Mark Osler

Mark William Osler (born 1963) is an American legal scholar, law professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, and critic of narcotics policy and capital punishment in the United States. He holds the Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law at St. Thomas.

Mark Osler
Born1963 (age 56–57)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationScholar, lawyer, professor, author
Known forJesus on Death Row

Background and Career

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Osler attended Grosse Pointe North High School in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan and subsequently matriculated at College of William & Mary, graduating in 1985. Osler received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1990 and clerked for District Court Judge Jan DuBois in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania before returning to Detroit. There, he worked from 1992-1995 for the law firm of Dykema Gossett, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1995-2000. He began work as a law professor at Baylor University[1] in 2000 before leaving for St. Thomas in 2010.[2] At St. Thomas, he founded the nation's first law school clinic on federal commutations,[3] and he has advocated for an expansive use of the presidential pardon power.[4] His work has been profiled by The American Prospect,[5] Rolling Stone[6][6] and CBS News.[7]

Osler's recent work[8] has focused on clemency[9] and narcotics policy. His opinion pieces have appeared in both The New York Times,[10] and the Washington Post,[11] while his arguments in favor of narcotics policy reform appeared in law journals at Harvard,[12] Stanford,[13] Georgetown,[14] Rutgers,[15] and DePaul.[16] An article Osler co-authored with Rachel Barkow for the University of Chicago Law Review was highlighted in a lead editorial in The New York Times, in which the Times' editorial board expressly embraced Barkow and Osler's argument for clemency reform.[17] He and Barkow also co-founded the Clemency Resource Center[18] at NYU.

Some of Osler's work has addressed sentencing issues involving crack cocaine.[19] In 2009, Osler won the case (through a 6-3 summary and per curiam decision) of Spears v. United States[20] in the United States Supreme Court, which reversed the Eighth Circuit and clarified a prior sentencing decision, declaring that sentencing judges could "categorically" reject the 100-to-1 ration between powder and crack cocaine which was then embedded in the federal sentencing guidelines.

In his scholarship and advocacy, Osler often explicitly addresses Christian audiences, and he holds the Ruthie Mattox Chair of Preaching at First Covenant Church, Minneapolis. [21] Osler is the author of Jesus on Death Row (Abingdon, 2009),[22] which critiques capital punishment in the United States through an examination of the biblical account of Jesus Christ's trial and execution. Following up on the book, Osler and collaborators produced a dramatic[23] "Sentencing of Jesus"[24] in eleven states: Texas,[25] Colorado,[26] California,[27] Oklahoma,[28] Tennessee,[29] Massachusetts,[30] Illinois,[31] Virginia,[32] Louisiana,[33] Arizona, and Minnesota.[34] His 2016 book, Prosecuting Jesus[35] recounts that project.

He has also commented on the death penalty and other issues for CNN,[36] MSNBC,[37] NPR,[38] ESPN,[39] and the Huffington Post.[40] The character of "Professor Joe Fisher" in the film American Violet is based on Osler,[41] and he appeared as a critic of narcotics policy in the 2013 National Geographic series "The 80's,"[42] and as a commentator in the 2014 National Geographic series "The Jesus Mysteries."[43] He is a founding member of Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, a national group of former and current prosecutors and police chiefs.[44]

Osler was also the lawyer for Weldon Angelos, who was freed in 2016 after serving 12 years of a 55-year sentence on a marijuana and gun possession conviction.[45]

