Ric Simmons is a Professor of Law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He is the author of Smart Surveillance: How to Interpret the Fourth Amendment in the Twenty-First Century (2019) and the co-author of four textbooks on Criminal Procedure and Evidence.
'In this smart, fair-minded, and important book, Ric Simmons provides an eye-opening tour of the vast range of private services that sidestep and offer alternatives to the criminal legal system. He shows that 'private criminal justice' can't be assessed without understanding the problems of public criminal justice - and vice versa.' David Alan Sklansky, Stanley Morrison Professor of Law, Stanford Law School 'In Private Criminal Justice, Ric Simmons opens our eyes to a criminal justice system unfamiliar to most people and yet of enormous importance: the entirely private world of policing, adjudication, and punishment in the United States. These are not just vigilantes and volunteers, but also highly sophisticated actors and institutions that rival small cities in size. This timely and compelling book is a must-read, not just to understand private justice, but also to learn important lessons that can apply to our troubled public justice system.' Elizabeth E. Joh, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law, UC Davis, School of Law