back

Michael C Campbell

Michael C Campbell

Professor

michael.c.campbell@du.edu

https://professormichaelcampbell.com/

Personal

Sturm Hall, 2000 East Asbury Avenue Denver, CO 80208

What I do

My work examines the forces that shape punishment in the United States, especially state prison populations and correctional systems. I examine how legal and policy conditions differ across US states, and leverage this variation to understand the links between socioeconomic and political forces and punishment. My recent research considers why some states have made major reductions in their prison populations while others have remained relatively stable despite declining crime. I explore how different types of reforms do and do not help reduce the use of incarceration.

Specialization(s)

Penal policy; state politics; corrections; history, race and punishment; qualitative methods

Professional Biography

I earned my Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine in Criminology, Law & Society where I examined why lawmakers in US states chose to expand prisons. My early work focused on Texas and California, two states with different political cultures that ended up taking similar pathways that led to the creation of the nation's largest prison systems. This work highlighted the central role that prosecutors and their associations played in rewriting criminal codes and advocating for prison expansion (Theoretical Criminology, Law and Society Review), and how governors were central players in driving prison expansion (Law & Society Review).

After graduate school I worked at universities in Illinois and Missouri where my research focused on explaining how America's complex federalist structure helped make the focus on prison expansion a national phenomenon. By exploring how state and national political and legal institutions interacted over time, this work illuminated how states were innovators in creating punitive policies that the federal government then disseminated and incentivized nationwide, helping create what many now call "mass incarceration." My co-authors and I published a series of articles that identified the key mechanisms contributing to mass incarceration's rise (American Journal of Sociology), tested the relative importance of factors like crime, partisan power, and race (Criminology), identified the nuanced ways that demographic changes across regions was related to prison expansion (Punishment & Society), and explained links between state funding mechanisms and incarceration levels (Journal of Quantitative Criminology),

My research then shifted focus to examining reforms that gained momentum in the 21st century and led to the first declines in state incarceration rates in three decades. With funding support from the National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, and Koch Foundation, my collaborator (Heather Schoenfeld) and I have published articles showing how state legislators gradually changed how they talked and thought about penal reform (Punishment & Society), and how correctional administrators worked with lawmakers to reform policies that provided states with more flexibility in responding to prison overcrowding and rising correctional costs (Punishment & Society). From 2025-6 I was a residential fellow at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City where I continued work examining why some states were able to reduce their prison populations (and reduce crime) while others did not.

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Criminology, Law & Society, University of California, Irvine, 2009
  • MA, European History, Indiana University, 2000
  • BA, History, Indiana University, 1995

Professional Affiliations

  • American Society of Criminology
  • Law and Society Association

Media Sources

Research

My current work focuses on understanding how some states have implemented criminal justice reforms that have ​reduced their prison populations while others have not. As my recent work has shown, the states with the highest incarceration rates often have some of the nation's highest levels of violence. The goal is to identify legal and policy changes that help reduce ​the use of prisons while also advancing public safety by focusing on addressing ​crime's causes that are linked to poverty, inequality, addiction and mental health.

Key Projects

  • The Changing Tides of Mass Incarceration: State Variation in Decarceration Reforms
  • 21st Century Justice
  • The Changing Tides of Incarceration: Explaining State Variation in Decarceration Reform

Featured Publications

Campbell, M. C., & Schoenfeld, H. A. (2013). The Transformation of America’s Penal Order: A Historicized Political Sociology of Punishment." . American Journal of Sociology, 118(5), 1375–1423.
Campbell, M. C., Vogel, M., & Williams, J. (2015). Historical Contingencies and the Evolving Importance of Race, Violent Crime and Region in Explaining Mass Incarceration in the United States. Criminology, 53(2), 180–203.
Campbell, M. C. (2014). The Emergence of Penal Extremism in California: A Dynamic View of Institutional Structures and Political Processes. Law & Society Review, 48(2), 377–409.
Campbell, M. C. (2011). Politics, Prisons, and Law Enforcement: An Examination of the Emergence of ’Law and Order’ Politics in Texas." . Law & Society Review, 45(3), 631–666.
Campbell, M. C., & Vogel, M. (2019). The Demographic Divide: Population Dynamics and the Rise of Mass Incarceration in the United States. Punishment & Society, 21(1), 47–69.
Campbell, M. C. (2018). Varieties of Mass Incarceration: What we learn from state histories. Annual Review of Criminology, 1(1), 219–231.

Presentations

Campbell, M. C. (2026). Crime, decarceration, and criminal justice reform: implications from six states. Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar Seminar Series. New York City: Russell Sage Foundation.
Campbell, M. C., & Schoenfeld, H. A. (2026). Inertia and Disruption: Decarceration Processes in the US States Since 2010. Carceral Political Economy Conference. New York City: The New School.
Campbell, M. C., & Schoenfeld, H. A. (2024). Windows of Opportunity What single-party control of state government tells us about penal reform in the U.S. Law & Society Association Annual Meeting. Denver, CO: Law & Society Association.
Campbell, M. C. (2023). Rethinking Recidivism. Colorado State Legislature, Recidivism Interim Committee. Colorado State Capitol, Old Supreme Court Room: Colorado Legislature.

Awards

  • Outstanding Article Award , American Society of Criminology
  • Article Award Honorable Mention, Law and Society Association
  • Sociology of Law Section Distinguished Article Prize , American Sociological Association