Mark Osler
Professor of Law

B.A., College of William and Mary
J.D., Yale University School of Law

Yale Law School graduate and a former federal prosecutor, Mark Osler is an expert on sentencing whose work has consistently confronted the problem of inflexibility in sentencing and corrections.

"What links all my work together is that there needs to be a role for mercy in those parts of our justice system that are most staunchly retributive, where the rules don't bend and the individual isn't seen," he says.

Most recently, as lead counsel, he won the case of Spears v. United States (2009) in the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Court held that sentencing judges can categorically reject the 100:1 ratio between crack and powder cocaine in the federal sentencing guidelines. Justice Stevens (in dissent) also quoted Osler in the seminal case of United States v. Booker (2005), which struck down the mandatory guidelines.

As an appellate attorney, Osler has briefed or argued cases (often as Amicus for other sentencing experts) in six federal courts of appeal and in the United States Supreme Court, and as a sentencing expert he has testified in Congress (2009) and before the U.S. Sentencing Commission (2004).

He serves as the head of the Association of Religiously Affiliated Law Schools, and often lectures on issues relating to sentencing, ethics, and faith and the law. His work on one case is portrayed in the Samuel Goldwyn Film, American Violet, in which the character of Professor Joe Fischer is based on Osler’s role in working with a former student to address suspect practices by a District Attorney.

His book, Jesus on Death Row, (Abingdon, 2009) challenges the death penalty based on the experience of Christ as a criminal defendant. It was an idea conceived in 2001 when he staged a mock trial with Christ being prosecuted for capital crimes with the congregation of Osler’s Baptist church serving as jury.

He has also authored more than 20 academic articles, and has been interviewed as a sentencing expert on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.”