Stephanie A. Jirard, JD

Education

• JD, Boston College Law School
• MA in Applied History, Shippensburg University
• AB, Cornell University

Research Interests

• Media representations of law and justice
• Race and juvenile justice
• The death penalty

Affiliations

• Massachusetts Bar
• Louisiana Bar
• US Supreme Court Bar

Employment History

• Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice, Shippensburg University (PA)
• Assistant Public Defender, Capital Litigation Unit, Columbia (MO)
• Assistant Federal Public Defender, Boston
• Assistant US Attorney, Boston
• Trial Attorney, US Department of Justice, Washington, DC
• LT, US Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps, New Orleans

Professional Activity

• Jirard, S. A. (2025, October). New legal research and writing strategies for the AI-Ready Paralegal. Annual Fall Conference of the American Association for Paralegal Education, Grand Rapids, MI
• Jirard, S. A. (2025, March). Subverting hegemonic concepts of femininity and achieving gender equality under law: Perry Mason female killers. 62nd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Denver, CO
• Jirard, S. A. (2023, April). Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll: Celebrity biography through the lens of Autopsy. Annual Meeting of the Popular Culture Association, San Antonio, TX
• Jirard, S. A. (2019, March). Count me in: Content analysis of #metoo presidential tweets and news coverage during Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. 56th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Baltimore, MD
• Jirard, S. A. (2018, September). The monster in white: The banality of language authorizing human experimentation in the United States. Classical & Modern Languages and Literatures Symposium. Mississippi State College, Starkville, MS
• Jirard, S. A. (2018, February). Defining archaeological looting as terrorism: A new weapon in the fight to save cultural property. 55th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, New Orleans, LA
• Jirard, S. A., & Slattery C. A. (2017, March). School-to-prison pipeline: From chilling statistics to interruption initiatives. 19th Annual Conference of the National Association of Multicultural Education, Carlisle, PA

Selected Publications

• Textbook: Jirard, S. A. Criminal Law & Criminal Procedure: A Courtroom Approach. Sage Publishing (2019).
• Chapter: Jirard, S. A. “Policing America: An Instructor’s Guide to Classroom Discussions on Racism, Reform, and Redefining Justice.” Sage Publishing (2020).

Honors/Awards

• Blue Flame Award for Sustained Inspirational Teaching (2025)