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References
  1. "Point Person: Our QandA with Mark Osler". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  2. "Baylor law professor bids dramatic farewell to school, students". Waco Tribune. 2010-04-21. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  3. "Federal Commutation Clinic at School of Law the First in the Nation - Newsroom". Stthomas.edu. 2011-09-12. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  4. Mark Osler (2012-06-08). "Only half-way there on mercy". Msnbc.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  5. "The Quality of Mercy". Prospect.org. 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  6. Jones, Andrea (2014-10-07). "The Nation's Shame: The Injustice of Mandatory Minimums". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  7. "iPad exclusive: Finding mercy in the justice system - 48 Hours Videos". CBS News. 2015-11-28. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  8. "Professor Mark Osler : CV" (PDF). Stthomas.edu. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  9. "Opinion : Obama's Clemency Problem". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  10. "Opinion : We Need Al Capone Drug Laws". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  11. Barkow, Rachel E. (2014-11-26). "The president's idle executive power: pardoning". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  12. Mark Osler. "SYMPOSIUM: DRUG POLICY REALITY AND REFORM : ASSET FORFEITURE IN A NEW MARKET-REALITY NARCOTICS POLICY" (PDF). Harvardjol.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  13. "Narcotics Prosecutors as Problem Solvers by Mark William Osler". 2014-11-02. SSRN 2517675. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. "Seeking Justice Below the Guidelines: Sentencing as an Expression of Natural Law by Mark William Osler :: SSRN". SSRN 1365938. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. "1986: AIDS, Crack, and C. Everett Koop by Mark William Osler". 2014-09-30. SSRN 2502909. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. "A 'Holocaust in Slow Motion?' America's Mass Incarceration and the Role of Discretion by Mark William Osler, Mark W. Bennett". 2014-09-01. SSRN 2489640. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. "Opinion : It's Time to Overhaul Clemency". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  18. "Center on the Administration of Criminal Law launches Clemency Resource Center | NYU School of Law". Law.nyu.edu. 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  19. Kumar, Gautam S. (2013-07-07). "Drug Crime Expert Criticizes Sentencing Policies". The Harvard Crimson. Harvard University. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  20. "Steven Spears v. United States" (PDF). Supreme Court of the United States. 21 January 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  21. https://news.stthomas.edu/professor-mark-osler-named-ruthie-mattox-preaching-chair-first-covenant-church/
  22. Osler, Mark (2009). Jesus on Death Row: The Trial of Jesus and American Capital Punishment. Abingdon Press. ISBN 9780687647569.
  23. "Jesus On (Mock) Trial In Virginia". PerezHilton.com. 2011-04-23. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  24. "Jesus on trial: What would a modern jury do?". Belief Blog. CNN. 22 April 2011. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  25. "Drama asks audience to consider Christ, death penalty". www.statesman.com. 2013-03-23. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  26. Bishop, Jeanne (2013-03-24). "Death and Christ". Boulder Daily Camera. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  27. "Death Penalty for Jesus - Maurice Possley". God's Politics Blog. Sojourners. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  28. Hinton, Carla (2012-03-17). "Oklahoma City church will host 'Trial of Jesus Christ' dramatization". News OK. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  29. "News - Carson-Newman". Cn.edu. 2012-02-25. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  30. "The Trial of Christ" (PDF). Boston College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  31. "Baptism of the Lord" (PDF). Jazz at Four. Fourth Presbyterian Church. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  32. Cherry, Emily (2011-03-11). "Episcopal News Service - CHURCHWIDE". Archive.episcopalchurch.org. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  33. "Death penalty opponents put 'Jesus on Trial': Jarvis DeBerry". NOLA.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  34. "The Trial of Jesus | University of St. Thomas". YouTube. 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  35. Mark Osler (2016). Prosecuting Jesus. ISBN 9780664261856.
  36. Osler, Mark (19 May 2012). "My Take: The Christian case for gay marriage". Belief Blog. CNN. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  37. "Mark Osler". MSNBC. 2013-08-31. Archived from the original on 2013-08-17. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  38. "People - Mark Osler". Thetakeaway.org. 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  39. "OTL: Griner And Baylor - ESPN Video". Espn.go.com. 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  40. "Mark Osler". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  41. "American Violet". Baylor Magazine. Baylor University. 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  42. "Explore the '80s". National Geographic. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  43. "The Jesus Mysteries - National Geographic". Natgeotv.com.au. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  44. http://lawenforcementleaders.org/members/
  45. "Utah man whose long drug sentence stirred controversy is released". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
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