Christian Bolden
Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice
Christian Bolden
Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice
Bio
Dr. Bolden earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Central Florida. His research areas are street gangs, carceral experience, reentry after long-term incarceration, and human trafficking. His book Out of the Red: My Life of Gangs, Prison, and Redemption received the 2020 Frank Tannenbaum Outstanding Book Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Convict Criminology. In 2012-2013, Dr. Bolden was the “Futurist in Residence” research fellow for the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. His current research consists of life history interviews with individuals who were serving life without parole and he testifies as an expert witness in cases involving gangs, LWOP, and the Death Penalty.
His work can be found in the Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, Homicide Studies, Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, Criminal Justice Review, Deviant Behavior, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Select Scholarship
[Book] Bolden, C. L. (2020). Out of the Red: My Life of Gangs, Prison, and Redemption. Rutgers University Press. (2020 Frank Tannenbaum Outstanding Book Award- Division of Convict Criminology, American Society of Criminology)
Rivera Laugalis, V., & Bolden, C. L. (2026). Juvenile and emerging adult lifers and other long-term prisoners: Difference across Miller factors and reentry success. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
Bolden, C. L., Aiello, B. & Colby, A. (2026). "I don't know you, and you don't know me": Family dynamic complications during reentry for individuals formerly serving life sentences. Homicide Studies
Bolden, C. L., Roberts, J., Thomas, E., & Castle, S. (2025). "Walk right up to the sun, hand in hand: The power of peer mentorship in facilitating the successful reentry of former lifers," in the ASC Division of Corrections and Sentencing Handbook on Lived Experience in the Justice System, edited by Dum, C., Fader, J., Lebel, T., and Wright, K. Routledge.
Bolden, C. L., & Lamphere, R. D. (2023). "Evolution of the folk devil: Deconstructing claims about hybrid gangs," in Critical and Intersectional Gang Studies, edited by Ortiz, J. M. Routledge.
Bolden, C. L., & Iliff, A. Q. (2022). "Gang desistance," in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Ed. Pontell, H. Oxford University Press.
Bolden, C. L. (2022). Violent institutions: The hidden brutality within American Prisons. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 38 (2).
Bolden, C. L., & Lamphere, R. D. (2019). "Social networks in gangs," in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Ed. Pontell, H. Oxford University Press.
Bolden, C. L. (2018). "Gang organization and gang types," in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Ed. Pontell, H. Oxford University Press.
Murphy, L. T., Taylor, R., & Bolden, C. L. (2015). Trafficking and exploitative labor among homeless youth in New Orleans. Modern Slavery Research Project, Loyola University New Orleans.
Bolden, C. L. (2014). Friendly foes: Hybrid gangs or social networking. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 17 (6): 730-749.
Bolden, C. L. (2013). Tales from the hood: An emic perspective on gang joining and gang desistance. Criminal Justice Review, 38 (4): 473-490.
Dones, D., Bolden, C., & Buerger, M. (2013). Terrorism, gangs, and weapons of mass destruction: A Future's assessment of a potential nexus. Futures Working Group.
Bolden, C. L. (2012). Liquid soldiers: Fluidity and gang membership. Deviant Behavior, 33 (3): 207-222.