In episode 126, we’re exploring the career and research of one of the leading scholars on gender, inequality, and crime, Professor Karen Heimer.

Karen Heimer is Professor of Sociology & Criminology, Collegiate Fellow in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Public Policy Center at the University of Iowa. She also holds a courtesy appointment in the Boyd College of Law. Heimer researches and teaches in the areas of gender and violence, juvenile delinquency, criminal punishment, and causes of crime and violence. She became a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology in 2015 and served as President of the American Society of Criminology in 2018.  She is a recipient of the 2018 Iowa Regents Award for Faculty Excellence and the 2019 UI’s Hancher-Finkbine Faculty Medallion.

David Garland is Professor of Sociology in NYU’s Department of Sociology and Arthur T. Vanderbilt Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. His area of research is social theory and historical sociology with a focus on the penal state and the welfare state. In 2012, the American Society of Criminology awarded him the Edwin H. Sutherland Prize for outstanding contributions to theory and research. He has been elected to membership of learned societies in both the United States and the United Kingdom, being a Fellow of the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

This is Episode 124, and today we’re exploring how pretrial detention and going to trial can shape sentencing outcomes. To help us explore this topic, we’re excited to be joined by Professor Stacie St. Louis.

Stacie St. Louis an Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University. Her research focuses on the administration of justice, including jails and pretrial detention, case processing and cumulative disadvantage, and public opinion and reform. Some of her ongoing projects include assessing the main, indirect, and interactive effects of pretrial detention on case outcomes and exploring public opinion surrounding pretrial justice and ongoing bail reforms. Her studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as Justice Quarterly, Journal of Criminal Justice, and Criminal Justice and Behavior. Dr. St. Louis received her PhD in Criminology and Justice Policy from Northeastern University and was previously an Assistant Professor at Georgia Southern University.

We spoke to Professor Michelle Storrod, whose work examines how gangs have adapted to—and been shaped by—the digital world.

Michelle Lyttle Storrod is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Widener University and is an affiliate of the SAFElab at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her PhD from Rutgers University–Camden. Michelle is the coauthor of the largest violence prevention charity in Europe. Her cross-national scholarly pursuits center on the intricate intersection of youth, social media, and crime. Specifically, her research delves into how young people utilize social media platforms and mobile devices within the context of crime and victimization including drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and serious youth violence. 

Shadd Maruna is Head of the Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology at the University of Liverpool. His research focuses on how individuals desist from crime and reintegrate into society, emphasizing the transformative power of identity and narrative. Shadd’s influential book, Making Good, introduced the concept of the “redemption script,” reshaping our understanding of desistance. He served as President of the American Society of Criminology in 2023.

This week, we spoke with Rod Brunson about one of the most urgent and challenging topics in criminology: race and policing.

Rod K. Brunson is a professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland, College Park. His tackles issues on police including community relations, youth violence, and evidence-based criminal justice policy. He has consistently called for effective crime reduction strategies that do not result in racially disparate treatment of minority citizens and disadvantaged neighborhoods. Rod is a fellow of the American Society of Criminology.

In this episode, we are joined by Professor Chris Uggen to chat about his work on voting rights for people with criminal convictions.

Chris Uggen is Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight Professor in Sociology, Law, and Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a fellow of the American Society of Criminology. He studies crime, law, and inequality, firm in the belief that sound research can help build a more justice and peaceful world. Chris received the 2023 American Sociological Association Public Understanding of Sociology award, in part for his work (with Doug Hartmann) as publisher and editor of TheSocietyPages.org, an online social science hub that has drawn more than 40 million visitors. He is a past Vice President of the American Sociological Association and Executive Secretary of the American Society of Criminology. 

In this episode, we are speaking with Professor Scott Duxbury about his work on group politics and the sociology of punishment.

Scott W. Duxbury is an Associate Professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research examines social networks, criminal law, mass incarceration, racism, public opinion, drug markets, and computational methods. His work has appeared in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, and Social Forces, among other outlets.

Ashley Muchow is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research considers the causes and consequences of social inequality, with a particular focus on policing, immigration, and racial/ethnic disparities.

Welcome to Episode 117 of The Criminology Academy podcast, where we are criminally academic. In this episode, we are speaking with Professor Benjamin Comer and his work around school shootings.

Benjamin Comer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University. His research focuses on gun violence, school gun violence, and mass gun violence. His additional areas of research focus on data accuracy and comparability, as well as spatial criminology. Benjamin received his PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University.