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Home > People > Faculty : Joel Samaha

Joel Samaha

Professor
Ph.D. 1972 Northwestern University
J.D. 1961 Northwestern University
Room 1033 Social Sciences
Phone: 612-624-3529
Email: jbs@umn.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Interest Areas

Criminal Law and Procedure in U.S. Society; History of Criminal Justice.

Current Research

Prof. Samaha has written three influential textbooks, which are used at 465 colleges in 48 states. Joel’s teaching methods challenge students’ ideas and assumptions about criminal justice, and forces them to admit that other ideas are worth considering and studying. Prof. Samaha’s students find their lives and academic careers changed by this experience. A former student claims, “Joel’s style challenges the student to take the risks necessary to learn and achieve new understandings of the subject matter—and a great deal about themselves.”

Prof. Chris Uggen, Department Chair, recognizes his influence and success claiming that Prof. Samaha has “shaped the instruction of criminal justice courses in every state and had a profound impact on the administration of criminal justice in Minnesota.”

Many of his former students have gone on to become professors, academics, and criminal justice leaders. “I have never met anyone who combined the depth of knowledge of law and history with [the] genius for analytical reasoning and powerful oratory,” stated a former student. “Joel is one of a kind.”

“Teaching undergraduates, to me, means making students uncomfortable with their assumptions.… I don’t see my job as picking the right or best assumptions for students, but as driving home a different point: that there are several reasonable meanings to any topic worth studying.”

Selected Publications

Criminal Procedure. 2010. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Criminal Law. 2009. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Criminal Justice. 2008. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Research Specialties

Faculty