Scott Howe
Professor, Frank L. Williams Professor of Criminal Law
Dale E. Fowler School of Law; Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences; Psychology
Expertise: Capital Punishment Law; Death Penalty; Criminal Law; Criminal Procedure
Office Location: Kennedy Hall 404
Email: swhowe@chapman.edu
- Scholarly Works:
- SSRN Author Page
- Education:
- University of Missouri, Bachelor of Arts
University of Michigan, Juris Doctor
Biography
Scott Howe has been a professor at the law school since August 1996. He has substantial
experience both as a criminal defense lawyer and as a teacher in the fields of criminal
law, criminal procedure and evidence. He earned his B.A. in economics, from the University
of Missouri, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his JD from the
University of Michigan, where he was an Articles Editor on the Michigan Law Review. After law school, Professor Howe worked for five years as an attorney for the Public
Defender Service for the District of Columbia, defending indigent persons charged
with serious crimes, including first-degree murder. He subsequently served as Deputy
Director of the Texas Death Penalty Resource Center in Austin, Texas, representing
inmates under execution warrants on Texas' death row. His representation during this
period of death-row inmate Kerry Max Cook is recounted in Mr. Cook's acclaimed memoir, Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime
I Didn't Commit. Before coming to Chapman, Professor Howe taught as an adjunct professor at the University
of Texas Law School and then became a tenured full professor at Western New England
College School of Law. At Chapman, he has been voted Professor of the Year multiple
times by the graduating class. His articles have appeared in a variety of leading
law journals, including the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review, and the Vanderbilt Law Review. He is also co-author of several editions of two books: California Criminal Law: Cases and Problems and Understanding Capital Punishment Law. Professor Howe served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 1999 to 2007 and
twice served as Interim Dean, from 2010 to 2011, and again during the spring of 2016.
Courses Taught:
Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure/Police Practice, and Evidence.
List of Scholarly Publications
Courses Taught:
Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure/Police Practice, and Evidence.
List of Scholarly Publications
-
Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications
- UNDERSTANDING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT LAW (5th ed. 2024) (with Linda Carter, Ellen Kreitzberg and Celestine McConville)
- CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL LAW: CASES AND PROBLEMS (5th ed. 2023) (with Steven F. Shatz and Amy Flynn)
- UNDERSTANDING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT LAW (4th ed. 2018) (with Linda Carter and Ellen Kreitzberg)
- CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL LAW: CASES AND PROBLEMS (4th ed. 2016) (with Steven F. Shatz and Amy Flynn)