Steven E. Barkan
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Maine
Chapter Member: Maine SSN
Areas of Expertise:
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About Steven
Barkan's research focuses on public opinion about crime and justice and on the social sources of criminality.
Contributions
In the News
"Opinion: 5 Reasons Why Immigrants Aren’t Bringing Higher Crime, as Trump Claims," Steven E. Barkan (with ), CNN, April 2, 2024.
"The Hurtful Racial Truth about Criminal Justice in the U.S.," Steven E. Barkan, Bangor Daily News, November 7, 2017.
Steven E. Barkan quoted on guns in America by Editorial Board, "Violence Has Declined in America, but Increased Fire Power Makes Shootings More Deadly" Bangor Daily News, October 5, 2017.
"More Guns Won’t Make Our Universities and Colleges Any Safer," Steven E. Barkan (with ), Bangor Daily News, June 4, 2017.
"4 Reasons to Doubt the ‘Ferguson Effect’ and Claims of a National Crime Wave," Steven E. Barkan (with ), Bangor Daily News, June 10, 2015.
"At $385 Billion, Tax Fraud Amounts to the Theft of a Nation," Steven E. Barkan, Bangor Daily News, April 14, 2015.
"Why It Makes No Sense to Put More People in Jail," Steven E. Barkan, Bangor Daily News, June 24, 2014.
"Mass Incarceration: The Great American Folly," Steven E. Barkan, Bangor Daily News, February 5, 2013.
"Same-Sex Couples are Families, Too," Steven E. Barkan (with ), Bangor Daily News, September 21, 2009.
"Taking Aim at Three-Strikes Laws," Steven E. Barkan, Bangor Daily News, March 10, 2003.
"Speak Out against Hatred," Steven E. Barkan, Bangor Daily News, September 21, 2001.
"Men Not Primary Victims of Domestic Violence," Steven E. Barkan (with ), Bangor Daily News, November 6, 2000.
"School Employees aren’t the Problem," Steven E. Barkan, Bangor Daily News, March 20, 2000.
Publications
"Criminology: A Sociological Understanding, 5th Edition " (Prentice-Hall, 2012).
Summarizes the sociological evidence on crime and criminal justice for undergraduates and is written in an engaging style. Awarded the 2006 “Texty” Textbook Excellence Award for Humanities/Social Sciences from the Text and Academic Authors Association.
"U.S. Corrections Policy since the 1970s" in Criminal Justice Policy, edited by Karim Ismaili (Jones and Bartlett, 2011), 135-157.
Summarizes corrections policy.
"Presidential Address: ‘Toward a New Abolitionism: Race, Ethnicity, and Social Transformation’" Social Problems 57 (2010): 1-4.
Calls for a new wave of activism to reduce racial and ethnic inequality in a Presidential address for the Society for the Study of Social Problems (a national association of sociologists and other social scientists).
"Why Whites Favor Spending More Money to Fight Crime: The Role of Racial Prejudice" (with ). Social Problems 52 (2005): 300-314.
Shows that racial prejudice among whites contributes to their likelihood of wanting more money spent to fight crime.
"Racial Prejudice and Support by Whites for Police Use of Force" (with ). Justice Quarterly 15 (1998): 743-753.
Shows that racial prejudice among whites contributes to their support for undue use of force by police.
"Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty by Whites" (with ). Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 31 (1994): 202-209.
Finds that racial prejudice among whites contributes to their support for the death penalty; the article has been widely cited, as it was one of the first studies to document the role played by whites’ racial prejudice in their support for harsher criminal justice practices.