Faith Monae Deckard
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About Faith
Dr. Deckard's research examines how marginalized groups experience and respond to social control institutions. Of particular interest is the U.S. criminal legal system, with one line of research capturing the varied ways that family members are exploited and exhausted by the bail bond system. Another facet of her scholarship considers Black women's experiences with policing. This includes the social and mental health impacts of such encounters, as well as the protective strategies they develop for themselves and others. Her approach to research and teaching is rooted in the conviction that lived experience helps us understand and produce knowledge, which can ultimately inform our practices.
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Publications
Argues that commercial bail operates as a form of responsibilization, shifting the work of pretrial risk management from the state to families. Demonstrates how bail agents enroll relatives as cosigners, pressure them with financial and carceral threats, and effectively turn them into unpaid surveillants of defendants.
Argues that police contact for Black women is not limited to brief, isolated encounters but is instead a “perpetual” process that includes preparing for potential police interactions, experiencing police stops, and engaging in advocacy afterward.
Examines how commercial bail transforms criminal legal processing into a profit-driven system of classification and surveillance, administered largely by private actors.
Examines how Black women navigate police encounters by mobilizing others as witnesses to these interactions. Finds that Black women use witnessing to deescalate violence, document evidence, and promote accountability, framing it as both a survival strategy and a form of resistance that reshapes power dynamics between themselves, their communities, and the police.