Summer 2026 Inside the Issue Note from the Chair Note from the Chair 1 Introductions 5 Awards 6 Division-SponsoredConference Sessions 7 Publications 8 Member News 10 Solidarity Campaigns 11 Presentations andResearch Notes 12 Job Market Candidates 13 Dear Crime and Justice Division members, We hope this note finds you well and thatsummer has offered at least a little room tobreathe. As many of us prepare to gather for SSSP 2026in New York City, our field stands at a revealingcrossroads. The data tell one story: violentcrime has continued its steep national declineinto 2026, with the FBI's preliminary figuresshowing the single largest one-year drop inviolent crime and murder in nearly ninety years(FBI Releases Historic Early Look at AnnualCrime Data, 2026), and early 2026 numberssuggesting we may be approaching the lowesthomicide rate the country has ever recorded(Brownlee, 2026). By nearly every measure,Americans are safer than they have been ingenerations. 01 And yet, the political story runs in almost the opposite direction. Crime remains apotent rhetorical weapon, invoked over the past year to justify the deployment offederal troops to major cities and an expansion of enforcement that our membersstudy closely and, in many cases, live through (Contreras, 2026). As scholars of crimeand justice, we know this dissonance intimately: the gap between what theevidence shows and what power chooses to claim is precisely the terrain we study,and increasingly, the terrain we are called to defend. This summer, that tension has been on vivid display around the FIFA World Cup, co-hosted across sixteen cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, includingNYC/NJ and many of your home cities. Billed as one of the most heavily securedsporting events in history, with biometric screening, AI-driven surveillance, and anICE presence around stadiums (Ainsley, 2026; Gibbs, 2026), the tournament hasdoubled as a live demonstration of the surveillance and immigration-enforcementapparatus many of us research. More than a hundred civil rights organizationsissued a travel advisory for arriving fans, and immigrant communities, unionworkers, and journalists alike felt the chill of a security posture that too oftenconfuses belonging with suspicion (Andre & Avilez, 2026; Kolhatkar, 2026). Forscholars of crime and justice, the World Cup has been less a distraction from ourwork than an unusually public case study in it: a reminder that "security" is always aset of choices about who is protected and who is policed. It is worth carrying thatobservation into our conversations in New York and beyond. Now, some announcements, offered in the spirit of community that sustains us.First, we will hold a virtual Division meeting on July 22, 2:30 pm to 4:10 pm, andwe hope you'll join us. This gathering is where the coming year takes shape. We'llturn our attention to next year's conference, the 77th SSSP Annual Meeting inChicago (August 5–8, 2027), organized around the theme Building Communities forRadical Change, a call, in the tradition of SSSP founder Alfred McClung Lee, for asociology accountable to the communities engaged in resistance and survival,grounded in abolitionist praxis, mutual aid, and collective refusal (you can read thefull theme statement at). Together we'llbrainstorm session ideas for the Chicago program and, just as importantly, invitevolunteers to help organize them. The Division is only as vibrant as the memberswho step forward, and there is a place for you in this work. We'll also take time tocelebrate our paper and award winners, whose scholarship embodies exactly thekind of engaged, transformative inquiry this theme demands. Details will follow byemail, and we are especially committed to making space for those who, for reasonsof safety, cost, or circumstance, cannot travel to New York. Your voice belongs in thisDivision whether or not you can be in the room, and we mean that. 02 Secondly, we are delighted to celebrate this year's Division award winners: theGraduate Student Paper Award and the Scholarly Achievement Award. We aremoved by the depth and range of this year's submissions, which speak to the vitalityof critical scholarship even under mounting political pressure. We look forward tohonoring outstanding work by our students and colleagues at the conference andin these pages. To everyone who submitted: thank you for the courage and careyour scholarship represents. Third, a heartfelt thank you to our two awards committees, whose careful andlargely invisible labor made these honors possible. Our Graduate Student PaperAward committee was chaired by Stephani Williams, with members Kevin Dahaghi,Jordan Grasso, Lloyd Klein, Olaitan Faysal, and Karen Lancaster-Ellis. Our ScholarlyAchievement Award committee was chaired by Lois Presser, with members PopyBegum, Kelly Tabbutt, Cassy Gonzalez, and Diana Veloso. Reviewing submissions isgenerous