Bruce Western

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Bruce Western is the Bryce Professor of Sociology and Social Justice and the Co-Director of the Justice Lab at Columbia University. Western studies the relationship between political institutions and social and economic inequality. He has longstanding interests in criminal justice policy, incarceration, and the effects of incarceration on poor communities. His research on economic inequality has analyzed labor unions and their effects on income inequality, and trends in income inequality and mobility in the United States. CV

 
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Current research

Courts and JAILS

Two studies examine the effects of jail and court-ordered fees on people who come into criminal courts. The Rikers Island Longitudinal Study (RILS) interviews court-involved people in New York City. The Harvard Study of Legal Debt is a randomized trial, begun with Devah Pager, that assesses the impact of fees in an Oklahoma misdemeanor court.

REENTRY

The Boston Reentry Study (BRS) is a mixed-methods, longitudinal study of 122 men and women released from Massachusetts state prisons to the Boston area. It is a collaborative study led by Bruce Western, Anthony Braga (Northeastern), and Rhiana Kohl (Massachusetts DOC) focused on the transition into the community during their first year after prison release.

Incarceration

Incarceration research includes the Pennsylvania Solitary Study (PASS) and the National Academy of Sciences report on incarceration. PASS, a project with Jessica Simes (Boston University) studies solitary confinement in a large state prison system. The National Academy of Sciences report reviews research on the rise in incarceration and its effects.

Square One Project

Responding to violence in contexts of poverty and racial inequality forms the fundamental challenge of justice reform. The Square One Project aims to foster new thinking about our response to crime, promote more effective strategies, and contribute to a new narrative of justice in America.

 
 
 
 
“Fundamental reform must grapple directly with the social conditions in which mass incarceration emerged.”
— Bruce Western, The Challenge of Criminal Justice Reform, 2019
 
 
 
 

@westernbruce