Gabe Mend­low is a pro­fes­sor of law and pro­fes­sor of phi­los­o­phy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan Law School. He teach­es and writes in the areas of crim­i­nal law, crim­i­nal pro­ce­dure, moral phi­los­o­phy, polit­i­cal phi­los­o­phy, and the phi­los­o­phy of law.

Mendlow’s current research focuses on issues at the intersection of criminal law and freedom of thought, and on the law and theory of policing. He has been awarded fellowships by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies (Burkhardt Fellowship), the US Department of Education (Jacob K. Javits Fellowship), and the Institute for Humane Studies. 

His recent activities include consulting with the United Nations about legal frameworks for protecting freedom of thought, testifying as an expert on American federal criminal law in a Canadian cross-border arms trafficking case, and serving as an elected member of the University of Michigan Police Department Oversight Committee. 

He previously worked as a special assistant US attorney in the US attorney’s office in Detroit, where he handled trial-level and appellate cases involving guns, drugs, fraud, theft, and counterfeiting. He also served as a postdoctoral associate in law and philosophy at Yale University. He is a member of the Connecticut Bar.

Relat­ed Information

Areas of Interest

Education
  • Har­vard Col­lege, AB, social studies 
  • Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty, PhD, philosophy 
  • Yale Uni­ver­si­ty, JD 

    • Recent Courses

    Clerkships

    • Connecticut Supreme Court, Justice Richard N. Palmer
    Activ­i­ties
    Feb­ru­ary 2022

    Pre­sent­ed ​“Thoughts, Crimes, and Thought Crimes,” Rack­ham Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Work­shop on Knowl­edge, Infor­ma­tion, and Soci­ety, Uni­ver­si­ty of Michigan.

    June 2021

    Par­tic­i­pat­ed in a Con­sul­ta­tive Work­shop on Legal Frame­works for Respect­ing, Pro­tect­ing, and Ful­fill­ing Free­dom of Thought, con­vened by the UN Spe­cial Rap­por­teur on Free­dom of Reli­gion or Belief.

    Jan­u­ary 2021

    Pre­sent­ed ​“The Moral Ambi­gu­i­ty of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tion” at the UVA Law School Legal The­o­ry Workshop.

    Novem­ber 2020

    Pre­sent­ed ​“The Moral Ambi­gu­i­ty of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tion” at the Yale Law Jour­nal Legal Schol­ar­ship Workshop.

    Sep­tem­ber 2020

    Pre­sent­ed ​“The Moral Ambi­gu­i­ty of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tion” at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa Col­lege of Law Fac­ul­ty Speak­er Series.

    Sep­tem­ber 2020

    Pre­sent­ed ​“The Moral Ambi­gu­i­ty of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tion” at the Michi­gan Law School Legal The­o­ry Workshop.

    July 2020

    Pre­sent­ed ​“Pun­ish­ment Pro­por­tion­ate to What?” at the Sym­po­sium on Pro­por­tion­al­i­ty in the Crim­i­nal Law, George­town Uni­ver­si­ty Law Center.

    Fea­tured Scholarship

    "The Moral Ambiguity of Public Prosecution"

    Yale Law Journal
    MLaw RepositoryWWW
    • Philosophy of Law

    "Thoughts, Crimes, and Thought Crimes"

    Michigan Law Review
    MLaw Repository WWW HEIN
    • Criminal Law

    "Why is it Wrong to Punish Thought?"

    Yale Law Journal
    MLaw Repository HEIN
    • Criminal Law

    "The Elusive Object of Punishment"

    Legal Theory
    MLaw Repository WWW
    • Criminal Law
    See All Scholarship

    News and Events

    Gabe Mendlow
    News

    Michigan Law Professor Gabriel Mendlow Awarded NEH Fellowship for Book Project on Thought Crime

    See All