Assistant Professor, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY

Pronouns: He/They

Email: mbakko@wayne.edu

Website: https://socialwork.wayne.edu/profile/hq0072 

About: I examine human service organizations operating at the intersection of multiple and often conflicting systems. My research investigates how organizations’ embeddedness at these intersections shapes their policy and program implementation, as well as the realization of service and social change goals. I pay particular attention to how institutional and resource environments, inter-organizational relationships, and street-level service practices influence organizational implementation and goals. Empirically, my work primarily focuses on human service organizations that intersect with the criminal-legal system. I am particularly interested in anti-carceral, transformative alternatives that nonetheless interact with criminal-legal systems, especially in the field of behavioral health crisis response. I employ qualitative and mixed methods, bridging organizational and criminal-legal scholarship to contribute to both fields.

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO

Email: jbonsu2@uic.edu

Bio: I am a doctoral candidate at Jane Addams College of Social Work, activist, and restorative justice practitioner. My work is based in an intersectional and structural analysis. My current work interrogates the intersection of gender-based violence, policing, and survivor empowerment; building and sustaining models of transformative justice; and policies that directly impact incarcerated people and their families.

Assistant Professor, STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY

Pronouns: She/Her

Email: kristen.brock-petroshius@stonybrook.edu

Website: https://kristenbrockpetroshius.com

About: Kristen Brock-Petroshius studies attitude change to build support for racial, economic, and social justice policies. She is particularly interested in how community organizing tactics and message frames—including methods that explicitly discuss systemic racism or focus on sharing personal stories—can shift dominant political attitudes. Several recent studies examine the use of a community organizing tactic, deep canvassing, and race and class-based advocacy messages (including race-class narratives) on building support for anti-carceral policies. She has also examined how voters form attitudes about anti-carceral policies, developed a measure of “carceral justification” – which predicts support for the carceral status quo, and written theoretically about abolition and social work.

Clinical Assistant Professor, BOSTON UNIVERSITY

Email: copelanp@bu.edu

Website: https://www.bu.edu/ssw/profile/phillipe-copeland/

About: My interest is in the policing and punishment systems as mechanisms of racial capitalism and educating people to not only effectively abolish them, but help survivors to recover from their consequences.

PHD STUDENT, PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Email: saha2@pdx.edu

Bio: Carceral social work, abolitionist social work, social welfare history, transformative justice, mandatory reporting, child sexual abuse

Topic Areas:

• Abolition

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, JUNIATA COLLEGE

Email: rock@juniata.edu

Website: https://www.juniata.edu/academics/departments/sociology/faculty.php

Jacoba Rock is an Assistant Professor of Social Work and Criminal Justice and the B.S.W. Program Director at Juniata College. She received her Master of Social Work degree, with a clinical concentration in work with High-Risk Youth in 2010, and a graduate certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution in 2008, both from the University of Denver. She received her doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies, with a doctoral minor in Criminology, from Pennsylvania State University in 2021. Dr. Rock’s research focuses on the developmental consequences of childhood trauma, including biological, cognitive, and social contributions, for individuals involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems, and related intervention opportunities for incarcerated juveniles and young adults. She leads an assessment and intervention study at a Department of Corrections facility which houses young adult offenders, testing the use of a staff empathy training and implementation of a mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral intervention. Prior research has focused on restorative practices in juvenile correctional facilities, and systemic disparities in response to parole violations. Dr. Rock maintains social work licensure in both Colorado and Pennsylvania, where she continues to assess a small number of clients serving life without parole sentences for crimes convicted as juveniles, and provide court testimony in these cases; this work began in 2012, following the Miller v. Alabama Supreme Court ruling which held that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juveniles. Her work has focused on collaborating with attorneys and other criminal justice advocates to encourage the use of social science research which supports resentencing efforts and service access for incarcerated young people. Before 2012, Dr. Rock worked for several years in the child welfare system, as an assessment specialist and caseworker. Between her undergraduate and graduate training, she was also the program coordinator for a restorative justice program based at a police department. She went on to facilitate psychoeducational groups for young adult offenders, primarily those with substance use and anger management related needs. Dr. Rock’s courses include program evaluation, clinical practice courses, cognitive behavioral therapy, group treatment, restorative approaches, child and adolescent trauma, adolescent development, social welfare policy, and juvenile delinquency and youth violence. Dr. Rock serves on the HEAL-PA Trauma Consultation team, Pennsylvania Re-Entry Council, and the Pennsylvania Office of Advocacy and Reform 21st Century Solutions think tank. She also serves Juniata College through participation on the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Council, Bias Response Team, General Education Committee, Health Professions Committee, and Baker Institute board.