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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.
What’s wrong with fixing it in the mix?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIn 1997, jazz vocalist Kevin Mahogany (1958-2017) composed and performed a catchy melodic song titled “Fix It in the Mix.” Not only does the piece narrate the story of the challenges encountered during the recording of a song, but it also satirizes the music production process, highlighting a growing tendency (and perhaps an over-reliance) to […]
Deconstructing the diffusion of contemporary graffiti to major cities around the world
/by Jeffrey Ian RossOver the past four decades, one of the most interesting things that occurred in the urban visual landscape, has been the presence of graffiti (and street art). This form of public art has happened in big cities, in all regions and countries, throughout the world regardless of climate, geography, and political systems that govern them. […]
Does Street Culture Travel?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossSome people may assume that street culture, defined as “the beliefs, dispositions, ideologies, informal rules, practices, styles, symbols, and values associated with, adopted by, and engaged in by individuals and organizations that spend a disproportionate amount of time on the streets of large urban centers” (Ross, 2018, p. 8), or elements thereof, are unique to […]