Amelia M. Wirts

I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University of Washington in Seattle, where I work philosophy of law, especially criminal law, with special attention to structural injustices in legal systems.

My recent papers focus on the ways the criminal legal system, especially punishment, perpetuates structural racism and why it is a bad fit for achieving feminist goals.

I am also working on a series of papers on how structural racism and classism are built into American policing practices in ways that make policing difficult to reform.

I am 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.