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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.
Eliminating or reducing police violence by abolishing or defunding the police?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIt was predictable. With the sheer number of people across America in the streets, protesting the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by white police officers, many officers would respond with violence. Over the past week, we have experienced or witnessed firsthand or via social media a lot of uncalled for and unprovoked police use […]
Questioning my white privilege, African-Americans, and space
/by Jeffrey Ian RossDespite my past struggles educationally, professionally, and financially, I’m privileged. It’s not because of my job, where I live, my marital or health status, although these factors don’t hurt; it’s because I am first and foremost a white male. In part because I am a foreigner, I didn’t grow up here, and in part because […]
What’s Graffiti & Street Art got to do with it?
/by Jeffrey Ian RossIf you are like most people, you drive or walk around the city focused on getting to your next destination. If you are driving hopefully you pay attention to other vehicles on the road, the traffic signs and lights, and the pedestrians who attempt or are in the process of crossing the road. If you […]