Specialization:
Urban ethnography, juvenile justice, Latino sociology
Education:
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Bio:
Professor Rios's research examines the role of social control and education in shaping the well-being of young people living in urban marginality; traces the social consequences of the punitive state and punitive social control across institutional settings; and analyzes the resilience and responses of young people to social marginalization. He draws on this work to promote systems change, advance restorative and transformative policy approaches, and develop programs that improve the lives of marginalized youth.
His book Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys (NYU Press) examines how juvenile crime policies and criminalization shape the everyday lives of urban youth. Punished received the Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award from the American Sociological Association's Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities and the Distinguished Book Award from the ASA's Section on Latina/o Sociology. It was also recognized with Honorable Mention for the Outstanding Book Award from the ASA's Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility; named a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems; and received Honorable Mention for the Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Book Award, also from the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
Professor Rios has published additional books and articles on education, juvenile justice, masculinity, policing, and race and crime. His additional academic books have been published by the University of Chicago Press and Duke University Press, and his scholarly articles have appeared in high-impact journals including The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, American Sociological Review, the Annual Review of Sociology, Latino Studies, and Critical Criminology. He is also the author of several trade books, including a young adult title and a children's book.
Professor Rios has been awarded the Public Understanding of Sociology Award by the American Sociological Association, a distinction reserved for one sociologist each year and counted among the ASA's most prestigious honors, selected from a membership of more than 10,000.
His applied sociology projects have been adopted in over 25 school districts and featured in the documentary film The Pushouts and across major media outlets, including a segment on Frontline (PBS). His TED Talk, "Help for the Kids the Education System Ignores," filmed live on Broadway in New York City, has been viewed more than 1.8 million times.
Courses:
Comparative Racial Studies; Ethnography; Juvenile Justice; Introduction to Sociology; Policing and Restorative Justice; Studying People; Masculinity; Justice, Law, and Inequality; Educational Equity.