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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 Are the Most Important Questions to Ask About US Prison Conditions?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIn the United States, numerous standards have been developed for the operation of correctional facilities. States and the federal government have constitutional protections. Professional bodies like the American Correctional Association and the American Jail Association offer accreditation. Courts have weighed in repeatedly. And yet most people who have spent time inside a correctional facility as […]
Why I Keep a Shopping Bag I Rescued from the Trash in Berlin
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThis past week, I rescued my favorite reusable shopping bag from our own trash bin. My wife had thrown it away. This wasn’t because it was splitting at the seams; I only noticed that after I rescued it. She threw it away because she’s never liked it. And this isn’t the first time I’ve rescued […]
Why Shoveling Your Car out of the Snow Doesn’t Create Parking Rights (But Feels Like It Should)
/by Jeffrey Ian RossAfter heavy snowfalls in American cities, people dig out their parked cars, and some try to “hold” the cleared space with lawn chairs, trash cans, traffic cones, etc. The logic is familiar: I did the work, so I should get the benefit. Last week, my neighborhood listserv lit up with complaints from people who had […]