Josh Bowers

Josh Bowers

Josh Bowers is a professor and co-director of the Law & Public Service Program at the University of Virginia School of Law. He lives in the North Downtown neighborhood.

Bowers is one of the nine original members appointed by the 2018-2019 City Council to the Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board

Josh E. Bowers joined the University of Virginia law faculty in 2008 as an associate professor of law. His primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, criminal justice theory and constitutional law. Bowers, who formerly practiced at a boutique white-collar criminal defense firm and also served as a public defender. As of 2015-16, his base salary was $211,300 (342% of University of Virginia median).

Boards and Commissions

• Member Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board
• Member Charlottesville Police Foundation

Quotes

My bottom-line claim, however, is not just that these arrests constitute bad public policy but also that, in certain exceptional circumstances, courts ought to be willing and able to step in and declare that no act so unreasonable according to a common-sense measure should be held to be reasonable according to a constitutional measure. That is, constitutional and common-sense conceptions of reasonableness ought to align to some degree. At least, they ought not to deviate wholly.

The key is quality leadership and training. Good policing starts from the top-down. But, significantly, it also includes a bottom-up dimension — that is, no department can be successful without cultivating community buy-in. In turn, community buy-in entails open channels of communication and avenues for lay involvement in law-enforcement decision-making and action.