Colleen Eren has a talent for bringing criminal justice and higher education research and policy to popular audiences in an engaging fashion--and doesn't shy away from controversial topics about these issues.
A full professor of sociology and criminal justice at William Paterson University, a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and the Reason Foundation, and a faculty fellow at the Segal Center of Heterodox Academy, Dr. Eren is an active contributor to the scholarly community and to public discourse. Her opinions have been published in the New York Times, RealClearPolitics/RealClearEducation the Foundation for Economic Education, and Discourse Magazine. Her latest book, Reform Nation: The First Step Act and the Movement to End Mass Incarceration tells the inside story about how one Trump-era law encapsulated the political and social movement dynamics of the past 20 years in criminal justice reform. Her first book, Bernie Madoff and the Crisis: The Public Trial of Capitalism examined the way in which the high-profile Ponzi scheme allowed the public to discuss the broader economic problems which led to the Financial Crisis of 2008. She has been featured in multiple documentaries about the Madoff case. She is also co-author of The Impact of Supreme Court Cases on U.S. Institutions: A Sociology of Law Primer.
Dr. Eren was Director of Organizing at New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, which led a successful statewide campaign to end capital punishment. She is vice president of the board of New Hour for Women and Children, which helps women reenter society after incarceration.