work, offered freely in service to this community, and it is the quietsolidarity on which the Division depends. To each of you: we see you, and we aregrateful. As always, please prioritize your own safety and well-being in deciding whether andhow to attend this year. For those traveling to New York, I hope you find community,sharp conversation, and genuine joy in the city. For those joining virtually, we are soglad to have you. Our work, understanding how justice is defined, distributed, and denied, has rarelybeen more necessary or more contested. We are honored to do it beside you, andwe are not doing it alone. In solidarity, Rafia Mallick 03 References Ainsley, J. (2026, May 13). ICE may be at World Cup matches in U.S. NBC News. Andre, R., & Avilez, J. (2026, June 11). World Cup Immigration Questions Answered:ICE, Visa Denials, and Iran. American Immigration Council. Brownlee, C. (2026, May 12). A Top Analyst Explains Why America’s Second ‘GreatCrime Decline’ Could Already Be Here. The Trace. Contreras, R. (2026, May 10). Violent crime rates plunge in America’s big cities.Axios. FBI Releases Historic Early Look at Annual Crime Data. (2026, May 13). [PressRelease]. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gibbs, A. (2026, June 9). ICE, bag searches and denied visas—How World Cupteams have been welcomed—Yahoo Sports. Newsweek. Kolhatkar, S. (2026, July 8). As ICE Casts Shadow Over World Cup, OrganizersFocus on Keeping Communities Safe. Truthout. 04 Introductions Chair (2025-2027) Rafia Mallick is a critical qualitative and quantitativesociologist and Ph.D. candidate at Georgia State Universityin Atlanta. She holds two master’s degrees and a GeographicInformation Systems certification. She has worked as aresearch assistant and data analyst for different community-based projects in Pakistan, New York, Oklahoma, andGeorgia. Her research centers on structural inequitiesimpacting immigrant communities and racializedpopulations in the United States, with a specific focus onanti-Asian racism, South Asian diasporic identity, theproduction of ethnic enclaves, patriarchal traditionalism,religiosity, deviant behavior, and collective efficacy. Associate Chair (2025-2027) Jennifer M. Carpenter is a PhD Candidate at Georgia StateUniversity. She currently serves as the Managing Editor forthe department’s two journal publications, The CriminalJustice Review and The International Criminal JusticeReview, as well as teaching Criminal Justice courses in thedepartment. Her current research is focused on the reentryneeds of gender minorities and how a lack of genderconcordant documentation may hinder their ability to findjobs and housing after incarceration Chair-Elect (2027-2029) Dr. Kelly Tabbutt is an Assistant Professor of Sociology atAlfred University in Alfred, New York. She teaches in the broadareas of sociology, traditional and critical criminologies,carceral studies, and criminal justice studies. Her mainresearch areas are carceral system inequalities, structuralracial inequalities, and colonialism. Specifically, as theseimpact Indigenous peoples in the United States. Her interestsalso intersect with and include the structure of Native Nationsovereignty and tribal criminal justice systems. 05 Awards 2026 Graduate Student Paper Award winner Michael Zanger-Tishler for the paper "State Data and the Production ofQuantitative Knowledge: The Case of Police Stops in the United States and France." 2026 Scholarly Achievement Award winner Joachim Savelsberg Joachim J. Savelsberg is a Professor Emeritus of Sociologyand Law at the University of Minnesota, where he taught forover 35 years. He is a highly distinguished scholar in thefields of criminology, the sociology of law, and humanrights, recognized as a Fellow of the American Society ofCriminology and a former Arsham and CharlotteOhanessian Chair. His scholarship focuses on the sociology of genocide knowledge, collectivememory, and the representation of mass violence, with recent projects examiningthe Armenian genocide and human rights violations in Syria. He has authored several acclaimed books, including Knowing about Genocide(2021), Representing Mass Violence (2015), and American Memories (2011), many ofwhich have received prestigious book awards from the American SociologicalAssociation and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Savelsberg has held numerous leadership roles, including serving as Chair for theASA sections on Human Rights and the Sociology of Law. He is the recipient ofmultiple lifetime achievement awards, such as the Harry J. Kalven, Jr. Prize andthe Lee Founders Award. Throughout his career, he has mentored thousands of students and receivedseveral awards for his dedication to teaching and faculty mentoring. 