Jennifer Ortiz earned her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Her research interests center on structural violence within the criminal justice system with a
focus on reentry post-incarceration and gangs. Her research has been published in leading
corrections journals including The Prison Journal, Corrections: Research, Policy, and Practice,
and The Journal of Prisoners on Prisons. Ortiz is the author of the recently published edited
volume Critical & Intersectional Gang Studies.
Ortiz maintains a firm commitment to service and activism. She is currently the Division Chair
for the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Convict Criminology and Book Review
Editor for the Critical Criminology Journal. She previously served as President of the New
Albany, Indiana Human Rights Commission and as an executive board member for Mission
Behind Bars and Beyond, a Kentucky-based non-profit reentry organization. Ortiz is the former
Research Director for the New York State Permanent Commission on Sentencing.
