معرفی
Violeta Chapin serves as Clinical Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Community and Culture at the University of Colorado Boulder Law School. She directs the Criminal and Immigration Defense Clinic and holds office in the Wolf Law Building on the Boulder campus.
Professor Chapin specializes in Criminal Law, Immigration Law, and Clinical Teaching with a focus on indigent defense. Her work centers on the intersection of criminal justice and immigration systems, particularly examining constitutional rights of vulnerable populations. She brings extensive practical experience from her seven years as a trial attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she represented adult and juvenile indigent defendants charged with serious felony offenses.
Her scholarly work includes the 2011 publication 'Silencio! Undocumented Immigrants and the Right to Silence' which examines constitutional protections at the intersection of immigration and criminal law. This research reflects her broader interest in how constitutional rights apply to undocumented immigrants within the criminal justice system.
Professor Chapin has directed the Criminal and Immigration Defense Clinic since at least 2012, teaching this course every semester through Fall 2025 according to the course listings. She also taught an Advanced Clinical Practicum in Summer 2020. Her clinical teaching provides students with hands-on experience representing clients in criminal and immigration matters.
Before joining Colorado Law, Professor Chapin represented indigent defendants in DC, worked on appellate capital litigation with the Equal Justice Initiative, monitored conditions for incarcerated youth in Louisiana, and collaborated with poor farmers in rural El Salvador on an internationally funded water project. Born in and having lived in Central America, she brings a rich cultural background and commitment to justice for all people to her work.