06 Division-Sponsored ConferenceSessions at Annual Meeting Friday, August 7 8:30- 10:10 AM: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Inventing Criminality across the Globe -Room: Pearl 12:30-2:10 PM: Algorithmic Injustices: Effect of AI on Vulnerable (Marginalized)Communities - Room: Plymouth 2:30-4:10 PM: Beyond Therapeutic Regimes: Critiquing Traditional Medicaland Criminal Legal Responses - Room: Plymouth 2:30-4:10 PM: Weaponization of Child Welfare - Room: Ambassador II 4:30-6:10 PM: Gender and Violence: International Perspectives - Room:Plymouth Saturday, August 8 8:30- 10:10 AM: Mass Incarceration and Perpetual Punishment I - Room:Plymouth 10:30 AM -12:10 PM: Mass Incarceration and Perpetual Punishment II - Room:Plymouth 12:30-2:10 PM: State of Policing I - Room: Plymouth 2:30-4:10 PM: State of Policing II - Room: Plymouth Sunday, August 9 8:30- 10:10 AM: Mass Incarceration and Perpetual Punishment III - Room:Plymouth 10:30 AM -12:10 PM: The Border Crossed Me: Shifting Lifeworlds ofImmigration - Room: Plymouth 12:30-2:10 PM: Gender and Violence: Structural Issues - Room: Plymouth 2:30-4:10 PM: Gender and Violence: Institutional Perspectives - Room:Plymouth 07 Publications Bell, Charles. February 2026. “No Restraint: DisabledChildren and Institutionalized Violence in America'sSchools.” NYU Press,https://nyupress.org/9781479834594/no-restraint/ Veloso, Diana Therese M. 2026. “Third Space Ecclesia:Women Promoting Justice and Peace in Conflict Zones.”Journal of Moral Theology 9 (CTEWC Book Series 9): 282–304. https://doi.org/10.55476/001c.160247. Walton, Shawn D. 2026. “From Reform to Resurgence: A Case Study of theNYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk Policy Under Changing Mayoral Administrations(1994–2024).” UNBOUND Digital Magazine. Pasadena, CA: SaybrookUniversity . Published March 12, 2026. Retrieved May 7, 2026 Jillian LaBranche and Joachim Savelsberg. 2026. “Stigma Management,Group Interaction, and Cultural Trauma: A Rwanda-Germany Comparison.”American Journal of Cultural Sociology. Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 76-109. Joachim J. Savelsberg, Jillian LaBranche, and Miray Philips. 2025.“Prosecutorial-NGO Complex: New Legal Opportunity Structures and theRole of (I)NGOs in Universal Jurisdiction Trials on Syria.” Law & Society ReviewVol. 59, Nr. 4, pp. 716-748. 08 Publications Jillian LaBranche and Joachim Savelsberg. 2025. “Universal Jurisdiction and CivilSociety: Institutional Learning and Knowledge about Mass Atrocity Crimes.” SociologyCompass. Vol. 19, Nr. 11, pp. 1-10. John Hagan and Joachim Savelsberg. 2025. “Memorializing War Crimes and How WeRemember to Forget: The Vietnam War, Collective Memory, and America’s ForeverWars” In: Research Handbook on Violent Crime and Society, edited by Terry Mietheand Wendy Regoeczi. Edward Elgar, pp. 63-83. Mallick, Rafia, and Deirdre Oakley. 2026. “Beyond the British Raj: Coloniality, Caste,and Race in South Asia” in The Handbook for the Geographies of Race, AMultidisciplinary Global Perspective, De Gruyter Mallick, R. (2026). Book Review: The Other Side of Assimilation: How Immigrants AreChanging American Life. Teaching Sociology, 54(3), 282-284. Martensen, K. (2025). Carceral Collusions with "the Community": An Examination ofCommunity-Based Juvenile Justice Reforms. S&F Online, 21(1). 09 Member News In honor of Black History Month and its 100th anniversary, Saybrook proudlyrecognizes alumnus Dr. Shawn D. Walton, who was recently honored by BlackDoctorate Matter for his doctoral scholarship and national impact. 2026 Article Award -- Honorable Mention, SSSP Conflict, Social Action andChange Division. For: Joachim J. Savelsberg, Jillian LaBranche, and Miray Philips.“Prosecutorial-NGO Complex: New Legal Opportunity Structures and the Role of(I)NGOs in Universal Jurisdiction Trials on Syria.” Law & Society Review Vol. 59, Nr.4, pp. 716-748. Jennifer Carpenter won the Andrew Young School Leadership and ServiceAward in Criminal Justice and Criminology Peper Rivers received a History of Science Society-National Science Foundationtravel grant; Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society Dr. Diana Therese M. Veloso PN(Res) is the new Chair of the Department ofSociology and Behavioral Sciences at De La Salle University in the Philippines. Shewas also reelected to the Board of Directors of Philippine Sociological Society. Dr. Diana Therese M. Veloso PN(Res) is celebrating her 25th anniversary ofprison ministry in the Philippines this June 2026. She has been volunteering atthe Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, since2001. She also occasionally visits and engages in gift-giving activities at theCorrectional Institution for Women-Mindanao in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norteprovince. She has also visited and provided assistance at prisons for men inMuntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Leyte province, Davao del Norte province, andZamboanga City, over the past years. Rafia Mallick began a new role as Graduate Research Assistant at the GeorgiaHealth Policy Center, contributing to two projects: an evaluation of the CDC'sDiabetes Prevention Program and Market in the Middle. Rafia Mallick was awarded the CNC Fellows Award. 