Staff Profile | Department of Criminal Justice Sciences

About
Research

Biography

Kaitlyn J. Selman, PhD, is an assistant professor in Criminal Justice Sciences at Illinois State University. She received her BA in Sociology from the University of Michigan, MA in Sociology from the University of South Florida, and PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Old Dominion University. She currently serves as the secretary/treasurer for the American Society of Criminology's Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice, a commissioner for the city of Bloomington's Special Commission on Safe Communities, and a member of the Envisioning Justice Council.

Current Courses

215.001Juvenile Justice

215.002Juvenile Justice

308.001Race, Ethnicity, and Criminal Justice

291.018Undergraduate Teaching Experience In Criminal Justice Sciences

215.001Juvenile Justice

215.002Juvenile Justice

308.001Race, Ethnicity, and Criminal Justice

291.013Undergraduate Teaching Experience In Criminal Justice Sciences

Teaching Interests & Areas

Dr. Selman typically teaches courses aligned with her interests in youth justice and critical carceral studies, such as Juvenile Justice; Race, Ethnicity, and Criminal Justice; and the graduate level Issues in Justice: Reforms Gone Awry?

Research Interests & Areas

As a critical criminologist, Dr. Selman's work lies at the intersection of youth justice, critical carceral studies, and abolition geography. She is currently working on multiple projects that center police violence and youth/education-- both in Chicago and McLean County. Her most recent publications appear in Urban Education, Social Justice, Contemporary Justice Review, and Critical Criminology.

Book Review

Selman, K. Abolish Criminology. Crime, Media, Culture (2023)

Selman, K. Fieldnotes on a Study of Young People’s Perceptions of Crime and Justice: Scaffolding as Structure. Critical Criminology (2022)

Selman, K. Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement. Contemporary Justice Review 23.2 (2020)

Selman, K. Addicted to Rehab: Race, Gender, and Drugs in the Era of Mass Incarceration. Social Justice 45.1 (2018)

Selman, K. Trapped in a Vice: The Consequences of Confinement for Young People. Critical Criminology 26.2 (2018)

Book, Chapter

Selman, K. Conclusion. Class, Race, Gender & Crime (6th edition) (2024)

Selman, K., & Farrow, C. Beyond racial capitalism’s spacetime: Unleashing the utopian imagination for youth justice. The Routledge International Handbook of Penal Abolition (2021)

Selman, K., & Dunn, M. Western feminist criminologies: Critiquing ‘malestream’ criminology and beyond. The Wiley Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Criminology (2017)

Journal Article

Carson Baggett, H., & Selman, K. Shool copaganda in the US South: Tinsel, Twinkle, and K-12 pro-police programming. Crime, Media, Culture (2024)

Selman, K., Carson Baggett, H., & Richardson, L. Carceral care in Kentucky: The case of a school safety plan. Urban Education (2024)

Selman, K. Carving the terrain of freedom: The multidimensionality of youth-focused abolition geography. Social Justice 48.3 (2022)

Selman, K. Building the necropolis through time and space: Racial capitalist forces in the disciplinary alternative school. Contemporary Justice Review 22.4 (2019)

Selman, K. Imprisoning ‘those’ kids: Neoliberal logics and the disciplinary alternative school. Youth Justice 17.3 (2017)

Presentations

Razing the “House of Screams:” Teaching, Learning, and Living the Reparations Won Curriculum. African American Studies Fall Lecture series. African American Studies. (2024)

Grants & Contracts

African American Studies Faculty Summer Research Initiative. African American Studies. Illinois State University. (2024)

University Research Grant. Illinois State University. Illinois State University. (2024)

Dr. Kaitlyn Selman