Latest Blog Posts
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.
Enabling new ways of using urban pubic space during the COVID-19 pandemic
/by Jeffrey Ian RossShortly after the spring COVID-19 lockdown, my neighborhood in Washington DC resembled a ghost town. Bars, restaurants, and other retail stores started shutting down, while businesses, government offices, public libraries, schools, and parks were temporarily closed. At night it was eerie. The silence was punctuated by occasional sounds of ambulances or fire truck sirens taking […]
Trump gets COVID-19 and the world goes crazy
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThis past week we learned that not only did Hope Hicks, President Donald Trump’s former trusted advisor contract COVID-19, but so did Trump and many of the people whom he closely associated with during a recent Rose Garden ceremony. Predictably lots of people from the drunk at the end of the bar, to the army […]
Rebel without a clause: The trouble with copyright and trademarks in connection with graffiti and street art
/by Jeffrey Ian RossLast week, Banksy, the elusive British street artist, or more specifically Pest Control, the company that represents him, lost a trademark case in the European Union Intellectual Property Office. They argued that because Pest Control had not used the image that Banksy created in order to generate income, during a specific period in time, then […]