2026. Center forNeighborhoods and Communities, Georgia State University 10 Member News Rafia Mallick was accepted and completed the Atlanta Community EngagedResearch (CER) Program at Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, GeorgiaInstitute of Technology Rafia Mallick was elected as Student Representative (2026-2029), Membership andOutreach Committee, Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). Rafia Mallick was elected as Graduate Student Representative on Council forCommunity and Urban Sociology, Section of the American Sociological Association. Melicha Rahaman started the PhD program in Sociology at the University of Texasat El Paso (UTEP) and currently serving as a Teaching Assistant in the Departmentof Sociology. Melicha Rahaman is the recipient of the Diana Natalicio Summer Fellowship,University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), 2026. You can learn more about Dr. Shawn D. Walton’s work at New Alternatives ForLGBT Homeless Youth Inc: Solidarity Campaign Melicha Rahaman current research engages with issues of displacement, refugeegovernance, statelessness, and humanitarian representation, particularly focusingon the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. Through this work, I aim tocritically examine how political and media narratives shape public understandingof refugee protection, temporariness, and everyday bordering practices affectingdisplaced communities. 11 Presentations Rafia Mallick, and Deirdre A Oakley. What Makes a Neighborhood?Understanding and Visualizing Urban Disadvantage: How FormalDefinitions Shape Research, Inequality, and Intervention (InvitedPresentation). Break the Cycle of Children’s Environmental HealthDisparities (BTC 21) Conference. April 2026. Atlanta, GA Rafia Mallick and Jennifer Carpenter organized and presented awebinar, “Level Up Your Conference Game: Preparing for SSSPAnnual Meeting”, to prepare students for the annual meeting onApril 22, 2026. Research Notes Do you use correctional records in your research? If so, I would love to hear from you.I am currently seeking input on the state of access to records collected bycorrectional institutions (prisons, jails, custodial hospitals, reform schools, detainmentfacilities) across the US. This could refer either to contemporary records or historicalrecords, depending on your research focus. If you have anything to share about yourexperience accessing, collecting, reproducing or publishing this type of data, or yourexperience with the state, state archive or records agencies, IRBs, departments ofcorrection, or other stakeholders in conducting this research, please contact PeperRivers at . Melicha Rahaman’s current research project examines how Rohingya refugeecamps in Bangladesh are represented within political and media discourse between2017 and 2026. Drawing on theories of protracted refugee situations, everydaybordering, and affective border violence, the project analyzes how camps are publiclyframed as temporary humanitarian spaces while systems of surveillance, restriction,and control become normalized within everyday camp governance. Using qualitativediscourse analysis and thematic coding of political texts and newspaper coverage,this study explores how narratives of protection, repatriation, and security shapepublic understanding of refugee governance in Bangladesh. The project is beingdeveloped as part of the Diana Natalicio Summer Fellowship at the University ofTexas at El Paso (UTEP) and will contribute to my broader research interests inmigration, socio-legal studies, border regimes, and displacement. 12 Job Market Candidates Rafia Javaid Mallick is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at Georgia State University,graduating May 2026. With extensive research experience in urban studies,immigration, race, and inequality, she has contributed to multiple university andcommunity-based projects, including work with the Southern Poverty Law Centerand the City of Atlanta. Her scholarship includes peer-reviewed publications, bookchapters, and reports on topics ranging from policing alternatives to immigrantintegration. She is skilled in qualitative, quantitative, and geospatial methods andhas held leadership roles in professional organizations such as ASA and SSSP. Rafia isprepared for roles in academia, research, or policy analysis. Dissertation/project title: Tangled Threads of Belonging: Racial Discrimination andSegmented Assimilation among Asian Indian Immigrants in the United States Research specialization: Diasporic Belonging and Decolonization. PatriarchalSystems and Gender Violence. Urban Inequities and Performative Governance. Website: Email: rmallick1@gsu.edu 13