Emily J. Sack

Joining the RWU Law faculty in 2001, Professor Emily Sack has become a nationally recognized expert on domestic violence and reform of the court system. As the Deputy Director for the Center for Court Innovation, Professor Sack helped develop and implement the first domestic violence courts in New York, as well as the first felony domestic violence court in the United States. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stevens cited Professor Sack’s article The Struggle for the Future of Domestic Violence Policy in his opinion in the domestic violence case Castle Rock v. Gonzales.

Active in the community, Professor Sack is a member of the Elder Abuse Working group, assists the National District Attorney’s Association with developing elder abuse training curriculum for prosecutors, and serves as Member of the Board and Chair of EMERGE, a batterers’ intervention and parenting skills programs for men who abuse intimate partners. Prior to joining RWU, Professor Sack worked in diverse offices such as the Senate Judiciary Committee Staff of the late Edward M. Kennedy, the ACLU, and the law firm of Stillman, Friedman, & Shaw.

A magna cum laude graduate of NYU School of Law, Professor Sack earned her B.A. from Swarthmore with high honors and her M. Phil. from Columbia University. She teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Family Law, Children and the Law, Domestic Violence Law, and Death Penalty Law. She recently served as a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Boston College. She has published in many top journals, including the Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Washington University law reviews.

Books

“Varieties of Public Policy Toward Domestic Violence,” in The Oxford Handbook of Family Policy Over The Life Course (Oxford Univ. Press 2023)

Domestic Violence and the Law: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. (Eagan, MN: Foundation Press, 2012) (with Elizabeth Schneider, Cheryl Hanna & Judith G. Greenberg).

“The Crime of Domestic Violence,” in Criminal Law Conversations, edited by Paul Robinson, Stephen Garvey & Kimberly Kessler Ferzan (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2009).

Articles

Illegal Stops and the Exclusionary Rule: The Consequences of Utah v. Strieff, 22 Roger Williams University Law Review 263 (2017)

United States v. Castleman: The Meaning of Domestic Violence, 20 Roger Williams University Law Review 128 (2015)

Is Domestic Violence a Crime?: Intimate Partner Rape as Allegory, 24 St. John’s Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development 535 (2010)

Judicial Selection in Rhode Island: Assessing the Experience with Merit Selection, Response, 15 Roger Williams University Law Review 793 (2010)

From the Right of Chastisement to the Criminalization of Domestic Violence: A Study in Resistance to Effective Policy Reform, 32 Thomas Jefferson Law Review 31 (2009)

The Burial of Family Law, 61 Southern Methodist University Law Review 459 (2008)

The Domestic Relations Exception, Domestic Violence, and Equal Access to Federal Courts, 84 Washington University Law Review 1441 (2006)

Civil Unions and the Meaning of the Public Policy Exception at the Boundaries of Domestic Relations Law, 3 Ave Maria Law Review 497 (2005)

The Retreat from DOMA: The Public Policy of Same-Sex Marriage and a Theory of Congressional Power Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, 38 Creighton Law Review 507 (2005)

Battered Women and the State: The Struggle for the Future of Domestic Violence Policy, 2004 Wisconsin Law Review 1657

Domestic Violence Across State Lines: The Full Faith and Credit Clause, Congressional Power, and Interstate Enforcement of Protection Orders, 98 Northwestern University Law Review 827 (2004)