Chris Uggen
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chrisuggen.bsky.social
Chris Uggen
@chrisuggen.bsky.social
4.3K followers 2.3K following 360 posts
Professor, sociologist, criminologist, TheSocietyPages editor. Nerdy but sturdy. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8c95RVAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
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chrisuggen.bsky.social
Good morning!
December 25, 2025 at 2:32 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
In Minneapolis, law enforcement leaders like Chief O’Hara and Sheriff Witt are speaking out, saying that ICE tactics and methods undermine the community trust and professionalism that local law enforcement has been working to (re)build since George Floyd’s murder. www.startribune.com/police-are-w...
Police walk a tightrope to maintain community relations amid Twin Cities ICE arrests
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara has emerged as one of the most outspoken law enforcement leaders in the nation criticizing ICE tactics.
www.startribune.com
December 21, 2025 at 4:52 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
It's a fine frosty morning on the Upper Missississicle
December 19, 2025 at 3:56 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
In "The Leniency of Low Expectations: Parental Incarceration, Race, and Teachers’ Evaluations," @erinjmccauley.bsky.social's survey experiment shows that teachers grade less rigorously if they think a student has an incarcerated parent.
-New in Am J Sociol. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
December 19, 2025 at 2:33 AM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had walked the moon that year, but Minnesota kids were more impressed by Balloon Boy Ricky Snyder's solo flight from the Vikings game to the Minnesota River. Legend.
December 14, 2025 at 6:52 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
The Animal Welfare Institute @awionline.org has a small grants program (up to $5k) for graduate student research using National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) animal cruelty data. Deadline: 1/15/26
awionline.org/content/nibr...
NIBRS Animal Cruelty Data Research Award
Promoting the Analysis of NIBRS Animal Cruelty DataAWI's Center for the Study of NIBRS Animal Cruelty Data is pleased to offer up to $5,000 in grant funding for master's and doctoral students to addre...
awionline.org
December 14, 2025 at 5:21 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
This article on helping students spot disinformation (and talk to others about beliefs that aren’t true) features UMN sociologist Rob Warren and his new course on Calling BS. www.startribune.com/more-college...
More colleges are offering classes helping students identify truth in a confusing world
From Winona State University to Augsburg University and the U, professors are helping students wrestle with misinformation and disinformation.
www.startribune.com
December 8, 2025 at 1:38 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
New! Participatory research study in a women's prison tests for effects of inside/incarcerated v. outside/university interviewers. Responses were similar but some trust & confidentiality concerns arose with insiders.
-Kevin Wright, Jacob Young & Alexis Klemm in JoEC link.springer.com/article/10.1...
December 6, 2025 at 10:37 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Happy Rivalry Week to all who celebrate.
November 29, 2025 at 9:48 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
No Cole Shortage on Local Hockey All-Star Team
November 29, 2025 at 3:53 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Good Morning!
November 21, 2025 at 2:29 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
A well-researched story of church-sanctioned child sexual abuse, in which apology without accountability resulted in impunity and great harm to victims. www.startribune.com/sexual-abuse...
www.startribune.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Book talk! @FinesandFeesJC on Legal Plunder – A moderated discussion with Josh Page, Joe Soss, and Joanna Weiss

Dec 3, 2025 11:00 AM CT
Register for the webinar or in-person talk at NYU Law here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: FFJC Presents: Legal Plunder – A Moderated Discussion with the Authors. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
We are excited to invite you to an informative panel discussion with Joe Soss and Joshua Page, the authors of Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice, a book exploring how fines an...
us02web.zoom.us
November 17, 2025 at 10:28 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Time Series Chart of the Day:
Bitcoin Price and "Wrench Attacks"
[gift article] www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/b...
November 17, 2025 at 9:58 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
The News is Grim Across the Board but www.presspubs.com/white_bear/n...
November 15, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Chris Uggen
aaronsojourner.org
How does employer access to prisoners’ labor through work release impact the well-being of those workers & of free workers?

