Although we are unable to see you in person at this year’s American Society of Criminology conference, we’d still love for you to “stop by the booth” and meet with us virtually. Editor Maura Roessner is taking brief Zoom appointments to discuss your book project.
Maura Roessner, Senior Editor
Criminology, Law
“While I’m disappointed that this year’s ASC meeting has been canceled, and I will miss all the coffees, conversations, and celebrations that make for such a vibrant conference, I’m still thrilled to be able to take this time to reflect on our recent publishing and connect with current and future authors.
First and foremost, please join me in congratulating Nikki Jones for receiving the 2020 Michael J. Hindelang Outstanding Book Award for The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption! As Jones reminds us in “Why we need to defund, not defend, the police,” this important book centers the experiences of those who are frequent targets of the police, and asks us to reimagine a vision of public safety built from that perspective.
As issues of criminal justice reform weigh heavily in the public consciousness, we can look to books such as Jessica Henry’s Smoke but No Fire, Aya Gruber’s The Feminist War on Crime, Christine S. Scott-Hayward and Henry F. Fradella’s Punishing Poverty, or Phil Stinson’s Criminology Explains Police Violence, which challenge our assumptions about how the criminal justice system works, and chart the possibilities and limits of reform. And we can go all the way back to Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s classic Golden Gulag for the foundational reading to help us understand contemporary abolitionist discourse.
I invite you to check out work that takes us to the front lines of the Ferguson uprising, the way Andrea Boyles’s You Can’t Stop the Revolution does; reframes the way we think about white supremacist groups, the way Matthew Valasik and Shannon E. Reid do in Alt-Right Gangs; or shines new light on juries, the way Sarah Beth Kaufman does in American Roulette and James M. Binnall does in Twenty Million Angry Men.
This is just a very partial list of the new books I’m excited about. And I would love to hear more about your own writing! I am always looking for critical work that engages with urgent and enduring issues in the field and in the world, and that centers the voices of those most impacted by the criminal justice system. Please feel free to set up a one-click virtual appointment with me or drop me a line any time.”
Interested in publishing your work with Maura and UC Press?
Schedule a meeting
- Want to pitch your book? Come prepared with clear statements of your argument, your audience, and why you want to write this book.
- Don’t yet have a pitch, or still in dissertation mode? Stop by with your publishing questions!
- Are you a UC Press author and want to catch up? Feel free to drop in to say hello! Bring your friends!
Learn more about at UC Press and see what it takes to write a strong book proposal.
Visit the virtual exhibit.
