Joshua Dressler

• B.A., U.C.L.A., 1968 (magna cum laude)
• J.D., U.C.L.A., 1973 (Order of the Coif)

Joshua Dressler, Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law Emeritus, is one of the country’s most respected authorities on the subjects of criminal law and criminal procedure. Before joining the Moritz College of Law faculty in 2001, Dressler held the first Distinguished Professor and Scholar Chair at the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where he also was honored with the University Eberhardt Teaching and Scholar Award. Before that, he taught at Wayne State University, where he received the prestigious Donald H. Gordon Teaching Excellence Award, and at Hamline University, where he received the Best Professor Award from the student body. He also won the Outstanding 1L Professor award from students at the University of California, Los Angeles (1984), University of Nevada at Las Vegas (2018), and at Moritz (2011-12).

Due to Dressler’s international renown, he has been a visiting professor at some of the nation’s best-known law schools, including University of Michigan, UCLA, Fordham University, University of California, Arizona State University, and the University of Texas. He also has taught courses at the University of British Columbia and University of Auckland in New Zealand.

In 2005, Dressler received the honor of giving a University Distinguished Lecture, on the subject of battered women, to The Ohio State University community. In 2007, he received a University Distinguished Scholar Award. In 2014, Ohio State honored him as a Distinguished University Professor, which is the university’s highest faculty honor.

Dressler’s scholarship is substantial. He is the author of casebooks in the fields of criminal law and criminal procedure, with the former used by professors at about 100 American law schools. His treatises in the field frequently are cited by scholars and courts. He is also the author of a criminal procedure text used in undergraduate classes, and more than 50 scholarly articles and book chapters, published in the United States and United Kingdom. He is editor-in-chief of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice and was instrumental in creating the respected Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law.

As a member of the prestigious American Law Institute, he serves on the Members Consultative Group working on revisions to the sexual offense provisions. He also serves on the Law School Advisory Board of the West Publishing Co.’s American Casebook Series.

Dressler frequently is an invited speaker at law schools and conferences throughout the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Europe. He also is frequently called upon by local, national, and international media to comment on important criminal justice matters.