What Survived The Grinder This Year

Creative work isn’t just about generating ideas; it’s about knowing which ones to keep and which ones to discard. Similar to what happens in artisanal butcher shops, most ideas don’t survive the grinder. Over the past year, Ross Industries put its provisional blog posts through that process week after week;  trimming excess, cutting away what didn’t work, and refining what remained until only the strongest pieces made it to the showcase. What follows are the ten blog posts that resonated most across the various platforms on which this blog appears.

10. Good Food, Great Wine, and Unforgettable Conversations: A Tribute to Vincenzo Ruggiero (1951–2024)

Vincenzo Ruggiero was a respected criminologist, influential scholar of political crime and penal abolitionism, and a generous colleague whose rigorous, provocative work shaped the field and deeply influenced my own scholarship. Beyond academia, his generosity and warmth were evident in years of shared conversations, meals, and memorable moments at conferences and time spent together in Tuscany. His passing represents a profound loss to criminology and criminal justice, and to the many colleagues, friends, his wife, and daughter whose lives he enriched through his intellect, humanity, and quiet wit.

9. Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of CONTROLLING STATE CRIME

It has been three decades since Controlling State Crime was published. The book aimed to redirect scholarly attention away from merely identifying state crimes toward the more complex challenge of how to deter, prevent, and control them. While the field has grown—particularly around resistance and crimes of the powerful—I argue that effective control remains the central, unresolved challenge. The anniversary offered an opportunity to revisit these arguments in light of contemporary political developments that make the book’s core questions very urgent.

8. How a Monthly Meet-Up of Graffiti and Street Art Scholars Builds Community

Because the academic study of graffiti and street art is highly interdisciplinary, lacks dedicated programs, and has no formal home within major scholarly societies, researchers in the field often work in isolation. Since January 2023, John L. Lennon, PhD (University of South Florida), has addressed this gap by organizing a monthly Zoom-based Graffiti and Street Art Group. Scholars from around the world and at all career stages share research, discuss publications, and foster collaborations. Topics vary widely, participants have contributed to special journal issues, and the meet-up has built a sustaining community for an otherwise fragmented field.

7. My Students Are Afraid, and They Have Good Reason

My university students are increasingly worried as the Trump administration moves from rhetoric to dismantling federal agencies, programs, and cutting grants, leading to layoffs and the elimination of programs that underpin higher education, raising real fears about the future of the Department of Education and university education. The loss of DOE funding jeopardizes student aid and the stability of public colleges and universities. It also undermines the global competitiveness and prestige of American higher education. Students, faculty, and parents need to be civically engaged. This includes staying informed, advocating, supporting institutions, and voting, because political decisions have concrete consequences and passivity only deepens powerlessness.

6. Reflections on Graffiti From The LA Anti-ICE Protests

During the June 2025 protests in Los Angeles, there was a noticeable increase in anti-ICE graffiti. This activity is part of the city’s long-standing tradition of graffiti and a recurring feature of contemporary political dissent. Concentrated around federal buildings and downtown infrastructure, the largely text-based and confrontational graffiti targeted ICE, President Trump, and local authorities, transforming urban space into a charged visual landscape of resistance. Rather than mere defacement, this work serves as an early-stage form of visual politics, documenting anger, solidarity, and temporary redefinitions of power in public space.

5. Why I Use the Word “Corrections” (Even Though It Makes Me Uneasy)

Despite producing scholarship in the field of corrections, I’ve never been comfortable with the term. While it was intended to humanize punishment, it ultimately obscures the realities of incarceration. The system is effective at punishment but largely fails at public safety, deterrence, and rehabilitation, making the idea that people are being “corrected” misleading. I continue to use the term pragmatically—as a widely understood shorthand—while urging readers to remain critical of what the word conceals, especially in a society where crimes of the powerful often go unpunished.

4. The Never-Ending Demonization of the American Inner City

Decades of political rhetoric, media portrayals, and popular culture—now reinforced by Trump’s proposed and enacted policies—have unfairly demonized American inner cities as inherently dangerous. This narrative has fueled suburbanization, weakened urban tax bases, and justified policies that deepen inequality while ignoring structural causes. Such stereotypes oversimplify reality, overlook vibrant and diverse urban communities, and obscure comparable problems in suburban and rural areas. They demand sustained challenge and a more nuanced understanding of city life.

3. How a Global Database on Prison Education Could Improve Rehabilitation

Despite significant investment in prison education, outcomes vary widely because research remains fragmented, methodologically weak, and rarely comparable across programs or countries. I propose creating a global database of correctional education programs and outcomes to identify what works, what doesn’t, and why. Beginning with crowdsourced data and expanding through institutional support, such a platform could replace anecdote with rigor, improve policy decisions, and significantly strengthen rehabilitation efforts worldwide.

2. What Should You Buy the Academic Criminologist in Your Life

This piece argues, somewhat humorously, that academic criminologists are difficult to shop for. They receive free books, are exhausted by true crime, and live with constant tension between theory and practice. Meaningful gifts, I suggest, should acknowledge these contradictions: signed classic texts, police ride-alongs, prison tours led by formerly incarcerated guides, or conference memorabilia that gently pokes fun at academic life. The post concludes with a warning against all true-crime gifts—most criminologists want a break from thinking about crime.

1. Sobering Thoughts on Academics Considering Leaving the United States

Trump’s second-term rhetoric and policies targeting free speech and DEI initiatives have intensified pressures on U.S. higher education, prompting some scholars to consider leaving for Canada or Europe. But emigrating is far more complex than media narratives suggest. This post outlines major obstacles, including language barriers, immigration hurdles, lower salaries, unfamiliar academic cultures, weak job markets (especially in the humanities), and entrenched local networks that disadvantage outsiders. Overseas academic jobs can be appealing, but they are scarce, competitive, and unstable—realities academics should weigh carefully before uprooting careers and families.

Most ideas at Ross Industries never make it this far. They get cut, trimmed, or sent back through the grinder. The posts above did what creative work must ultimately do: they held up once stripped of excess. As the year ahead takes shape, the process continues. In short, I will be focusing on what’s worth keeping and what should be discarded.

(No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog post.)

Photo Credit

Title: Alfa Modern manual meat grinder