Ken Cruz, J.D., Ph.D.
About
Degrees
Ken Cruz is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work and Criminal Justice at the University of Washington Tacoma. He received his J.D. from the University of Connecticut and his Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine. His research examines practitioners' experiences of community-based crime prevention, the social control of youth, racialized injustice, and transformative solutions. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Punishment & Society, Social Justice, Critical Criminology, and AIQ. In addition, Ken is a community engaged scholar who has published op-eds in The News Tribune and has been interviewed in local news outlets such as Crosscut. He has also worked in partnership with local activist organizations, non-profits, city, and county institutions.
Cruz, K. A. and Myers, R. (2024). From 'Wait ‘Em Out' to Push Them Out: Teachers’ Reflections on Passive and Active Modes of Racialized School Exclusion. Punishment & Society https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14624745241240719
Costelloe, M., Arazan, C. L. and Cruz, K. A. (2024). The Culture of Sport: Examining the Effect of Athletic Participation on the Acceptance of Rape Myths. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 10(1), 53-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-06-2023-0028
Cruz, K. A. (2023). Micro-Erasures: How an "Evidence-Based" Violence Intervention with Indigenous Youth Advances Cultural Genocide. American Indian Quarterly, 47(1), 1-25. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/901585
Cruz, K. A. (2022). Keeping Kids for Profit: A Cautionary Tale of Public Service Corruption and “Slumcare” within the Expanding Juvenile Crime Control Industry. Social Justice, 48(1), 81–103, 124. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/keeping-kids-profit-cautionary-tale-public/docview/2806551381/se-2
Cruz, K. A. (2019). Systemic Endangerment: A Tale of Neoliberal “Slumcare.” Critical Criminology, 27(4), 627–642. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-019-09477-1