David M. Dudley

When he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1984, Attorney David M. Dudley, like the majority of his classmates, could have taken a high-paying job at a large corporate law firm. Instead, he decided to devote his career to defending individuals charged with serious crimes, primarily in federal court, but in state courts as well. Mr. Dudley believes that criminal defendants are, to varying degrees, scapegoats for larger social problems which government leaders are unwilling or unable to address directly. This scapegoating, much more intense and widespread in this country than in any other democratic nation, has led to the increasing criminalization of individual and organizational behavior. Such expanding criminalization has in turn fed a prison/industrial complex which generates tremendous income for those who participate in its operation, creating a revolving door which is not an unintended effect of the prison system, but its primary purpose. Without vast recidivism, the system would fail to provide the economic benefits to which those participants have become accustomed. As a result, our country incarcerates a higher proportion of its population than any other. Through his experiences and his study of the criminal justice system and its history, Attorney Dudley has reached the conclusion that only the most violent criminal offenders, if convicted, deserve any prison or jail time whatsoever. That is why he has never served as a prosecutor.