Rate My Professor Don Dripps

Donald A. Dripps serves as the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law. He earned his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Law Review. Following law school, Dripps clerked for Judge Amalya Kearse on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. His academic career spans several prominent institutions, including the University of Illinois College of Law and the University of Minnesota Law School, where he held the James Annenberg Levee Professorship in Criminal Procedure before joining the University of San Diego.

Dripps specializes in criminal law and criminal procedure, with a focus on constitutional criminal procedure. He is the author of the book About Guilt and Innocence: The Origins, Development, and Future of Constitutional Criminal Procedure and a casebook titled Criminal Procedure: Rights and Remedies in Police Investigations. Additionally, he has been the sole reviser and one of three authors for the last six editions of the casebook Criminal Law and Procedure: Cases and Materials, originally by Perkins and Boyce. His scholarly articles have appeared in premier law reviews, including 'Living with Leon' in the Yale Law Journal (1985), 'Beyond Rape: An Essay on the Difference Between the Presence of Force and the Absence of Consent' in the Columbia Law Review (1992), 'The Constitutional Status of the Reasonable Doubt Rule' in the California Law Review (1987), and 'The Case for the Contingent Exclusionary Rule' in the American Criminal Law Review (2001). Dripps teaches courses such as Criminal Procedure I, Evidence, and Controlled Substances Law at the University of San Diego School of Law. His work explores critical topics including the exclusionary rule, police interrogation, the privilege against self-incrimination, and sentencing discretion. Through his publications and teaching, Dripps has contributed significantly to the fields of criminal law and procedure.