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Luke William Hunt joined the Alabama philosophy faculty in 2020.  He teaches in the department’s Jurisprudence Track, and his primary research interests are at the intersection of philosophy of law, political philosophy, and criminal justice.  After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk for a federal judge in Virginia. He then worked as an FBI Special Agent in Virginia and Washington, D.C., followed by his doctoral work in philosophy at the University of Virginia.

His first book, The Retrieval of Liberalism in Policing (Oxford University Press, 2019), provides an account of how law enforcement in liberal societies has become illiberal in light of its response to internal and external threats to security.  His second book, The Police Identity Crisis — Hero, Warrior, Guardian, Algorithm (Routledge, 2021), examines the police role and identity from within a broader philosophical context, arguing that prominent conceptions of the police are inconsistent with a collective conception of justice.  His third book, Police Deception and Dishonesty – The Logic of Lying (Oxford University Press, 2024), illustrates how the police’s widespread use of proactive deception and dishonesty is inconsistent with fundamental norms of political morality, eroding public faith in the police institution.

His papers have appeared in journals such as Criminal Law and Philosophy, Law and Philosophy, Ratio Juris, Human Rights Quarterly, Polis, Criminal Justice Ethics, and the Washington University Jurisprudence Review.

Fall 2023 Office Hours:

Tuesdays and Thursdays – 12:15pm-1:15pm and by appointment.