Amelia M. Wirts

My Research

I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Washington in Seattle, where I work on philosophy of law and theories of oppression.

Specifically, my work focuses on the ways that legal systems can oppress along racial, class, gender, and other lines, as well as how to understand systemic and structural oppression. My current work focuses on the American Criminal Justice System, including policing, punishment, and adjudication.

I argue that those seeking to combat violence associated with gender, race, or LGTBQ oppression in the United States should be extremely reticent to use criminal law and punishment as a tools. The criminal law in the United States is so intertwined with anti-black racism that giving it power or legitimacy is morally risky, and its capacity to prompt concrete improvements for oppressed people is compromised.

I am also a graduate of Boston College Law School (2017) and a member of the Massachusetts bar (2018). I pursued my law degree as a part of a dual degree program in philosophy and law at Boston College, and I focused on civil rights and discrimination throughout my time there. I also spent 2017-2018 clerking for the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For more on my work, please see my cv.