Jessica Wolfendale

Guest Author

Dr. Jessica Wolfendale (@JCWolfendale) is Professor of Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University and holds secondary appointments in the School of Law and as a senior research associate at the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence. Her research focuses on the ethics of political violence, with a particular interest in the processes by which ordinary military personnel may come to commit atrocities such as torture.

She is the author of two books and more than 40 articles and book chapters, which have appeared in such publications as the Journal of Military Ethics, the Journal of Political Philosophy, Criminal Justice Ethics, and the Case Western Journal of International Law. Her most recent book, War Crimes: Causes, Excuses, and Blame, written with Matthew Talbert (Oxford University Press, 2019), argues that war crimes are often explained by perpetrators’ beliefs, goals and values. In her current book project, Torture and Terrorism in America, she examines the toleration of torture and terrorism in the criminal justice and national security contexts. Many of her publications are available here.