Criminology

UC Irvine Assistant Professor of Criminology, Law & Society Eraldo Souza dos Santos hosts the Western Political Science Mini-Conference History & Politics.

Here is the schedule (all times are Pacific Time):

1-1:30 p.m.: Ekaterina Olson Shipyatsky, political science/University of Michigan: “‘A Stone Under History’s Wheel’: Genocidal Violence and the Politics of Curation”

1:30-2 p.m.: Brent Horning, study of religion/UC Davis: “A Return to Madness: Flows and Intensities”

2-2:30 p.m.: Joseph Ward, politics and international relations/University of Oxford: “Disciplined Historian, Unlicensed Heretic: Remembering Elsa Goveia in the Black Radical Tradition”

2:30-3 p.m.: Michael Theodore, criminology, law & society/UC Irvine: “Policing Dissent: The Racial Politics of the Agitator Trope from King to Trump”

3-3:30 p.m.: Caro Mooney, criminology, law & society/UC Irvine: “The Paradox of the Erased Disobedient: Trans Illegibility and Civil Disobedience”

3:30-4 p.m.: Jonathan Ahrens, history/UC Davis: “Crazed by Longism: Black Share Our Wealth Clubs and White Supremacist Terror”

4-4:15 p.m.: Break

4:15-5 p.m.: Keynote speaker Marcus Lee, African and African American studies/Princeton University: “Whose Rustin?”

Culturally, in our modern carceral state, we mostly have one story of the incarcerated, reinforced by texts and images that deal in a concrete way with who inhabits our prisons and why they are there.  And those who are incarcerated have a reductive image of themselves, reinforced by labels and the very environment into which they are confined.

To learn how reform of criminal prosecution and courts affect policing and crime, Dorothy Kronick studied the introduction of a new code of criminal procedure in Colombia. Though the new code primarily targeting prosecutors and judges, her research found that police behavior changed in response: the arrest rate dropped 45%, and arrests for minor offenses declined even more. But crime did not increase, according to administrative and survey data, and perceptions of public safety improved. This was attributed to an improvement in court accuracy. These findings underscore the value of considering strategic interaction among the police, prosecutors, and judges.

The School of Social Sciences' Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy sponsors this talk by Julian Gerez, a Department of Criminology, Law, and Society assistant professor, who will present research performed in collaboration with Simone Paci of Stanford University.

Governments worldwide use excise taxes to discourage consumption of harmful goods like tobacco and alcohol, yet vice tax evasion remains stubbornly high even in high-capacity states. Gerez will argue vice taxes are distinct because they lack intrinsic compliance mechanisms. Under these conditions, deterrence becomes the primary enforcement tool, but high detection capacity may be undermined by weak punishment capacity and the attractiveness of gray markets. Gerez will test this framework with two complementary approaches. First, Gerez will implement the first randomized controlled trial of excise tax enforcement in collaboration with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The design randomizes tobacco inspections for retailers (n $\approx$ 600) to estimate the causal effects of inspections and fines on subsequent noncompliance. Second, Gerez will invite to a survey all licensed California tobacco retailers to assess attitudinal drivers of compliance and experimentally test how information about enforcement, penalties, public goods, and social norms shapes compliance perceptions and intentions.

Are you a School of Social Ecology student looking to break into law enforcement, law or forensic psychology? Then Anteater LEO (UC Irvine Law Enforcement Officers Alumni Chapter) School of Social Field Study & Career Services and Anteaters in Law (the alumni chapter for legal professionals) have the event for you. 

This is your chance to meet the pros, attend an exclusive panel discussion, and network with current and retired professionals.

Plus, there will be free pizza at this fifth anniversary event!

The UC Irvine Latinx Resource Center presents a talk by Department of Criminology, Law & Society lecturer and alumna Claudia Emilia Lavenant ('03, PhD CLS).

Come hear Dr. Lavenant chat about her journey and tips in navigating academia and higher education as a Latina.

The UC Irvine Center for Psychology & Law presents this Distinguished Scholar Talk with Jason Chin, associate professor at Australian National University's School of Law.

"I study the many ways in which science informs the legal system, and particularly how that relationship can be improved," writes Chin on his website. "This includes making sure law relies on the most transparent and reliable psychology, forensic science, criminology, and empirical legal research. In law, this often applies to expert evidence and law reform."

Lunch will be served at this event.

The UC Irvine Center for Psychology & Law presents "Journeys Through Justice: Age, Experience, and Incarceration" with keynote speakers:

• Keramet Reiter, professor of criminology, law & society and director of LIFTED 
• Elizabeth Cauffman, Distinguised Professor of psychology and director of the UC Irvine Center for Psychology & Law 
• Kristin Turney, professor of sociology and, by courtesy, criminology, law & society 

This Spring 2026 Distinguished Fellows event honors these Distinguished Fellows:

• Jennifer Friend ('95, BA social ecology), CEO of Project Hope Alliance 
• Dr. Michael Barsom, executive director of the Department of State Hospitals 
• Daniel Hernandez, chief probation officer with the County of Orange Department of Probation
• Sheila Hanson, presiding judge of County of Orange Superior Court

Keynote speeches begin at 5:30 p.m. Drinks and light bites are served at 6:30 p.m. 

Join the National Registry of Exonerations' team for a one-hour webinar where they will show their website's latest tools, resources and features, enabling you to expertly research data on wrongful convictions.

The NRE is a project of the UC Irvine Newkirk Center for Science & Society, University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law.

This event, which was made possible by a U.S. Department of Justice grant, is free and open to the public.

Immigration policy and enforcement practices in the U.S. now extend beyond the border to the country’s interior, impacting the private lives of millions of undocumented and mixed-status families in new ways. Criminology, law & society Assistant Professor Carolina Validivia's new book, Sanctuary Making: Immigrant Families Reshaping Geographies of Deportability (UC Press, Feb. 2026), traces this shift. 

Valdivia shows how as enforcement has expanded and deepened, new “hot spots” have appeared across nontraditional sites such as neighborhoods, roads, worksites, hospitals, grocery stores, and homes. Undercurrents of fear, anxiety, and loss permeate the everyday lives of the families navigating these terrains of enforcement. The School of Social Ecology scholar reveals the emotional and material labor of young adults that often underpins families’ sanctuary making efforts—strategies to shield against the worst outcomes of enforcement.

This Program for Research on International Migration (PRIM) Speaker Series presentation is an in-person event where lunch will be served. Learn more about PRIM.