Welcome

I am a sociologist that uses mixed methods to study gray markets, prison marketization, and the dynamics of politically motivated violence. Broadly, I work at the theoretical intersection of crime, law, and deviance, economic sociology, and political sociology. Specifically, I have three current research programs: 1. Studying how semi-legality is a professional asset and liability for commercial cannabis businesses in the United States, and 2. Analyzing how private telecommunications service providers (PTSPs) profiteer from the carceral system, and 3. Leveraging innovative computational text analysis techniques to study the motivations for, and consequences of, terrorism, mass shootings, and human rights violations.

I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Sam Houston State University. My most recent article ““Cannabis Businesses Are Being Good Contributors to the Community”: The Regulated Cannabis Industry and Cannabis Normalization in the United States” has been published online in Crime & Delinquency. Please email me if you would like preprint access.

Download Alexander B. Kinney’s CV