Elsa Chen
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elsachen.bsky.social
Elsa Chen
@elsachen.bsky.social
Professor, criminologist, policy wonk. Racial and social justice advocate. Avid cook and eater, erstwhile fitness aspirant. Taiwanese American. Trying to live with kindness, gratitude, and joy, potty mouth notwithstanding.
Erasing and whitewashing the truth about American history will make it easier to repeat it.
It’s going to be real tough to discuss Japanese American internment without saying something negative.

All national parks now have this sign. Sanitizing crimes and erasing memory is one more step towards a white supremacist version of history.
June 22, 2025 at 11:49 PM
New pub from my fabulous colleagues and me! Stay tuned, lots more coming!
Recruiting interviewees for qualitative studies increasingly occurs online - which expands the participant pool but adds new challenges. We detail our experience in this new, open access, Qual Crim article. www.qualitativecriminology.com/pub/80nu44mw...
Online recruitment for interview participants impacted by the criminal legal system
www.qualitativecriminology.com
May 10, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Here’s what my fabulous research team has been working on!
Believing in Second Chances
Professor Elsa Chen leads a team of student researchers in studying the life-changing impact of new automatic expungement laws.
www.scu.edu
April 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Truth matters. Human rights, democracy, and self-determination are essential values. Thank you @razomforukraine.org and @dorachomiak.bsky.social for your important and impactful work. Friends, please support them if you can. 🇺🇦
Three years of resilience. Three years of defiance. Three years of fighting for freedom.

Today marks three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion. 🎥 Our Ukrainian colleagues share what these years mean to them.

👉 Every action matters. Donate, share, speak up. 🇺🇦

youtube.com/shorts/tY1Xi...
3 YEARS OF FULL-SCALE WAR IN UKRAINE
YouTube video by RAZOM
youtube.com
March 1, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Elsa Chen
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
February 4, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Check out this fascinating @laist.com article and podcast about formerly incarcerated Cesar Quijano’s journey “From prison to marathons” (ultramarathons)! It was an honor to provide research and data on reentry and recidivism to producer Lucy Copp as she created it. laist.com/brief/news/h...
From prison to marathons
How one man completed 100 miles
laist.com
January 24, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Hey friends, if you like stats and hoops check out this account that my kiddos are running!
Are Jalens better at basketball than non-Jalens? #NBA players named Jalen seem to be better at... everything this season. Which Jalen are you taking?
November 30, 2024 at 6:36 AM
I’ve been helping with RJA cases. Not easy, but worthwhile. I wish the headline to this otherwise very good article said “some are succeeding.”
California lets defendants challenge racism in court. Few have succeeded
California judges approved only a handful of attempts by defendants to have their cases altered because of racial bias.
calmatters.org
November 22, 2024 at 3:40 PM
Hello again, friends, fellow nerds, criminologists, policy wonks, foodies, fitness aspirants, and algorithm!
Hi Bluesky peeps! I’m a Poli Sci professor 👩‍🎓 in California ☀️interested in:
- Criminology
- Criminal justice reform
- Racial justice
- Cooking 👩‍🍳
- NJ diaspora cuisine 🍕🥯🍝
- Weight training 🏋🏻‍♂️
- Teaching
- Taiwan 🇹🇼
- Democracy
- Old school rap & 80s-90s alt music 🎧
- Hiking and nature 🌸
- Beach 🏝️
November 17, 2024 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Elsa Chen
I started an academic criminologists/criminal justice scholars starter pack.
This is an ongoing starter pack that I am still expanding, so please let me know if you'd like to be added (sorry for any omissions!), and please share if you find it useful.
go.bsky.app/SL8dP7Z

#ASC2024 #criminology
November 15, 2024 at 1:22 AM
Maybe this app would work better for me if I started posting things! Here’s an article I was recently interviewed for. Nice to have the opportunity to discuss the National Academies report on the Limits of Recidivism that we worked on last year. stateline.org/2023/12/11/h...
How many inmates return to prison? Inconsistent reporting makes it hard to tell. - Stateline
Several states this year have reported lower rates of recidivism, showing that fewer convicted criminals are being re-arrested after leaving prison. But recidivism rates across the country can vary gr...
stateline.org
December 11, 2023 at 11:40 PM
Hi Bluesky peeps! I’m a Poli Sci professor 👩‍🎓 in California ☀️interested in:
- Criminology
- Criminal justice reform
- Racial justice
- Cooking 👩‍🍳
- NJ diaspora cuisine 🍕🥯🍝
- Weight training 🏋🏻‍♂️
- Teaching
- Taiwan 🇹🇼
- Democracy
- Old school rap & 80s-90s alt music 🎧
- Hiking and nature 🌸
- Beach 🏝️
October 15, 2023 at 7:59 AM