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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. He brings an insider’s perspective to his work, shaped by his experience as a former courier, taxi driver, corrections worker, and union shop steward. This approach has also benefited from numerous visits to correctional facilities across North America, Europe, and South America, and firsthand research on street culture, and graffiti and street art internationally. Ross has published 30+ 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.











Public transportation systems need a more rational approach to graffiti and street art
/by Jeffrey Ian RossFrom dirty, trash strewn, and smelly buses and subway cars, bus transportation hubs, and subway stations, through unreliable schedules, to rude, unhelpful, and surly bus drivers and subway booth attendants, if you are like lots of people, there are many things that bother you about public transportation systems. However, amidst these complaints, graffiti and street […]
Are most academic departments, schools, and colleges of Criminology or Criminal Justice cop shops?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossMany academic departments (schools and colleges) of Criminology and Criminal Justice, at least in the United States, are often disparagingly called “cop shops.” What does this mean? This label is often affixed to academic units that are disproportionately staffed by instructors and professors who are former criminal justice practitioners (hereafter, practitioners), and there is a […]
How do democracies slip into authoritarianism?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThe prospect of a second Trump term, the current composition of the supreme court, and the rise of the MAGA movement, has prompted not just elected and stalwart democrats and political commentators, but former leaders and members of the Republican Party to suggest that the United States risks the possibility of becoming an authoritarian state. […]