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About
Criminologist, Scholar, & Consultant
Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D., is a criminologist at the University of Baltimore and co-founder of Convict Criminology. His approach is shaped by nearly a decade of work before entering academia, as a courier, cab driver, corrections worker, and union shop steward. It is further grounded in three decades of visiting correctional facilities across North America, Europe, and South America, researching the conditions inside them, and having conversations with convicts and correctional officers and administrators. It also draws on interviews with formerly incarcerated people outside those facilities, and on ethnographic fieldwork on street culture and on graffiti and street art internationally. Ross has published more than thirty books and shares his expertise on corrections, policing, political crime, street culture, and graffiti and street art through scholarship, public writing, speaking, media commentary, and consulting.
The Never-Ending Demonization of the American Inner City
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThis past week, Trump proposed an executive order aimed at increasing sentences for violent crimes (especially gun-related), quality-of-life offenses (e.g., public urination), the clearing of homeless encampments, and the removal of graffiti from national monuments in the District of Columbia. Notwithstanding whether Trump has the legal authority to impose these sanctions, over the past century, […]
Tracing the History of Documenting and Sharing Images of Graffiti & Street Art
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThe documentation and dissemination of images of contemporary graffiti and street art have been integral to its existence and development. Meanwhile, how people have shared images of this material has evolved. Much of this shift parallels advances in photographic, computer, digital, and web-based technology and the culture’s response to these developments. While practitioners and audiences […]
No Soul in the New Hotel?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossI’ve stayed in everything from budget hostels to luxury hotels—and, most recently, so-called smart hotels. With this last type of accommodation most interactions with the hotel and the room are either automated, and/or customers can do this through their smartphone or computer. Guests are usually given a code to check in and out and to […]