Vincent Chiao

Professor and Associate Dean, Graduate Programs

Jackman Law Building
Room J332
78 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5

Tel.: 416-978-4901

Email: vincent.chiao@utoronto.ca

My research interests are in public law, with a particular focus on the philosophy of criminal law. In addition, I write on the ethical implications of emerging technologies in legal contexts, as well as normative social and legal theory more broadly. I am the author of Criminal Law in the Age of the Administrative State (OUP 2018). Themes in my ongoing work include: the place of law in formal and informal social orders; punishment and the evolution of cooperation; and the rule of law as a social technology.

I recently appeared on the Jean Monnet Center's JUST-AI podcast to discuss AI and procedural fairness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-CQJMEuf-4

See also the Law & Philosophy focus area.

See also Professor Chiao's SSRN page.

Education

B.A. - University of Virginia (1998)

Ph.D. - Northwestern (philosophy) (2006)

J.D. - Harvard Law School (2008)

Academic appointments

Visiting Professor, New York University School of Law, fall 2023.

Tyler Haynes Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Richmond School of Law & Jepson School of Leadership Studies, 2022-23

William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies, Canada Program, Harvard University, 2021-22

Awards and distinctions

SSHRC Insight Development Grant (with François Tanguay-Renaud and Boris Babic)

Reginald F. Lewis Fellow, Harvard Law School

Selected publications

“The rule of law after the Anthropocene,” forthcoming in Artificial Intelligence, Humans, and the Law, J Slosser & H Palmer Olsen, eds (2025).

“Content moderation online: ex ante versus ex post,” with Alon Harel, University of Illinois Law Review (2023): 1587-1606

“Disobedience as such,” with Alon Harel, Jurisprudence (2024): 1-18. Peer reviewed.

“Algorithmic decision-making, statistical evidence & the rule of law,” Episteme (2023): 1-24. doi:10.1018/epi.2023.27. Peer reviewed.

“Explainability and the Epistemic Division of Labour in Adjudication,” with Martin Heslop, University of Toronto Law Journal 73(1) (2023): 73-91.

“From the Philosophy of Punishment to the Philosophy of Criminal Justice,” with Javier Wilenmann, in The Palgrave Handbook on the Philosophy of Punishment, M Altman, ed (2022).

“Realism and the rational administration of the law in Beccaria,” in Re-Reading Beccaria, A du Bois-Pedain & S Eldar, eds (2022)

Curriculum Vitae

Research areas

Criminal Law

Criminal Procedure and Evidence

Legal Theory

Political Philosophy and Theory

Law Courses

Criminal Law Theory

First Year: Criminal Law C

First Year: Criminal Law D

Publications

All Publications

See also Professor Chiao's SSRN page.