People
December 15, 2010
DeKalb judge joins Center for the Study of Law and Religion
DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Castellani, who retires from the bench in December after more than 26 years of service, joins Emory’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR) as Spruill Family Senior Fellow in Law and Religion the first of January.
A 1966 honors graduate of Emory Law, Castellani plans to research how the U.S. legal system can better handle the increasingly prevalent and complex issues of how religious and spiritual values influence criminal and civil law decisions. He also will teach legal ethics to second- and third-year law students.
“The prevailing notion in our country that religion has no place in law can be, in my opinion, an impediment to real justice. In most difficult cases, recognition of core values will assist in resolving the dispute. I wish to consider more deeply how that recognition can occur in today's legal system,” says Castellani.
Castellani will continue to serve DeKalb County as a senior judge and assist in the county’s drug court, a program he started in 2002 that has helped more than 300 people reclaim their lives from drug addiction.
