Colleen Murphy
Colleen Murphy

Colleen Murphy is the Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy & Political Science at the University of Illinois. She is also director of the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program in Illinois International.

Professor Murphy is the author of The Conceptual Foundations of Transitional Justice (Cambridge University Press 2017) and A Moral Theory of Political Reconciliation (Cambridge University Press 2010). She is also co-editor of Engineering Ethics for a Globalized World (Springer 2015), Risk Analysis of Natural Hazards: Interdisciplinary Challenges and Integrated Solutions (Springer 2015), and Climate Change and Its Impacts: Risks and Inequalities (Springer, under contract). Professor Murphy is an associate editor of the Journal of Moral Philosophy; on the editorial boards of the journal Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure and the Springer series The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology (ELTE); and a member of the American Philosophical Association Committee on Philosophy and Law.

Prior to joining the Illinois faculty, Professor Murphy was an associate professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University. During 2010-2011, she was a Laurence S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. Professor Murphy holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor of arts from the University of Notre Dame.

Columns by Colleen Murphy
Transitional Justice, Anti-Democratic Riots, and Private Responses

In light of the events of January 6, Illinois law professors Lesley M. Wexler and Colleen Murphy identify some preliminary questions raised by private actors sanctioning other private actors for the latter’s potentially criminal activities at the Capitol. In particular, Professors Wexler and Murphy explain why the event gives rise to transitional justice concerns, and through the transitional justice lens, they assess the advantages and disadvantages of private action in this context.

A Beginning, Not An Ending: #MeToo and the Kavanaugh Confirmation

Illinois law professors Lesley Wexler and Colleen Murphy propose that the most lasting legacy of the Kavanaugh confirmation battle will not be Judge Kavanaugh’s imprint on the Court, but the bravery Dr. Ford has inspired in others. Wexler and Murphy view the recent events through the lens of transitional justice and argue that the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh is not dispositive or even indicative of whether the aspirations for #MeToo movement may be realized.