New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang is a lifelong New Yorker, attorney, and educator.
Prior to her appointment as New York State’s 11th Inspector General in October 2021, Lang served as Director of the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution (IIP), a national criminal justice reform think tank. She also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, where she investigated and prosecuted violent crimes including homicides, gun violence, and domestic abuse, as well as Special Counsel for Policy and Projects. Lang brings her longstanding commitment to justice to bear in the Office’s investigations into corruption, waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct in state government as well as deep experience designing and implementing practices that promote institutional integrity, transparency, and accountability.
While at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and in collaboration with Columbia University’s Center for Justice, IG Lang created Inside Criminal Justice, a first-of-its-kind college class for incarcerated students and prosecutors to study criminal justice together and develop policy proposals to better the system for all involved. This is a national model being replicated by other District Attorney’s offices and correctional facilities across the country. 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 currently Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section, a member of the Council on Criminal Justice, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the New York Daily News, and many others. 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.
She was appointed to and served on the New York State Bar Association Task Forces on Racial Injustice and Police Reform in 2020-21, and on Racism, Social Equity, and the Law in 2021-22.