The Criminal Law Practitioner

For Authors

Submit Manuscript

The Criminal Law Practitioner is currently accepting articles to review for publication in Volume 14 Issue 2 (expected publication date August 2024), and Volume 15 Issue 1 (expected publication date January 2025).

Article types

The Criminal Law Practitioner accepts scholarly research articles for print and digital publication and short blog articles and columns for digital publication. Those who wish to submit an article for publication should either submit their manuscript and CV via the Scholastica platform or email them to clp@wcl.american.edu. Those who wish to submit short blog articles and columns for digital publication on should email their materials to clp@wcl.american.edu.

Submission requirements

Manuscript Format

  • Scholarly research articles should follow the newest edition of The Bluebook. Article submissions should use Microsoft Word, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1 in. margins, utilize footnotes, and be double spaced. The Criminal Law Practitioner does not have a word count or footnote count requirement for scholarly articles; however, published articles tend to have at least 100 footnotes and are typically more than 10-pages long.
  • Blog articles and columns should follow AP Style. Submissions should use Microsoft Word, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1 in. margins, 1.5 line spacing, and utilize end notes or hyperlinks. The Criminal Law Practitioner does not publish blog articles and columns more than 1,000 words, excluding end notes.

Editorial and Peer Review Process

Upon receipt of your submission, the Editorial Board will review your manuscript. The Editorial Board reviews manuscript submissions in August and September and in January and February. Decisions are issued in October and February.

Publication details

After a manuscript has been accepted for publication, we will provide each author with American University’s standard publication agreement. Any negotiation of terms must be handled through the University’s Office of General Counsel. In that event, The Criminal Law Practitioner will make every effort not to delay the publication of an author’s article.