Marvin Zalman

"Marvin Zalman" began his career in criminal justice education in northern Nigeria. He and his wife Greta, then recent graduates of Brooklyn Law School, were inspired in their college years by President John F. Kennedy's challenge to young Americans: "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country: " As Peace Corps volunteers from 1967 to 1969 they taught at the Faculty of Law at Ahmadu Bello University, in the city of Zaria. Zalman taught classes on criminal law...See more

"Marvin Zalman" began his career in criminal justice education in northern Nigeria. He and his wife Greta, then recent graduates of Brooklyn Law School, were inspired in their college years by President John F. Kennedy's challenge to young Americans: "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country: " As Peace Corps volunteers from 1967 to 1969 they taught at the Faculty of Law at Ahmadu Bello University, in the city of Zaria. Zalman taught classes on criminal law and criminal procedure, beginning a lifetime of study of these subjects. He authored a casebook on Northern Nigerian criminal procedure and conducted a study of sentencing patterns in local criminal courts. Upon returning to the United States, he began formal studies in a then new field of scholarship, at the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany, from which he holds his Ph.D. degree. From 1971 to 1980 he taught at the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University and came to Wayne State University in Detroit, where he served as chair of the Criminal Justice Department from 1980 to 1987 and 2001 to 2003. From 1978 to 1980 Professor Zalman was the executive director of sentencing guideline development projects for the State of Michigan and in 1984 for the State of New York. He has published research and scholarship in the areas of criminal sentencing, criminal procedure, domestic violence, prisoners' rights, assisted suicide, and democracy and criminal justice. He teaches classes on criminal justice policy, criminal law, the judicial process, and criminal procedure. Marvin Zalman believes passionately that constitutional criminal procedure is themost important course that criminal justice students can take because it deals with individual liberty. H1s parents fled to the safety of America during World War II; he owes his life to the power and decency of the United States, embodied in its constitutional values. The message he wishes to convey is that every day, each police officer, defense lawyer, prosecutor, probation officer, and judge who does his or her job properly keeps the promise of liberty alive. See less