The presentation will offer a comparative analysis of capital punishment in the Jewish legal system and the American legal system. The discussion will include a close look at Jewish law on its own terms and explore possible insights in the context of the ongoing debate over capital punishment in American law.

This event is a collaboration between the College of Law and the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel.

Professor Samuel J. Levine is Professor of Law and Director of the Touro Law Center Jewish Law Institute. He is the author of Jewish Law and American Law: A Comparative Study (Two Volumes), and Was Yosef on the Spectrum? Understanding Joseph Through Torah, Midrash, and Classical Jewish Sources. He also has published more than sixty law review articles and book chapters. He has been described by the Detroit Legal News as “one of the world’s foremost experts on the interplay of Jewish and American law.” Professor Levine has served as Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Professional Responsibility, three times as Chair of the AALS Section on Jewish Law, as Co-Chair of the AALS Section on Law and Religion, on the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Criminal Justice, the AALS Section on Criminal Procedure, and the AALS Section on Law Professors with Disabilities and Allies.