Meghan Maree Ballard (she/her) is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Irvine in Criminology, Law, and Society. She holds a B.A. in Political Science with a Minor in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.S. in Justice, Law and Criminology from American University.
Ballard’s research interests are informed by her academic and professional experiences and focus on linguistic (in)justice, racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal legal system, and the relationship between social inequities and access to justice. Her dissertation explores how organizations interpret civil rights law related to language access in state courts. One aspect of her research involves analyzing primary and secondary qualitative data on language services, such as interpretation and translation, in California courts.
Ballard has published several peer-reviewed articles on a variety of topics in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Societies, and Policing & Society. Her department has recognized her research excellence with several honors. Outside of academia, she enjoys exploring local running paths and recently completed the Orange County Half Marathon.