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About the Inspector General

On November 29 2021, Lucy Lang became the New York State Inspector General.

Learn more about her past experiences and current responsibilities.

New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang is an attorney, educator, and lifelong New Yorker.

Lucy.Lang

As New York State’s 11th Inspector General, Lucy Lang brings her longstanding commitment to justice to overseeing the Office’s investigations into corruption, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in state government, as well as deep experience designing and implementing practices that promote institutional integrity, transparency, and accountability. 

Inspector General Lang’s leadership has included the implementation of novel transparency initiatives, extensive public educational outreach, and the agency’s complete technological overhaul.  By appointing Attorneys-in-Charge for Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Oversight, Workers’ Compensation Fraud, and Welfare Fraud, Inspector General Lang has empowered her statewide interdisciplinary staff to prioritize partnership with and protection of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.  Inspector General Lang has reinforced the agency’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion while expanding its workforce, instituted numerous policies dedicated to enhanced sustainability practices, and prioritizing the mental and physical health of her staff. 

Under Inspector General Lang’s leadership, OIG has concluded and publicly published the findings of major investigations including two detailing defects in both the manufacturing and administration of drug tests used by DOCCS to detect the presence of contraband in correctional facilities, an analysis of the glaring racial disparities that persist in the administration of discipline in NY prisons, and a review of the policies for supporting survivors of domestic violence in the state workforce. During her first year in office, Inspector General Lang visited all 44 correctional facilities in New York State.

Prior to her appointment as Inspector General, Lang served as Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution (IIP), a national criminal justice organization. She also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, where she investigated and prosecuted violent crimes including homicides, gun violence, and domestic abuse, and served as Special Counsel for Policy and Projects.

While at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and in collaboration with Columbia University’s Center for Justice, Inspector General Lang created Inside Criminal Justice, a first-of-its-kind college class for incarcerated students and prosecutors to study criminal justice and develop policy together. This is a now a national model. Inspector General Lang has been widely recognized for her work, including receiving the Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award from the American Psychological Association in 2020 as an educator who inspires her students in prison to make a difference in their communities.

Inspector General Lang is a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a member of the Council on Criminal Justice, a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served on the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section. She was appointed to and served on the New York State Bar Association Task Forces on Racial Injustice and Police Reform, and on Racism, Social Equity, and the Law. She has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the New York Daily News, and many others. Inspector General Lang is the author of “March On!,” a children's book about the 1915 Women's March for Suffrage in New York City which encourages the next generation of courageous and thoughtful leaders.

Inspector General Lang is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia Law School, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gender and Law and has served as a Lecturer-in-Law, and is a graduate of the Executive Public Leaders Programme at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.