Recent Research

I’d be happy to send a copy of an article listed below if you don’t have subscription access or the article is forthcoming (m.denver@northeastern.edu).

 

Invited White Papers and Policy Papers

Denver, Megan and Abigail Ballou. 2022. Collateral Consequences and Public Safety.  Part of a series on Public Safety and Justice Reform. Arnold Ventures.

Denver, Megan. 2021. Recruitment, Assessment, and Retention in the Direct Care Workforce for Individuals with Criminal Records: A Comprehensive Model Approach. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

 

Employment, Recidivism, and Criminal Background Check Policies

Denver, Megan and Brandon Behlendorf (equal authorship). 2022. Shifting Peaks and Cumulative Consequences: Disqualifying Convictions in High-Security Jobs. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 59(3): 279-326.  [Note: This is a publicly available (open access) article] 

Denver, Megan, Garima Siwach, and Shawn D. Bushway. 2017. A New Look at the Employment and Recidivism Relationship through the Lens of a Criminal Background Check. Criminology 55(1): 174-204.

 

Positive Credentials, Stigma Mitigation, and Decision Maker Strategies

Denver, Megan, and Samuel E. DeWitt. Forthcoming (Feb 2023). “[It’s] what you do after the mistake that counts”: Positive employment credentials, criminal record stigma, and potential pathways of mediation. Criminology.

DeWitt, Samuel E. and Megan Denver. 2020. Criminal Records, Positive Employment Credentials and Race. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 57(3): 333-368.

Denver, Megan. 2020. Criminal Records, Positive Credentials and Recidivism: Incorporating Evidence of Rehabilitation into Criminal Background Check Decisions. Crime & Delinquency 66(2): 194–218.

Denver, Megan and Alec Ewald. 2018. Credentialing Decisions and Criminal Records: A Narrative Approach. Criminology 56(4): 715-749.

Denver, Megan. 2017. Evaluating the Impact of “Old” Criminal Conviction Decision Guidelines on Subsequent Employment and Arrest Outcomes.  Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 54(3): 379–408.

Denver, Megan, Justin T. Pickett, and Shawn D. Bushway. 2017. The Language of Stigmatization and the Mark of Violence: Experimental Evidence on the Social Construction and Use of Criminal Record Stigma. Criminology 55(3): 664-90.

 

Public Opinion Research

Denver, Megan and Justin T. Pickett. 2022. Race, Criminal Records, and Discrimination Against Job Seekers: Examining Attitudinal Mechanisms. Social Currents, 9(3), 226-244.

Drakulich, Kevin and Megan Denver. 2022. The Partisans and the Persuadables: Public Views of Black Lives Matter and the 2020 Protests. Perspectives on Politics, 20(4): 1191-1208.  [Note: This is a publicly available (open access) article]

Lehmann, Peter S., Justin T. Pickett, and Megan Denver. 2020. Public Opinion on Criminal Records and Employment: A Test of Competing Theoretical Models. Crime & Delinquency 66(6-7): 995–1022.

Lageson, Sarah, Megan Denver and Justin T. Pickett. 2019.  Privatizing Criminal Stigma: Experience, Intergroup Contact, and Public Views about Publicizing Arrest Records. Punishment & Society 21(3): 315-41.

Denver, Megan, Justin T. Pickett, and Shawn D. Bushway. 2018. Criminal Records and Employment: A Survey of Experiences and Attitudes in the United States. Justice Quarterly 35(4): 584-613.

 

Law School and Criminal Conviction Records

Denver, Megan and James M. Binnall. Forthcoming. The Lure of the Law for the Formerly Convicted: Pursuing the Legal Profession as a Resistance Strategy. Law & Social Inquiry.