 He taught at Harvard Law School until his retirement in 1982, after which he served there as the Touroff-Glueck emeritus professor of criminal justice until his death.In addition to his stint as president of the American Society of Criminology, Ohlin devoted time to public service in a number of presidential administrations, including as special consultant on delinquency to the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under John F. Kennedy, as associate director of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice under Lyndon B. Johnson and as a member of the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice under Jimmy Carter.Ohlin died at the age of 90 on December 6, 2008 at his home in Santa Barbara, California of Shy–Drager syndrome, a neurodegenerative disease.