Researching Law Volume 31 Issue 1 - Flipbook - Page 15
VO L 31 | NO 1 | SP RING 2020
Elizabeth Mertz:
If you think of the ABF Survey as
one of the founding efforts of
our research tradition, it set up a
model that you can still see today.
That model includes researchers
focusing with precision on the law in
the real world and being given the
room they need to innovate.
They have the freedom to work
at the cutting-edge, to honestly
confront issues that come up, to
consult an interdisciplinary group of
experts. People like Goldstein and
Remington had an eye to the realworld; they wanted to give back. For
example, Goldstein spent a lot of his
life trying to help police reform.
Q: What is the significance
of the ABF Survey for
the ABF?
the foundation established by
the Survey.
Traci Burch:
The ABF became a unique site
and opportunity for putting serious
time and effort into your research
because we have the chance not
just to teach but also to do research
and get funding for research. I
think the tradition is still very much
with us, especially when we are
reminded of it with pieces like this.
I think it has ensured that we
continue to have a strong group
of people at the ABF who are
interested in studying criminal
justice. It has resulted in a research
faculty and a strong cohort of
doctoral fellows who continually
are interested in studying criminal
justice and are at the forefront of
cutting-edge research. I think that
early tradition helped establish
criminal justice as an essential part
of what the ABF does.
John Heinz:
Since the 1960s, the ABF has
always devoted a major share of its
research effort to criminal justice.
That is a regular and continuing
part of our work, building on
ELIZABETH MERTZ
John and Rylla Bosshard
Professor of Law Emerita,
University of Wisconsin
John Hagan:
Elizabeth Mertz:
The idea of taking people who
you know deeply care about the
problem and have the expertise,
and giving them room to work in an
area and push against accepted
wisdom, that to me is one of the
things that characterizes most ABF
research. It is a rare luxury, and the
ABF tries to honor that tradition.
The idea of taking people who you know deeply
care about the problem and have the expertise,
and giving them room to work in an area and
push against accepted wisdom, that to me is
one of the things that characterizes most ABF
research. It is a rare luxury, and the ABF tries to
honor that tradition.
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