John M. Eason (he/him) has been named the William H. Neukom Fellows Research Chair in Diversity and Law for the 2024-25 academic year, effective September 1. Eason is the Watson Family University Associate Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
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“I am incredibly excited to be a Neukom Chair at the ABF for 2024-25,” said Eason. “I am most looking forward to engaging with and learning from ABF scholars whose work spans the criminal legal system.”
Eason’s research interests challenge existing models and develop new theories of community, health, race, punishment, and rural/urban processes in several ways. First, by tracing the emergence of the rural ghetto, he establishes a new conceptual model of rural neighborhoods. Next, by demonstrating the function of the ghetto in rural communities, he extends concentrated disadvantage from urban to rural community process. These relationships are explored through his book, Big House on the Prairie: Rise of the Rural Ghetto and Prison Proliferation (University of Chicago Press, 2017).
While at the ABF, Eason will work on crafting a new narrative on prison abolition while writing articles, chapters, and public pieces to complete a book tentatively titled Bringing Down the Big House: From the Invisible Land to the Upcycled Place. In addition to managing quantitative analysis on the impact of prison closures by Undergraduate Research Scholars through the Justice Policy Lab at Brown University, he will be conducting field work across two rural communities in California that are losing or have lost their prison. These two data sources will be complemented by delving into archives throughout Chicago to map his family’s history onto shifts across the criminal legal system.
“We are thrilled to welcome John to the ABF research community,” said ABF Executive Director Mark Suchman. “John’s innovative work on rural communities, punishment, and health disparities brings a fresh perspective to our interdisciplinary efforts. We are excited to exchange ideas with him and are confident that his contributions will deepen the impact of our collective research.”
“The Fellows are enthusiastic about Dr. Eason’s appointment,” said Frank X. Neuner, Jr., Chair of the ABF Fellows. “His research offers critical insight into some of the most pressing issues on diversity and law of our time. We are honored to support his work and look forward to the profound impact it will have on both the legal profession and academia.”
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About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of The American Bar Foundation