Rachel Barkow is the Charles Seligson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Peter L. Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at New York University School of Law. She holds a B.A. with honors in History and Psychology from Northwestern University (1993) and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School (1996), where she won the Sears Prize for the highest first-year grade average. After law school, she clerked for Judge Laurence H. Silberman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1996-1997) and Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court (1997-1998). From 1998 to 2002, she was an associate at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C., in Washington, D.C., specializing in telecommunications and administrative law. Barkow joined NYU Law in 2002 as an assistant professor, becoming associate professor in 2005, professor in 2007, Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy in 2011, Vice Dean for Intellectual Life from 2017 to 2022, and Charles Seligson Professor in 2021. She served as a member of the United States Sentencing Commission from 2013 to 2019, on the Manhattan District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Policy Advisory Panel from 2010 to 2021, and co-chaired DA Alvin Bragg's 2021 transition committee on police accountability.

Her research specializes in criminal law, particularly the application of administrative and constitutional law to criminal justice administration, including sentencing, prosecutors, separation of powers, federalism, and clemency. Key publications include Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration (Harvard University Press, 2025), Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration (Harvard University Press, 2019), and Prosecutors in the Boardroom: Using Criminal Law to Regulate Corporate Conduct (NYU Press, 2011, co-edited). She has co-authored several editions of Criminal Law and Its Processes: Cases and Materials and published over 60 articles, such as "Can Prosecutors End Mass Incarceration?" (Michigan Law Review, 2021) and "Clemency" (Annual Review of Criminology, 2024, with Mark Osler). A leading expert in criminal law and policy, she teaches criminal law, administrative law, and constitutional law courses. Honors include NYU's Distinguished Teaching Award (2013), Podell Distinguished Teaching Award (2007), Making A Difference Award (2016), election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019), and American Law Institute membership (2008). Barkow has testified before congressional subcommittees on sentencing, overcriminalization, clemency, and agency capture.

Professional Email: rachel.barkow@nyu.edu