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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.
Arming oneself with critical thinking skills
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThis week one of the deadliest school shootings in American history occurred at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. In addition to the 19 school children and 2 teachers killed, 17 injured, and the trauma that it has permanently inflicted on the families, loved ones, and community, the response by the public, law enforcement, activists, and […]
Most American universities are no longer sustainable in their current form
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThe COVID-19 pandemic placed into bold relief how inadequate most of our country’s universities have become for students and faculty alike. Why? Although the coronavirus prompted most postsecondary institutions of higher education, and instructors who work there to pivot to on-line teaching, the experience was mostly suboptimal and in many cases dismal for both instructors […]
I don’t like Spring Semesters
/by Jeffrey Ian RossUnless your university operates on a quarter system, most North American post-secondary educational institutions have three semesters: Fall, Spring, and Summer. Depending on one’s objectives and life circumstances, some semesters are better than others for administrators, faculty, staff, and students. As a university professor, if I had to choose which semester I like the least, […]