Penn Professors on Writing in Criminology

Dr. Stephanos Bibas

About the Professor

Dr. Bibas is a leading scholar of criminal procedure, with a focus in criminal charging, plea bargaining, and sentencing. He is influential in fields of scholarly research as well as litigation for the Supreme Court of the United States of America. His current academic work is informed from his experience as a federal prosecutor for the southern district of New York.

Typical Student Assignment

Dr. Bibas teaches graduate courses in Penn Law. Typical student assignments he assigns are research papers, about 20-30 pages in length, and sections of briefs in his clinic: shorter, less ambitious expository versions of briefs.

Personal Writing Process

Dr. Bibas begins with thought and discussion with a co-author. He then writes a paragraph and a two page rough outline to organize his ideas and thereafter then writes a fast ‘flow’ first draft with citations included but without much editing. For scholarly articles, which demand more time, he writes roughly five pages a day, while he is able to produce Supreme Court briefs at the rate of ten pages a day. These briefs are easier, in his words, because they are produced after students have already written first drafts, which illuminate what is correct and what should be eliminated or edited.

More extensive biographies of Dr. Stephanos Bibas can be found at:

Penn Law and Wikipedia