Keith Petty's research currently employs compliance theory to analyze observed behavior in relation to legal norms in the substantive areas of criminal law and procedure, legal ethics, national security law, and international law. He has a forthcoming article in the Georgetown Journal of International Law and previously published in the Seattle Law Review, Hastings International & Comparative Law Review, Loyola LA International & Comparative Law Review, and the Denver Journal of International Law & Policy, among others. Keith Petty serves in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He previously served as a war crimes prosecutor in the Office of Military Commissions, responsible for prosecuting terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was detailed to several active cases, most notably the pending trial United States v. Omar Khadr. Keith previously deployed to Baghdad, Iraq for a year as a law of war adviser, providing legal advice to combatant commanders and soldiers on targeting issues, detainee treatment, and human rights. Prior to his military service, Keith was an adjunct assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he taught the War Crimes Prosecution Lab with Professor Michael P. Scharf. His first experience with war crimes prosecutions was as a judicial clerk in the Trial Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He received his LL.M. with distinction in human rights law from Georgetown University Law Center. He earned his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and his B.A. from Indiana University.
Articles
Beyond the Court of Public Opinion: Military Commissions and the Reputational Pull of Compliance Theory, Georgetown Journal of International Law (2010)
The decision to prosecute the suspected co-conspirators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in either federal...
Who Watches the Watchmen? 'Vigilant Doorkeeping,' The Alien Tort Statute, & Possible Reform, Loyola LA International and Comparative Law Review (2010)
The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) allows alien plaintiffs to file civil actions in U.S. district...
Are You There, Geneva? It's Me, Guantanamo, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law (2009)
This essay examines the application of the Geneva Conventions at the Guantánamo Bay Military Commissions....
Criminalizing Force: Resolving the Threshold Question for the Crime of Aggression in the Context of Modern Conflict, Seattle University Law Review (2009)
The crime of aggression will soon become reality when the International Criminal Court adopts an...
Veiled Impunity: Iran's Use of Non-State Armed Groups, Denver Journal of International Law & Policy (2008)
Iran’s use of non-state armed groups is a key component of its foreign policy, and...
Published Papers
Professional Responsibility Compliance and National Security Attorneys: Adopting the Normative Framework of Ethical Legal Process, ExpressO (2011)
In 2010, a Department of Justice report cleared the authors of the infamous “torture memos”...
Professional Responsibility Compliance and National Security Attorneys: Adopting the Normative Framework of Ethical Legal Process, ExpressO (2010)
In January 2010, a Department of Justice report cleared the authors of the infamous “torture...