Publications

My research interests focus on correctional education reform, decarceration, subcultures of people who are incarcerated, and destigmatization through education. I have extensive experience in both qualitative and quantitative research. I have conducted research on education within the state and federal prison systems, finding that there are great discrepancies in educational needs based on race, economic status, and gender of incarcerated people. This forms the basis of my belief that there is significant need for transformation within the current criminal legal system.

My research interests include

Critical Criminology
Insider-perspectives of Criminology
Lived-experience
Co-production of criminological knowledge
Inequality
Modified labeling theory
Decarceration
Education as a means to successful reentry
De-stigmatization of people who are system-contacted.

For a full list of publications, please see my CV.

Selected Publications

Books

Tietjen, G. “Justice Lessons: The Rise of System-Affected Academics.” University of California Press (Expected publication date 2024)

In 2022, I secured a book contract with the University of California Press. The manuscript centers on a national and international qualitative study I conducted on what I have come to consider a social movement of system-impacted scholars who organize through higher education to advocate for social equality and legal system transformation.

Peer Reviewed
Articles

Dollar, Cindy Brooks & Tietjen, Grant (2022). “Living as Socially Marked Individuals: Two Stories on Stigma and Its Consequences.” Humanity and Society. 0(0) 1–26.

Ross, J. I. & Tietjen, G. (Publication forthcoming). “Every Picture Tells a Story:

Framing the Activism of Convict Criminology.” Journal of Prisoners on Prisons.

Ross, J. I. & Tietjen, G. (Publication forthcoming). From Fledgling Network to

the Creation of an Official Division of the American Society of Criminology: The Growth of Convict Criminology 2.0. Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict, and World Order.

Jennifer M. Ortiz, Alison Cox, Daniel Ryan Kavish & Grant Tietjen. (2022). Let the

convicts speak: a critical conversation of the ongoing language debate in convict criminology, Criminal Justice Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1478601X.2022.2066661

(Pre-issue publication: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PT2EJJGSD5QIPCNP3XVE/full?target=10.1080/1478601X.2022.2066661)

Park, Nick & Tietjen, Grant. (2021). “‘It’s Not a Conversation Starter.’ Or is it?: Stigma Management Strategies of the Formerly Incarcerated in Personal and Occupational Settings.” Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology. 10(3).

Tietjen, G. & Kavish, D. (2021). “In the Pool without a Life Jacket: Status fragility and Convict Criminology in the current criminological era.” In Ross, J. I. & Vianello, F. (Eds.), Convict criminology for the future. (pp. 66-81). Routledge Press.

Tietjen, G., Burnett, J., and Olson Jessie, B. (2020). “Onward and upward: the Significance of mentorship for formerly incarcerated students and academics.” Critical Criminology.

Tietjen, Grant. (2019). “Convict Criminology: Learning from the Past, Taking on the Present, Expanding to Meet the Future.” Critical Criminology. 27(1): 101-114.

Tietjen, Grant, Chris Garneau, Veronica Horowitz, and Harmoni Joie Noel. (2018). “Showing Up: The Gendered Effects of Social Engagement on Educational Participation in United States Correctional Facilities.” The Prison Journal. 98(3): 359-381.

A recently published example of my progressive criminological research is “’It’s Not a Conversation Starter.’ Or is it?: Stigma Management Strategies of the Formerly Incarcerated in Personal and Occupational Settings.” This co-authored paper published in Qualitative Criminology examines how people who are formerly incarcerated use stigma management strategies. Such strategies are useful in navigating social biases, and one potential use of our findings is to inform policies that provide better opportunities for system-impacted people.

Encyclopedia

Tietjen, Grant. 2017. “Convict Criminology.” Encyclopedia of Corrections. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

Tietjen, Grant. 2014. “ADX Florence.” Encyclopedia of Corrections. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

I value working both independently and collaboratively on research projects, and my current research extends beyond the book manuscript to a collaborative, qualitative study of how people who are formerly incarcerated access and utilize social support and human capital. Here, too, I am interested in using research to inform policy: The project focuses on the building of programs and provision of resources to better meet the needs of this population.

Book Review

Tietjen, Grant. 2014. "Frank Tannenbaum and the Making of a Convict Criminologist" by Yeager, Matthew G. Routledge Social Sciences Division.