analysis into actionable prescriptions. Though well-intentioned, this convention constrains ambition...
lpeproject.org
January 21, 2026 at 5:02 PM
For years, @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social & I have been frustrated with what we call the Part IV Problem in legal scholarship, the expectation of neat & feasible prescriptions to end pieces. Our frustrations are heightened in this moment of authoritarianism, as we wrote today at @lpeblog.bsky.social:
Reposted by Jocelyn Simonson
New from me in @michlawreview.bsky.social reviewing ‘New Deal Law & Order: How the War on Crime Built the Modern Liberal State’
michiganlawreview.org/whats-left-o...
michiganlawreview.org/whats-left-o...
What's Left of the New Deal State? - Michigan Law Review
New Deal Law and Order: How the War on Crime Built the Modern Liberal State. By Anthony Gregory. Harvard University Press. 2024. Pp. 473. $45. Introduction A vast body of scholarship situates itself i...
michiganlawreview.org
November 3, 2025 at 3:53 PM
New from me in @michlawreview.bsky.social reviewing ‘New Deal Law & Order: How the War on Crime Built the Modern Liberal State’
michiganlawreview.org/whats-left-o...
michiganlawreview.org/whats-left-o...
Reposted by Jocelyn Simonson
NEW EPISODE 🚨 ANTI-REPRESSION 101: Tune in to hear @deanspade.bsky.social @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social @azohra.bsky.social discuss why the way we talk about political repression matters and five questions everyone should consider to avoid common anti-solidarity traps.
Cultivating Solidarity When Responding to Political Repression with Dean, Zohra, and Jocelyn
Podcast Episode · Outlaw · 10/29/2025 · 1h 1m
podcasts.apple.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:39 PM
NEW EPISODE 🚨 ANTI-REPRESSION 101: Tune in to hear @deanspade.bsky.social @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social @azohra.bsky.social discuss why the way we talk about political repression matters and five questions everyone should consider to avoid common anti-solidarity traps.
Reposted by Jocelyn Simonson
Appreciate thinking with @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social & Amna Akbar again, inspired by resistance movements confronting incipient fascism across terrains of struggle
lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...
lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...
Movement Law Under Fascism
As fascist tendencies intensify across the United States, social movements continue to organize against the forces of state repression. Legal scholars must stand with these movements…
lpeproject.org
October 15, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Appreciate thinking with @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social & Amna Akbar again, inspired by resistance movements confronting incipient fascism across terrains of struggle
lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...
lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...
Today I wrote in @lpeblog.bsky.social with Amna Akbar & @sameer-ashar.bsky.social about how legal scholars & teachers might act in solidarity with movements in this moment, in the face of fascism: lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...
Movement Law Under Fascism
As fascist tendencies intensify across the United States, social movements continue to organize against the forces of state repression. Legal scholars must stand with these movements…
lpeproject.org
October 15, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Today I wrote in @lpeblog.bsky.social with Amna Akbar & @sameer-ashar.bsky.social about how legal scholars & teachers might act in solidarity with movements in this moment, in the face of fascism: lpeproject.org/blog/movemen...
Join us at @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social Weds 9/17 @ 6pm for a @bkbookfest.bsky.social Bookends panel on NO COP CITY, NO COP WORLD @haymarketbooks.org, w/@micahh.bsky.social @kamaufranklin.bsky.social, Priscilla Grim, Mariah Parker, & free food&drink! RSVP: registration.brooklaw.edu/academic-eve...
September 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Join us at @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social Weds 9/17 @ 6pm for a @bkbookfest.bsky.social Bookends panel on NO COP CITY, NO COP WORLD @haymarketbooks.org, w/@micahh.bsky.social @kamaufranklin.bsky.social, Priscilla Grim, Mariah Parker, & free food&drink! RSVP: registration.brooklaw.edu/academic-eve...
Reposted by Jocelyn Simonson
🚨BREAKING🚨
Leonard Peltier Granted Executive Clemency
After 50 years of unjust incarceration and the tireless efforts of intergenerational grassroots organizing and advocacy, our elder and relative Leonard Peltier has been granted executive clemency.
Leonard Peltier Granted Executive Clemency
After 50 years of unjust incarceration and the tireless efforts of intergenerational grassroots organizing and advocacy, our elder and relative Leonard Peltier has been granted executive clemency.
January 20, 2025 at 5:02 PM
🚨BREAKING🚨
Leonard Peltier Granted Executive Clemency
After 50 years of unjust incarceration and the tireless efforts of intergenerational grassroots organizing and advocacy, our elder and relative Leonard Peltier has been granted executive clemency.
Leonard Peltier Granted Executive Clemency
After 50 years of unjust incarceration and the tireless efforts of intergenerational grassroots organizing and advocacy, our elder and relative Leonard Peltier has been granted executive clemency.
