Barry Latzer
For over three and a half decades Barry Latzer was Professor of Criminal Justice at John Jay College, CUNY, where he was a member of the Masters’ and Doctoral faculties. He taught courses on criminal justice, criminal law and procedure, state constitutional law, capital punishment, and most recently, crime history. Professor Latzer wrote and published six books, including a treatise on state constitutional law, and approximately 70 scholarly articles, research reports, magazine articles, book reviews and op-eds. His scholarly articles have been published in the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, the Journal of Criminal Justice, Judicature, Judges' Journal, Criminal Law Bulletin, and major law reviews. Other writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily Beast, National Review, the Chronicle of Higher Education, City Journal, the New York Post and the New York Daily News. A widely read interview with David Frum appeared in Atlantic, June 19, 2016. His recent article on “Alvin Bragg, the Prosecutor Who Won’t Prosecute,” was the cover story in the February 7, 2022 issue of National Review. Professor Latzer received advanced degrees from the University of Massachusetts (Ph.D., 1977) and Fordham University School of Law (JD, 1985). His BA was from Brooklyn College (1966). He briefly served as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn (1985-86) and as counsel to indigent criminal defendants in Manhattan (1986-87). Barry Latzer has devoted the last decade to a major study of the history of violent crime in the United States. His recent book, The Rise and Fall of Violent in America (Encounter Books, 2016), a product of this research, examines the period from 1940 to 2015. The pre-1940 period is covered in his book just published by Louisiana State University Press: The Roots of Violent Crime in America: From the Gilded Age through the Great Depression (LSU Press, 2020). Latzer’s most recent book, on criminal punishment in the United States, is entitled The Myth of Overpunishment: A Defense of the American Justice System and a Proposal to Reduce Incarceration While Protecting the Public. It was published by Republic Books in 2022. Barry Latzer and his wife live in New Jersey. They have one daughter who lives in Portland, OR. When he isn’t writing, Prof. Latzer may be seen hiking or at the opera (especially the ones with murders).
1 Books Written
A compelling case can be made that violent crime, especially after the 1960s, was one of the most significant domestic issues in the United States. Indeed, few issues had as profound an effect on American life in the last third of the twentieth century. After 1965, crime rose to such levels that it frightened virtually all Americans and prompted significant alterations in everyday behaviors and ev