Paul G. Chevigny

Paul Chevigny, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law Emeritus, New York University School of Law.

"A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, Paul G. Chevigny initially devoted his practice and scholarship to studying the social and political problems underlying police abuses. Indeed, prior to joining the New York University School of Law faculty in 1977, Chevigny worked for many years in association with the New York Civil Liberties Union, first as Director of the Police Practices Project and later as a staff attorney, and two of his books, Police Power: Police Abuses in New York City and Cops and Rebels, are considered classics.

"During his time at NYU School of Law, however, Chevigny has expanded his interests considerably. Thus, for example, for the last ten years he studied comparatively the problems of police violence in Third World cities, participating frequently in missions for Human Rights Watch. He was the principal author of three reports (Human Rights in Jamaica, Police Abuses in Brazil, and Police Violence in Argentina); and he prepared a critique for Human Rights Watch of our federal government's failure to control police violence in American cities. He completed a comparative study of police violence in the Americas, Edge of the Knife, in 1995." CV

His daughter is "independent documentary filmmaker and producer" Katy Gale Chevigny. 


 * Member, Human Rights Watch Americas Advisory Committee
 * Member, Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Committee
 * Director, Global Policy Forum
 * Formerly Director, Harlem Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project, and associate, Hughes, Hubbard and Reed (see CV)

Early Publications

 * Police Power: Police Abuses in New York City (Pantheon, 1969).
 * Cops and Rebels (Pantheon, 1972).