Doctoral Student Bios

Sociology of punishment, reentry, community supervision, penal privatization, qualitative methods, survey research

Benjamin Mackey is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and a Research Associate at the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence (ACE!). His work at ACE! focuses on community supervision and the nexus of the public health and criminal legal systems.  He graduated from George Mason University with a B.S. and M.A. in Criminology, Law and Society in 2019 and 2021, respectively. In addition to his academic experience, Benjamin has experience in the field of reentry, where he has worked with a nonprofit reentry organization to help address the needs of individuals who are currently or formerly incarcerated.

Benjamin's scholarship centers on the sociology of punishment, with a particular focus on the ways in which macro-level patterns of penality affect its practice in micro-level settings in the U.S. and beyond. Some of his current research explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on systems of post-carceral care and control in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area.  In addition to his substantive interests, Benjamin has methodological interests in qualitative methods and survey research.