Soros Justice Fellowships

Racial Disparity Project

Katherine Beckett will examine changes to the implementation of trespass law and its implications for access to public space and the expansion of the criminal justice system. Beckett will document and analyze how enforcement of this law limits freedom and mobility, particularly for youth of color and homeless persons.

Beckett is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and the Law, Societies & Justice Program at the University of Washington in Seattle. She received her Ph.D from UCLA's Department of Sociology in 1994 and has taught at a number of institutions, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University, and the University of Washington. She has published numerous articles and book chapters in journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, Punishment and Society, Criminology, Social Problems, Law and Society Review, and many others. Beckett is the author of two books: The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America (with Theodore Sasson, Sage Publications) and Making Crime Pay: Law and Order in Contemporary American Politics (Oxford University Press). Most recently, she conducted a study of racial disparities in drug law enforcement practices in Seattle, the results of which have been published in Social Problems and Criminology.

Seattle, WA |  One Year |