Biography

Beth Colgan joined Stanford Law as a fellow in 2011. Her research examines various issues related to criminal justice, juvenile justice, and the constitutional rights of people who are incarcerated or institutionalized.

Previously, Colgan was the Managing Attorney of the Institutions Project at Columbia Legal Services in Seattle, Washington. Colgan’s practice focused on class litigation and legislative advocacy on behalf of juveniles and adults who were incarcerated or institutionalized on issues including constitutional deprivations, conditions of confinement, duties of care, reentry services, and sentencing reform. Prior to joining Columbia Legal Services, Colgan was an associate in the Seattle office of Perkins Coie, LLP. Her practice involved complex litigation in federal and state courts in the areas of election law, torts, securities, intellectual property, and environmental disputes. Colgan also engaged in extensive pro bono work while at Perkins Coie, focusing primarily on access to competent public defense services in rural Washington and the treatment of youth in the adult criminal justice system.

Colgan is a 2000 graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, where she was a member of the Northwestern Law Review and the national Moot Court team, and was the winner of the prestigious Wigmore Key award. She received a degree in Political Science from Stanford University in 1995.

Key Works

• Lisa Pruitt & Beth A. Colgan, Justice Deserts: Spatial Inequality and Local Funding of Indigent Defense, 52 Arizona Law Review 219 (2010).
• Beth A. Colgan, The Presidential Politics of Prisoner Reentry Reform, 20 Federal Sentencing Report 110 (2007).
• Beth A. Colgan, Teaching a Prisoner to Fish: Getting Tough on Crime by Preparing Prisoners to Reenter Society, 5 Seattle Journal for Social Justice 293 (2006).
• Steven A. Drizin & Beth A. Colgan, Tales from the Juvenile Corrections Front: A Guide to How Standard Police Interrogation Tactics Can Produce Coerced and False Confessions from Juvenile Suspects, in Interrogations, Confessions & Entrapment, G. Daniel Lassiter, editor, (Perspectives in Law & Psychology, v. 20), New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2004.

Publications & Cases

• Beth A. Colgan, Public Health and Safety Consequences of Denying Access to Justice for Victims of Prison Staff Sexual Misconduct,18 UCLA Women's Law Journal 195 (2012).
• Lisa Pruitt & Beth A. Colgan, Justice Deserts: Spatial Inequality and Local Funding of Indigent Defense, 52 Arizona Law Review 219 (2010).
• Beth A. Colgan, The Presidential Politics of Prisoner Reentry Reform, 20 Federal Sentencing Report 110 (2007).
• Beth A. Colgan, Teaching a Prisoner to Fish: Getting Tough on Crime by Preparing Prisoners to Reenter Society, 5 Seattle Journal for Social Justice 293 (2006).
• Steven A. Drizin & Beth A. Colgan, Tales from the Juvenile Corrections Front: A Guide to How Standard Police Interrogation Tactics Can Produce Coerced and False Confessions from Juvenile Suspects, in Interrogations, Confessions & Entrapment, G. Daniel Lassiter, editor, (Perspectives in Law & Psychology, v. 20), New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2004.