James Forman Jr.

James Forman Jr. is a Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He graduated from Atlanta’s Roosevelt High School, Brown University, and Yale Law School, and was a law clerk for Judge William Norris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court.

After clerking, he worked at the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., where he represented both juveniles and adults charged with crimes for six years. Alongside this legal work, Forman co-founded the Maya Angelou Public Charter School in 1997 with David Domenici, establishing an alternative educational environment geared towards school dropouts and youth who had previously been arrested. The program's success led to its expansion in 2007 to operate inside D.C.’s juvenile prison, achieving significant improvements under the Maya Angelou staff's guidance. The court monitor overseeing D.C.’s juvenile system recognized this transformation as "extraordinary."

Forman joined the Yale faculty in 2011, previously teaching at Georgetown Law from 2003 to 2011. At Yale, he instructs students in Constitutional Law and offers seminars titled "Race, Class, and Punishment" and "Inside-Out Prison Exchange: Issues in Criminal Justice," which includes both Yale Law students and incarcerated men. His academic focus encompasses criminal procedure and criminal law policy, constitutional law, juvenile justice, and education law and policy, with a special interest in how these areas intersect with race and class.

Forman's first book, "Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America," has earned critical acclaim, winning the Pulitzer Prize and being longlisted for the National Book Award. It was also named a Best Book of the Year by several prominent publications, including the New York Times and The Marshall Project. In addition to his book, Forman has contributed op-eds and essays to major publications such as the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post. His speeches often delve into the issue of mass incarceration in the United States, using a blend of data and personal narratives to captivate and educate his audience. Recently, Forman spoke at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis, continuing his active engagement in critical discussions around criminal justice.