Ronald Wright

Ronald Wright

Needham Yancey Gulley Professor of Criminal Law

Ron Wright is one of the nation's best known criminal justice scholars. He is the co-author of two casebooks in criminal procedure and sentencing; his empirical research concentrates on the work of criminal prosecutors. He is a board member of the Prosecution and Racial Justice Project of the Vera Institute of Justice, and has been an advisor or board member for Families Against Mandatory Minimum Sentences (FAMM), North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc., and the Winston-Salem Citizens' Police Review Board. Prior to joining the faculty, he was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, prosecuting antitrust and other white-collar criminal cases. Ron and his wife, Amy, have two children.


Education

  • JD, Yale University, 1984
  • AB, William and Mary, 1981

Publications

Books

  • THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF PROSECUTORS AND PROSECUTION (Oxford University Press 2020) (with Kay Levine, Russell Gold).
  • Criminal Procedures -- The Police: Cases, Statutes, and Executive Materials, 7th ed. (Aspen Publishing 2023) (with Marc Miller, Jenia Turner, Kay Levine).
  • Criminal Procedures -- Prosecution and Adjudication: Cases, Statutes, and Executive Materials, 7th ed. (Aspen Publishing 2023) (with Marc Miller, Jenia Turner, Kay Levine).
  • Criminal Procedures: Cases, Statutes, and Executive Materials, 7th ed. (Aspen Publishing 2023) (with Marc Miller, Jenia Turner, Kay Levine).
  • Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes, and Guidelines, 5th ed. (Aspen Pulblishing 2022) (with Nora Demleitner, Douglas Berman, Marc Miller).
  • Administrative Law and Practice (West Supplements 1992-1995) (1992) (with Charles Koch).

Book Chapters

  • Community Prosecution and Building Trust Across a Racial Divide, in Oxford Handbook on Prosecutors and Prosecution 413-28 (Ronald F. Wright, Kay L. Levine, Russell M. Gold 2021).
  • Introduction: Understanding Prosecutors in All Their Contexts, in Oxford Handbook on Prosecutors and Prosecution xxiii-xxxvi (Ronald F. Wright, Kay L. Levine, and Russell Gold 2021).
  • Prosecutor Incentives and Institutions, in 3 Reforming Criminal Justice: Pretrial and Trial Processes (Erik Luna ed., 2017) 49-72 (Erik Luna 2017).
  • Elected Prosecutors and Police Accountability, in Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment 234-254 (Angela J. Davis 2017).
  • The Supreme Court and Sentencing Reform, in Legal Issues in Criminal Justice (Craig Hemmens 2014).
  • Persistent Localism in the Prosecutorial Services of North Carolina, in Crime & Justice: A Review of Research 211-255 (Michael Tonry 2012).
  • Reporting for Duty: The Universal Prosecutorial Accountability Puzzle and an Experimental Transparency Alternative, in Transnational Perspectives on Prosecutorial Power 392-407 (2012).
  • Charging and Plea Bargaining as Forms of Sentencing Discretion, in Oxford Guide to Corrections and Sentencing 247-269 (Kevin Reitz and Joan Peterselia 2012).
  • Grand Juries and Expertise in the Administrative State, in "Grand Jury 2.0: Modern Perspectives on the Grand Jury" (2010).
  • Subjective and Objective Discretion of Prosecutors, in Criminal Law Conversations (2009).
  • Prosecutor Elections and Overdepth in Criminal Codes, in Criminal Law Conversations (2009).
  • Drugs and Druggists, in Personal Injury: Actions, Defenses and Damages (1991).

Articles

Other

Media

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Ronald Wright
Contact Information
 336.758.5727

Worrell 3336
Expertise
  • Administrative Law
  • Comparative Law
  • Evidence
  • International Criminal Law
  • Juvenile Law
  • Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility
  • Legislation & Regulation
  • Policing & Police Accountability
  • Prosecutorial Practices
  • Public Interest Law & Policy
  • Sentencing
  • State and Local Government