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Social Sciences Division
Sociology Department
PhD Student
Sociology
Graduate
Rachel Carson College Academic Building
Rachel Carson College Faculty Services
Bio
With an interdisciplinary background in sociology, criminology, and law my research critically explores the linkage between justice system-impacted youths' multiple intersecting social identity markers, and their experience with incarceration, penal violence, and internalization of penal vioolence informed trauma, as well as the subsequent long-term ramifications on their transition to aduthood and desistance. I am particularly interested in the criminalization processeses of adolescents from a socio-legal perspective, trans-national comparison of systems of correction, why we punish as we do, and what we accept as legal punishment for adolescents and youth.
Education
In progress
Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Committee: Rebecca London, Ph.D. (Chair), James Doucet-Battle, Ph.D., and Craig Haney, Ph.D.
Spring 2025
Master of Arts, Sociology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Advisors: James Doucet-Battle, Ph.D., and Hiroshi Fukurai, Ph.D.
Fall 2022
Master of Arts, Sociology
California State University, Northridge
Master’s Thesis: Distorted Justice: Solitary Confinement as Acts of State-Sanctioned Violence
Against Youth
Committee: Drs. Daniel Olmos (Chair), Nayan Ramirez, and Moshoula Capous-Desyllas.
Summer 2019
Bachelor of Arts, Criminology and Justice Studies
California State University, Northridge
Research Employment
2022-2024
Research Assistant, Dr. Katie Edwards (PI)
Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
2022-2022
Research Assistant, Dr. James Davidson (PI)
Department of Sociology
California State University, Northridge
2022-2022
Graduate Research Assistant, Dr. Pyo Jimin (PI)
Department of Criminology and Justice Studies
California State University, Northridge
2021-2022
Graduate Research Assistant, Dr. Anastasiia Timmer (PI)
Department of Criminology and Justice Studies
California State University, Northridge
2021-2022
Graduate Research Assistant, Dr. Nayan Ramirez (PI)
Department of Criminology and Justice Studies
California State University, Northridge
2020-2022
Graduate Research Assistant, Dr. Katherine Lorenz (PI)
Department of Criminology and Justice Studies
California State University, Northridge
Selected Publications
2023
Timmer, A. & Jacobsen C. Untangling the ‘Health Paradox’ among Adolescent Girls: The Role
of Youth Depression and Decision-Making. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies.
2022
Lorenz K., Hayes R. & Jacobsen C. “Title IX isn’t for you, it’s for the University”: Sexual
Violence Survivors’ Experiences of Institutional Betrayal in Title IX Investigations. Journal of
Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology.
2022
Lorenz K., Hayes R. & Jacobsen C. “Keeping the Wound Open”: Survivor Experiences with
Title IX Investigations. Women and Criminal Justice.
2021
Lorenz K. & Jacobsen C. Sexual Violence Survivors’ Experiences with the Police and
Willingness to Report Future Victimization. Women & Criminal Justice.
Manuscripts in Progress
2025
Jacobsen, C. Solitary Confinement: Acts of State-Sanctioned Penal Violence Against Youth.
Research Projects
2022
Jacobsen, C. Distorted Justice: Solitary Confinement as Acts of State-Sanctioned Violence
Against Youth. Master’s Thesis.
IRB Protocol Approved.
2021
Jacobsen, C. The Perception of Justice: Predicting Harmful Impact on Adjudicated and Detained
Adolescents’ Identity Formation.
2021
Jacobsen, C. Understanding the Mobilization of Black Insurgency: The Cases of the U.S. Civil
Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement.
2021
Jacobsen, C. A Hypothesis About Restorative Justice’s Potential for Dismantling the School-to-
Prison Pipeline.
2020
Jacobsen, C. The Perception of Justice: A Qualitative Pilot Study that Explores Justice for
Juveniles in Solitary Confinement.
2020
Jacobsen, C. A Hypothesis About the Role of Racial Discrimination in the use of Solitary
Confinement for Juveniles.
Selected Presentations
2022
Ramirez, N. & Jacobsen, C. The Role of Sexual Orientation Identity Change across Adulthood
on Crime and Substance Use. Presented at the Western Society of Criminology’s Annual
Meeting. Honolulu, HI.
2022
Timmer, A., Lesue, L., Jacobsen, C., Lozovska, O., & Jawaid, A. Domestic Violence During
COVID-19: Self-Reports from Guatemala. Presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice
Sciences Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV.
2021
Jacobsen, C. & Lorenz, K. Understanding Title IX in practice: A Qualitative Exploration of
Sexual Violence Survivors’ Experiences. Presented at the American Sociological Association’s
Annual Meeting. Virtual.
Areas of interest include sociology of punishment; violence and the state; youth and corrections; multiple methods; restorative justice; abolitionist theory; critical race theory; intersectionality theory.
2025
Panetta Institute for Public Policy Fellow
University of California, Santa Cruz & California State University, Monterey Bay
2024
UCSC Regents Fellow
University of California, Santa Cruz
2023
The California State University Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program Fellow
California State University
2022
Association of Retired Faculty’s Memorial Graduate Thesis/Project Award for Distinguished Thesis Scholarship
California State University, Northridge
2022
CSUN Master’s Thesis Scholar
California State University, Northridge
2020
Graduate Equity Fellow
California State University, Northridge
2020
Robert H. Schiffman Memorial Award for Outstanding Research Promise Honorable Mention
California State University, Northridge
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