Steven A. Drizin

CWCY Co-founder

Steven A. Drizin is a Clinical Professor at Northwestern Law School where he has been on the faculty since 1991 and co-founder of the CWCY. He is also the Assistant Director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic, and since March 2004, has been serving as the Legal Director of the Clinic’s Center on Wrongful Convictions. Steve’s research interests involve the study of false confessions and his policy work focuses on supporting efforts around the country to require law enforcement agencies to electronically record custodial interrogations. Prior to joining the CWC, Steve was the Supervising Attorney with the CFJC, where he built a reputation as a national expert on juvenile justice related issues. He was a leader in the successful effort to outlaw the juvenile death penalty and co-wrote an amicus brief in Roper v. Simmons, the United States Supreme Court’s decision striking down the practice as unconstitutional. In August 2005, Steve received the American Bar Association’s Livingston Hall Award for outstanding dedication and advocacy in the juvenile justice field. Steve’s work was cited in the majority opinion of the case of Corley v U.S., No. 07-10441 (April 6, 2009), where Justice Souter noted that “custodial police interrogation, by its very nature, isolates and pressures the individual, and there is mounting empirical evidence that these pressures can induce a frighteningly high percentage of people to confess to crimes they never committed.” (Citing Drizin & Leo, The Problem of False Confessions in the Post-DNA World, 82 N. C. L. Rev. 891, 906-907 (2004)).