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 University, BA, 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 Repository WWWHEIN
    • 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 WWWHEIN
    • 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

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