New working paper by Sue Helper, Suresh Naidu, Akseli Palomaki, Adam Reich, + me provides evidence, focus on auto manufacturing in AL
#EconSky
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Coercion and Monopsony in Modern American Manufacturing: Evidence from Alabama Prison Labor Susan Helper Suresh Naidu Akseli Palomaki Adam Reich Aaron Sojourner We study coercion and monopsony in contemporary U.S. manufacturing labor markets. We combine administrative data from the Alabama Department of Corrections work release program with a unique survey of workers in the Alabama auto supply chain where workers report their work-release status. We first present descriptive patterns of work-release labor, finding that the use of incarcerated (i.e., work-release) labor is concentrated in the auto supply industry, especially in the Montgomery area, where Hyundai’s assembly plant is located. In the survey, the share of plant-level workers who are incarcerated is negatively correlated with non-incarcerated wages. The survey also enables estimation of hypothetical quit elasticities separately among incarcerated and non-incarcerated workers. Incarcerated workers are estimated to have quit elasticities less than half that of non-incarcerated workers. Because Alabama law requires employers to pay the same wage to incarcerated and non-incarcerated workers in the same jobs, the additional monopsony power introduced by employer access to incarcerated workers creates an incentive and ability for employers to reduce plant-level wages to, and employment of, non-incarcerated workers. We build a quantitative model of firm-specific labor supply that, for incarcerated workers, distinguishes the roles of coercion (the risk of physical harm in prison from not working), wage garnishment that blunts the consumption effect of higher wages, and monopsony (limited mobility across employers). Using it, we estimate effects on free and incarcerated workers’ welfare from i) reforming prison conditions to eliminate violence, ii) eliminating prison labor wage garnishment, iii) imposing a $15 minimum wage, &iv) abolishing prison labor. Free worker welfare goes up in all scenarios...
November 3, 2025 at 2:20 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Doug's been working out! Happy Halloween from Luna, Tianhe, Sara the Purple Line, Tatum, Mallory, Chris, Dougie Balboa, Jake the Stormtrooper, and all your friends @thesocietypages.bsky.social
October 31, 2025 at 11:18 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Some important legal developments re: closing the "hemp loophole" for psychoactives such as delta-8 THC. Sociologists Mark Pawson & Brian Kelly gave an enlightening talk on use, risk, and regulation at the fall ASA meetings. [1/2] www.startribune.com/hemp-ban-att...
Keith Ellison, 38 other attorneys general ask Congress to ban intoxicating hemp products
The Attorney General’s Office says it doesn’t want to shut down Minnesota’s legal hemp-derived THC market. But one lawyer said “this would kill our industry.”
www.startribune.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Chris Uggen
thesocietypages.bsky.social
This week's Clippings of Soc in the News: @lizchiarello.bsky.social in @us.theconversation.com,
Patrick Sheehan in Arts X Science Magazine, Charles Derber in @thenation.com, @nancyberns.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com, & Abigail Coplin in @washingtonpost.com.

Read it here:
🔗 bit.ly/3KXjSEd 🔗
October 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Jobs at CJARS -- U of Michigan's Crim. Justice Admin. Records System, a non-partisan, non-profit org building integrated data platforms on the US criminal legal system.

cjars.org/get-involved/

* Data Collection Liaison
* Web Scraping Programmer
* Research Associate
About Join
cjars.org
October 13, 2025 at 5:43 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
New! How prison social climate (esp. respectful and trusting relationships b/w residents and staff) can shape post-release socioemotional well-being (less unhappiness, more satisfying relationships, and more social acceptance).
-Jason Schnittker in SSM-MH www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 12, 2025 at 4:35 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
New! In Journal of Vocational Behavior: "Pathways to second chances: A multidisciplinary integrative review of 25 years of research on the employment of formerly incarcerated individuals," by CA Gorman, SC Tucker, TK Patel, JR Himmler, TF Contreras. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Jobs! ISRDI @minnpop.bsky.social is searching for 2 full-time staff for a new National Institute on Aging Demography and Economics Coordinating Center (NIA DECC).

1. DECC Coordinator, JO 370494: hr.myu.umn.edu/psc/hrprd/EM...

2. Communications Manager, JO 370497 - hr.myu.umn.edu/psc/hrprd/EM...
About the NIA DECC
Demography & Economics of Aging Coordinating Center (DECC) Contact us at decc@umn.edu Co-Directors: Gina Rumore, Cathy Fitch, and Rob Warren We aim to increase the efficiency, productivity, and impac...
z.umn.edu
October 9, 2025 at 2:52 PM
chrisuggen.bsky.social
Last week I was honored to speak at the National Research Program on Crime meeting in Stockholm—and to rediscover some family roots! The visit was a real career highlight. Tack så mycket to Hans Grönqvist, the Swedish Research Council & many new friends and old (photo credit: PO Wikström).
October 8, 2025 at 3:34 PM