Current Projects​

• Assessing the Transnational Criminal Capacity of MS-13 in the U.S. and El Salvador - National Institute of Justice (NIJ)-funded collaborative, multi-year investigative project focusing on the MS-13 gang in the U.S. and El Salvador. The project’s objective is to provide law enforcement officials with a more comprehensive understanding of MS-13. Findings will shape new policies and practices, provide suggestions for the allocation of resources, and better inform the work of law enforcement agencies as they design and implement intervention and prevention strategies.  
• National Immigration Lawyer Survey (NILS) Project - The first comprehensive survey of immigration lawyers across the United States. Findings will highlight lawyer demographics, motivations, and perceptions of justice and the law. Learn more about the study here.
• Perceptions of Justice Among the Guatemalan-Maya of South Florida - This preliminary study explores community-police relations by extending the concepts of procedural justice and legal consciousness to ethnic minority and immigrant populations in the US context. 

Dissertation

•  Maya Barak. 2016. "A Reciprocal Approach to Legal Consciousness and (Procedural) Justice: Central American Experiences in Immigration Court." PhD dissertation, Department of Justice, Law & Criminology, School of Public Affairs, American University. 

Publications​

• Barak, Maya, Leon, K., and Maguire, Edward. 2020. “Conceptual and Empirical Obstacles in Defining MS-13: Law-Enforcement Perspectives.” Criminology and Public Policy (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9133.12493).
• Leon, K. and Barak, Maya. 2020. “The Salvadorian Willie Horton: MS-13, Electoral Politics and Racialized Rear Mongering.” Citizen Critics (https://citizencritics.org/2019/07/the-salvadoran-willie-horton-ms-13-electoral-politics-and-racialized-fear-mongering/).
• Gould, Jon B. and Maya Barak. 2019. Capital Defense: Inside the Lives of America's Death Penalty Lawyers. New York: NYU Press.
• Barak, Maya. 2018. “Popular Media and the Death Penalty: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Death Penalty in Film.” In Routledge Handbook on Capital Punishment, edited by Gavin Lee and Robert Bohm. NY: Taylor and Francis.
• Tyler, David H., Maya Barak, Edward R. Maguire, and William Wells. 2018. “The Effects of Procedural Injustice on the Use of Violence Against Police by Occupy Wall Street Protesters.” Police Practice and Research: An International Journal 19: 138-152.
• Maguire, Edward R., Maya Barak, William Wells, and Chuck Katz. 2018. “Attitudes toward the Use of Violence Against Police among Occupy Wall Street Protesters.” Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice: 1-17.
• Barak, Maya. 2017. “Motherhood and Immigration Policy: How Immigration Law Shapes Central Americans’ Experience of Family.” In Forced Out and Fenced In: Immigration Tales from the Field, edited by Tanya Golash-Boza. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Barak, Maya. 2017. “Fairness and the Law: Central American Experiences in U.S. Immigration Court.” In Emerging Voices: Critical Social Research by European Group Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers. United Kingdom: European Group Press.
• Maguire, Edward R., Maya Barak, Karie Cross, and Kris Lugo. 2016. “Attitudes among Occupy DC Participants about the Use of Violence against Police.” Policing & Society: 1-15. doi:10.1080/10439463.2016.1202247.
• Barak, Maya. 2015. “Collaborative State and Corporate Crime: Fraud, Unions and Elite Power in Mexico.” In Routledge International Handbook on the Crimes of the Powerful, edited by Gregg Barak. NY: Taylor and Francis.
• Barak, Maya. 2014. “Re-Imagining Punishment: An Exercise in ‘Intersectional Criminal Justice.’” In Laws 3(4): 693-705.
• Johnson, Robert, Laura Caitlin Kanewske, and Maya Barak. 2014. “Death Row Confinement and the Meaning of Last Words.” In Laws 3: 141-152.
• Johnson, Robert, Max Looper, and Maya Barak. 2013 “Thinking About Human Dignity in the American Prison Context: Some Preliminary Reflections on a Special Class of Migrants and Refugees.” In Sicurezza e Scienze Sociali (Security and Social Studies) 1(1): 173-182.
• Barak, Maya and Paul Leighton. 2013. “Immigrants (victims).” In Encyclopedia of Street Crime in America, edited by Jeffrey Ian Ross. Sage Publications, Inc.
• Davies, Bill and Maya Barak. 2013. “Peer-led Reading Groups Boost Engagement and Retention.” Faculty Focus (http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/peer-led-reading-groups-boost-engagement-and-retention/).

