Steven L. Chanenson, a nationally recognized expert on sentencing, is an Associate Professor of Law at Villanova University School of Law.  First appointed to the Commission in January 2002, Professor Chanenson is the Chairman of the Commission's Research Committee and is also a member of the Commission's Policy Committee.

At Villanova, Professor Chanenson teaches courses on sentencing, criminal procedure, and white-collar crime.  As the Director of the Villanova Sentencing Workshop and Co-Director of the Pennsylvania Institute on Criminal Sentencing at Villanova Law, he brings an innovative approach to the study of sentencing and criminal law.  Professor Chanenson writes primarily in the area of sentencing and criminal procedure.  His recent publications include Booker On Crack, 15 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol’y __ (forthcoming); Write On!, 115 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 146 (2006); Guidance From Above and Beyond, 58 Stan. L. Rev. 175 (2005); The Next Era of Sentencing Reform, 54 Emory L. J. 377 (2005); Hoist With Their Own Petard?, 17 Fed. Sent. Rep. 20 (2004); and Get the Facts, Jack! Empirical Research and the Changing Constitutional Landscape of Consent Searches, 71 Tenn. L. Rev. 399 (2004).

Professor Chanenson is an Editor of and frequent contributor to the Federal Sentencing Reporter (University of California Press/Vera Institute of Justice), the leading professional journal of brief commentary on sentencing law, theory and reform.  In addition, Professor Chanenson serves as the Liaison from the National Association of Sentencing Commissions to the American Law Institute’s efforts to revise the sentencing portions of the Model Penal Code.

Professor Chanenson received his B.A. (economics) and M.S. (criminology) from the University of Pennsylvania, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.  At Chicago, he was a Comment Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review.  Hebegan his career as a clerk to the Honorable Phyllis A. Kravitch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and then as an associate at Jenner & Block in Chicago.  He clerked for the Honorable William J. Brennan, Jr. of the United States Supreme Court.  While at the Supreme Court, he also served in the Chambers of the Honorable David H. Souter.  Before joining the Villanova Law faculty in 2000, Professor Chanenson served for several years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney assigned to the Criminal Division in Chicago. 
In a June 2005 ceremony at the United States Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas, on behalf of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, presented Professor Chanenson with the Judge Joseph Stevens Award for Outstanding Public Service in the Field of Law.  Professor Chanenson was chosen as a Truman Scholar in 1986 in recognition of his commitment to public service.  For much of the past decade, he has been active in the Truman Scholar selection process, serving on both the Finalist Selection Committee and regional Selection Panels.