Jé G. Judson, PhD, MPH

Cultural Support for Violence

The acceptability of violence is rooted in routinizing it in popular discourse & imagery, and associating it with certain cultures and classes. In this area I examine how language is manipulated and weaponized to create consent to enact and rationalize state violence, particularly how the process of cultural violence facilitates targeting Black and other minoritized populations.

Intersecting Systems

Policing and the larger state of hypersurveillance is everybody’s problem: from reproductive rights, to food access, educational attainment, fair labor practices, secure housing, climate justice, and so forth. I elucidate the vast and historical connections between the use of law enforcement agencies to hinder certain populations from realizing improvements to their livelihoods and quelling political movements aligned with those aims.

Unveiling What Police Do

There is widespread belief that police are generally good and necessary with a few rotten apples and occasional mishaps. I examine the case-level details of police encounters that turned deadly for the underlying reasons for police presence, factors that complicate the situation, the health implications, and the consequences or lack thereof.

Expansive Harm

Policing doesn’t just kill and maim, it destroys families and communities generationally. In this area, I examine the true magnitude of the costs of police violence, considering not just the immediate consequences to the victims and those most proximal, but the distal impacts to bystanders, witnesses, associates, and the broader community both in the short- and long-term.