Meet Amanda Kahl Smith of Criminal Justice
Name: Amanda Smith
Title: Instructor cum Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
Department: Sociology, Anthropology, & Criminal Justice
Classes I teach:
CRJ 185: Intro to Criminal Justice
CRJ 385: Elite Deviance
Professional Interests, Activities, or Publications:
I’m a member of the American Society of Criminology and the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
Kramer, Ronald C. and Amanda Smith. 2013. “Death Flies Down: The Bombing of Civilians and the Paradox of International Law.” Book chapter in Towards a Victimology of State Crime, D. Rothe and D. Kauzlarich (eds.). Routledge.
Research or Specific Areas of Interest:
My research focuses broadly on the intersections of class inequality, power, and crime. Currently, I have two active research projects. In the first, I investigate the role of the economy in the major social institutions and how institutional pathways to high crime rates vary in the United States. In my second project, I research the United States’ use of drone warfare as state crime.
Awards:
All-University Graduate Teaching Effectiveness, WMU, 2013
Degree(s)/Education:
Sociology PhD Western Michigan University, currently ABD, expected fall 2015
Applied Criminology MS Northern Arizona University 2011
Criminology & Criminal Justice BS Northern Arizona University 2009
Memberships:
American Society of Criminology
Society for the Study of Social Problems
How I fell in love with my field:
In the years leading up to the Great Recession, I worked for a major bank as a mortgage processor. At the time, the mortgage fraud I was seeing concerned me, but I did not understand the larger forces behind it. I chose to focus my studies on criminology as a way to come to terms with these issues. I still have questions.
What I hope for my time at UM-Flint:
I hope to encourage my students to critically think about and engage the world around them.
What I hope for students in my field:
I hope to inspire my students to think about crime as a complex social problem in need of creative solutions that potentially go beyond the criminal justice system.
Three things you should know about me:
I am the oldest of five children.
I am a reformed cat person. My Chihuahua, Commander Sisko, is my world.
I crochet in my free time.