Presentations

• ​“Rethinking Procedural Justice: The Role of Consciousness and Culture in Assessments of Fairness.” Presenter. November 2019. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA. 
  
• “Author Meets Critics: Capital Defense: Inside the lives of America’s Death Penalty Lawyers.” Author. November 2019. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
  
• “MS-13, Moral Panics, and Migration Studies: Empirical and Conceptual Bridges for Carceral Studies, Crimmigration, and State Crime.” Presenter. November 2019. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA
  
• “The Immigration Lawyer in the 21st Century: Questions of Efficacy, Quality, and Policy in Immigration Law.” Session Chair. November 2019. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
  
• "Are Immigration Attorneys Cause Lawyers? Motivations and Backgrounds in the Practice of Immigration Law." Presenter. June 2019. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
  
• "Defenders of Justice: A Discussion on Capital, Indigent, and Juvenile Defense." Roundtable Discussant. June 2019. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. 
• "Colorblind Lawyering, Intersectionality, and the Commodification of Attorney Identity in Capital Defense." Presenter. April 2019. Centering the Margins: Addressing the Implementation Gap of Critical Criminology. Eastern Michigan University. Ypsilanti, MI. 
• "Confessions of the Defense: Inside the World and Practice of Capital Defense Lawyers." Co-Presenter. November 2018. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
• "Perceptions of Justice Among the Guatemalan-Maya of South Florida." Co-Presenter. November 2018. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
• "The Salvadorian Willie Horton Explained: MS-13, Crimmigration, and the Translation of Gang Intelligence." Co-Presenter. November 2018. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
• "Assessing the Transnational Criminal Capacity of MS-13 in the U.S. and El Salvador: A Discussion on Research and Methods." Co-Chair and Discussant. November 2018. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA. 
• "Lawyers in the US Immigration Courts." Roundtable Organizer and Discussant. June 2018. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
• "Denizenship, Immigration, and Legitimacy: How Identity, Membership, and Experience Shape Perceptions of the State." Session Organizer. November 2017. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
• "The Implications of Denizenship for Legitimacy in the U.S. Immigration Context." Co-Presenter. November 2017. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
• "Expanding your Clinic's Impact in the Community through Collaborative Research Projects." Co-Chair. September 2017. National Justice For Our Neighbors Annual Conference, Detroit, MI. 
• "'Crimmigration' and Community: A Discussion on the Nexus of Immigration, Law, and Wellbeing across Disciplines." Chair and Discussant. June 2017. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Mexico City, Mexico.
• "Capital Defenders 'Doing' Gender: How Capital Defense Work Defies and Reifies Traditional Gender Norms." Presenter. June 2017. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Mexico City, Mexico. 
• "Destination Detroit." Discussant. May 2017. UM3Detoit, Ann Arbor, MI. 
• "Author Meets Critics: Rethinking Border Control for a Globalizing World: A Preferred Future." Critic. November 2016. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA. 
• "Vice, Violence, & Crime in Popular Music: A Sociological Analysis of Prevalence and Meaning." Presenter, with Kenneth Sebastian Leon. November 2016. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA. 
• "A Reciprocal Approach to Legal Consciousness and (Procedural) Justice: Central American Experiences in Immigration Court." Presenter. June 2016. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
• "The 'Crimmigration' Landscape: A Discussion on the Nexus of Immigration and Crime." Roundtable Chair. November 2015. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
• "A Reciprocal Approach to Legal Consciousness and Procedural Justice: A Study of United States Removal of Central American Immigrants." Presenter. November 2015. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
• "Exclusionary Practices in EOIR Removal Hearings: Latin American Immigrants and Attorneys on Due Process and Procedural Justice." Presenter. May 2015. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.
• “Getting a Word in Edgewise: The Mediation of Language in Immigration Removal Proceedings.” Presenter. November 2013.  American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
•  “Undocumented Immigrants and Legal Consciousness.” Presenter. October 2012. Mid-Atlantic Law & Society Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
• “Beyond the Criminal/Victim Dichotomy: A New Framework for Exploring the Intersection of  Undocumented Latino Immigration and Crime.” Presenter. November 2011. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
• “The Mexican National Union of Mine and Metal Workers’ Fight for Autonomy and Justice.” Presenter. November 2010. American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA. 

Consulting Projects

• Best Practices in Honduran Policing - Consulting project with USAID and Arizona State University (2017-2018).

 
Learn more about my work in my extended biography, found here.