Contact Information
Biography
Amelia M. Wirts is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington, Seattle. Amelia's areas of specialization are philosophy of law and social and political philosophy, and she also works in feminism and philosophy of race. Specifically, Amelia's work focuses on the ways that legal systems can oppress along racial, class, gender, and other lines, as well as how to understand systemic and structural oppression. Amelia's current work focuses on the American Criminal Justice System, including policing, punishment, and adjudication.
Amelia also has interests in liberalism and criticisms of liberalism, critical race theory and critical race feminism, and the failures and successes of anti-discrimination law.
In addition to her PhD, Amelia earned a JD from Boston College Law School (2017) , and she is member of the Massachusetts bar (2018). She pursued her law degree as a part of a dual degree program in philosophy and law at Boston College, where she focused on civil rights and anti-discrimination law. She clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 2017-2018.
Research
Selected Research
- Wirts, A.M. Mixed Messages: How Criminal Law Fails to Express Feminist Values. Criminal Law, Philosophy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-024-09745-4 Download PDF
- Wirts, A.M. Book Review of Matthew C. Altman, A Theory of Legal Punishment: Deterrence, Retribution, and the Aims of the State Law and Philos 42, 205–210 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10982-022-09470-w
- Wirts, A.M. (2023). What does it mean to say "The Criminal Justice System is Racist?" American Philosophical Quarterly 60.4. 341-354 Download PDF
- Wirts, A.M. (2023). "Is Crime Caused by Illness, Immorality, or Injustice? Theories of Punishment in the Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Centuries" In: Altman, M.C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook on the Philosophy of Punishment. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11874-6_4
- Wirts, Amelia M., José Jorge Mendoza. "The Undermining Mechanisms of ‘Rule of Law’ Objections: A Response to Song and Bloemraad" The Ethics of Migration Policy Dilemmas Project, Migration Policy Centre (MPC), European University Institute (2022): 1-5.