Stephen Cody

Stephen Cody is a former war crimes investigator, criminal prosecutor, and research director. His scholarship uses sociological theory and mixed methods research to understand criminal law, ocean governance, and threats to democracy. His recent publications focus on the dangers posed by legalistic autocrats in weak democracies, the regulation of deep sea mining beyond national jurisdictions, and criminal accountability for offshore environmental crimes. Cody has also published research on witness protection in international criminal trials, victims’ participation at the International Criminal Court, detainee abuse in military prisons, and the globalization of counterterrorism laws.

Cody's scholarship has appeared in law reviews, peer reviewed journals, and books published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and University of California Press. With support from the National Science Foundation and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Cody has conducted empirical studies in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Kenya, the Netherlands, Uganda, and the United States.

Prior to joining the Suffolk Law faculty, Cody was a research director at Berkeley Law’s Human Rights Center, a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, and a law clerk in the criminal division of the District of Columbia Superior Court.

Raised in West Philadelphia, Cody graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Temple University, where he became a Truman Scholar. He also completed an M.Phil. in anthropology from Cambridge University as a Fulbright scholar. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology and his J.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Cody teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, and ocean law. He has also taught courses on race and American law, international criminal law, research methods, and civil procedure.

Education

• University of California, Berkeley, M.A., Ph.D. in Sociology
• Berkeley Law, J.D.
• Cambridge University, M.Phil in Social Anthropology
• Temple University, B.A. in Political Science

Selected Publications

Articles

• Oceanic Impunity, 97 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW (Forthcoming 2024)
• Exploiting Seabed Law, 45 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (2024) (with Jeffrey Feldmann)
• Dark Law on the South China Sea, 23 CHICAGO JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 62 (2022)
• Dark Law: Legalistic Autocrats, Judicial Deference, and the Global Transformation of National Security, 6 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS 643 (2021)
• Victims and Prosecutors: Clientelism, Legalism, and Culture at the International Criminal Court, 51 CORNELL INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 339 (2020)
• Stephen Cody and Alexa Koenig, Procedural Justice in Transnational Contexts, 51 VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 1 (2019)

Book Chapters

• Stephen Cody and Eric Stover, Bearing Witness: Testimony and Transitional Justice in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, Palgrave Handbook of Testimony and Culture, Sara Jones and Roger Woods (eds.), (Palgrave Press 2022)
• Stephen Cody and Eric Stover, ‘We will not go away’: The Participation of Victims and Witnesses in International Criminal Tribunals, The President on Trial: Prosecuting Hissène Habré, Sharon Weill, Kim Thuy Seelinger, Kerstin Bree Carlson (eds.), (Oxford University Press 2020)
• Stephen Cody and Eric Stover, The Role of Victims: Emerging Rights to Participation and Reparation in International Criminal Courts, International Law in Context, Philipp Kastner (ed.), (Routledge Press 2018)
• Stephen Cody, Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and Victim Participation in Uganda, The Legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals, Nobuo Hayashi and Cecilia Bailliet (eds.), (Cambridge University Press 2017)
• Stephen Cody, Alexa Koenig, and Eric Stover, Witness Testimony, Support, and Protection at the International Criminal Court, Africa and the International Criminal Court, Kamari Clarke and Eefje de Volder (eds.), (Cambridge University Press 2016)

Honors and Awards

• Berkeley Empirical Legal Studies Fellow
• Certificate of Appreciation, Suffolk Law’s Black Law Students Association
• Fulbright Scholar to the United Kingdom
• Harry S. Truman Scholar (Pennsylvania)
• Public Allies Fellow
• Suffolk Law Teacher of the Year (2023)

Bar Admittance

• California