Join us tomorrow at 5pm at Brooklyn Law School, organized by the BLS student LPE Collective:
NYC: Brooklyn Law's LPE Collective is hosting an excellent event on the Bangladesh student movement and movement lawyering tomorrow at 5PM ET! @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social and Chaumtoli Huq will be in conversation.
November 19, 2024 at 10:44 PM
Join us tomorrow at 5pm at Brooklyn Law School, organized by the BLS student LPE Collective:
Grateful to Jessica Eaglin for this Jotwell review of my book Radical Acts of Justice, highlighting an expansive idea of what it means to "do" Criminal Law: 🙏
Great to see @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social's excellent work "Radical Acts of Justice" as today's Jot by my friend and colleague Jessica Eaglin! crim.jotwell.com/doing-crimin...
“Doing” Criminal Law Differently - Criminal Law
Jocelyn Simonson, Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Mass Incarceration (2023).Jessica M. EaglinIt is easy to privilege certain kinds of “doing” in law. From constitutional l...
crim.jotwell.com
November 19, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Grateful to Jessica Eaglin for this Jotwell review of my book Radical Acts of Justice, highlighting an expansive idea of what it means to "do" Criminal Law: 🙏
Reposted by Jocelyn Simonson
Today, Premal Dharia concludes our symposium on @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social's *Radical Acts of Justice,* by discussing a crisis of purpose in public defense - whose workers must contend with the reality that a better world may obviate the need for their labor.
A Crisis of Purpose in Public Defense
That public defense is in a state of crisis is far from controversial. Crushing caseloads and rampant underfunding have created untenable working conditions under which even the most well-meaning…
lpeproject.org
April 10, 2024 at 3:17 PM
Today, Premal Dharia concludes our symposium on @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social's *Radical Acts of Justice,* by discussing a crisis of purpose in public defense - whose workers must contend with the reality that a better world may obviate the need for their labor.
Thank you @evanbernick.bsky.social for this generous & provocative engagement with my book. I love both of your points, but especially want to engage more with you about the idea - and necessity - of violence in movement struggles!
March 12, 2024 at 4:15 PM
Thank you @evanbernick.bsky.social for this generous & provocative engagement with my book. I love both of your points, but especially want to engage more with you about the idea - and necessity - of violence in movement struggles!
I am excited that this piece, co-authored with John Legend, is out in the world - we write about the new wave of repressive laws aimed at bail funds and collective care:
My world-renowned colleague @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social teamed up with a little-known artist named John Legend to write this op-Ed about threats to bail funds in georgia time.com/collection/t...
Bail Funds Are Essential to Democracy. A Georgia Bill Threatens to Stifle Them
John Legend and lawyer Jocelyn Simonson condemn "a law aimed squarely at stifling democracy and dissent."
time.com
February 27, 2024 at 10:47 PM
I am excited that this piece, co-authored with John Legend, is out in the world - we write about the new wave of repressive laws aimed at bail funds and collective care:
Excited to have Radical Acts of Justice included among this company!
Featuring works by Felicia Arriaga, @dnbrgr.bsky.social, Orisanmi Burton, @mskellymhayes.bsky.social, @prisonculture.bsky.social, @genderhorizon.bsky.social, @dreanyc123.bsky.social, @jocelynsimonson.bsky.social and more, our annual book list pushed us to imagine a future without mass incarceration.
The Year in Books | INQUEST
As 2023 draws to a close, a look back at the books that informed, inspired, and empowered us to work for a world without mass incarceration.
inquest.org
December 20, 2023 at 5:44 PM
Excited to have Radical Acts of Justice included among this company!
Reposted by Jocelyn Simonson
@jocelynsimonson.bsky.social writes at @inquest.bsky.social that “although law and legal battles run through both [Sharlyn Grace and Micah Herskind’s] descriptions of long-term struggle, law is not at the heart of their stories: + https://inquest.org/keeping-each-other-safe/
Keeping Each Other Safe | Jocelyn Simonson | INQUEST
Acting within the criminal legal system cannot be the solution, on its own, to the existence of the carceral state.
inquest.org
August 19, 2023 at 11:34 AM
@jocelynsimonson.bsky.social writes at @inquest.bsky.social that “although law and legal battles run through both [Sharlyn Grace and Micah Herskind’s] descriptions of long-term struggle, law is not at the heart of their stories: + https://inquest.org/keeping-each-other-safe/
Hi Bluesky! I am still learning how this place works, but the in the meantime... I wrote a book! It's out today, and I'm really excited to be in conversation with people I admire at these events (w/more to come). Please join, & learn more here - https://thenewpress.com/books/radical-acts-of-justice
August 15, 2023 at 9:08 PM
Hi Bluesky! I am still learning how this place works, but the in the meantime... I wrote a book! It's out today, and I'm really excited to be in conversation with people I admire at these events (w/more to come). Please join, & learn more here - https://thenewpress.com/books/radical-acts-of-justice