E-mail this pageSociology Faculty - William C. Peters
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice
Bill is an attorney, licensed in state and federal district courts with extensive criminal law experience. He litigated more than 50 felony level cases in the United States and overseas as lead counsel, serving in positions as both chief prosecutor and senior defense counsel; he has adjudicated countless pretrial hearings. He is also a former Army officer with considerable international law expertise--before joining the SUNY community he was assistant professor, course director of international law, and deputy director of the Law of Armed Conflict Center at the United States Military Academy, West Point.
Professor Peters coached undergraduate teams in 2006 and 2007 at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in the Villa Ormond at San Remo, Italy, and for the 19th and 20th Jean-Pictet international humanitarian law competitions held near Madrid, Spain in 2007, and Bern, Switzerland in 2008. In the 1990s he deployed as legal advisor to military commands frequently, twice for UN relief missions in the Sub-Saharan failed state of Somalia.
Earlier in his career Bill lived in Central America, Africa, and Alaska, and was posted from upstate New York to coastal Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, and to a presidential escort assignment which included duty at the White House in the Carter and Reagan administrations and as a sentinel of the Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In quieter times he enjoys wilderness camping (in "the Great Alone" as Robert Service called it), tour kayaking, cross-country skiing, and antiquing with his wife upstate and across New England.
Education
- LL.M. in International Law, the University of Virginia School of Law
- LL.M. in Military Law, the Judge Advocate General's School
- J.D. (with honors), Northern Illinois University
- A.B. in Political Science and Russian Studies, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Teaching Areas
- Criminal Justice Ethics, Internship Program, Constitutional Law
- Sociology of War and International Humanitarian Law
- Criminal Law and Transnational Terrorism
Research Interests
- The Nuremberg international military tribunal's legacy of Law
- Private military corporations and command responsibility in armed conflict
Published Articles and Essays
- "The Duty to Investigate War Crimes: Has a Decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia Been Overtaken by Developments in International Humanitarian Law?" with Ethan S. Burger. International Bar Association: Annual Academic & Professional Development Newsletter 2008
- "The State that Signed the Contract Felled a City: One Voice at the Intersection of Public War and Private Profit." Vol. 34 Social Justice: a Journal of Crime, Conflict & World Order 2008
- "Reykjavik Revisited - a Mostly Informal Essay of Long Wars, Two Presidents, and Three Branches of Government." Vol. 13 New England Journal of Intl. and Comparative Law 2007
- "On Law, Wars, and Mercenaries: the Case for Courts-Martial Jurisdiction over Civilian Contractor Misconduct in Iraq." 2006 Brigham Young University Law Review No.2
- "Of Courts, Clauses, and Native American Culture: Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association." Vol. 9 Northern Illinois University Law Review 1989
Contact Professor Bill Peters
Office: Redcay Hall 233
Phone: (518) 564-3343
E-mail: wpete002@plattsburgh.edu