Jeffrey T. Ulmer , Ph.D.

My interests include criminology, social psychology, sociology of religion, organizations, and the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. My research interests span the sociology of criminal punishment, criminological theory, religion and crime, and racial/ethnic inequality and violence rates.  More broadly, I have expertise in social psychology, organizations, symbolic interactionism, and the integration of quantitative and qualitative methods. I have several ongoing projects, including:  1) a long-range research agenda focusing on differences between social contexts in court processes and punishment, and inequalities in criminal sentencing at the state and federal levels; 2) a study of racial and ethnic disparity in Pennsylvania’s death penalty, including prosecutorial discretion to seek it and court decisions to impose it; 3) studies of how local religious contexts affect local crime rates and criminal punishment.