School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Megan Denver
Director of the Corrections and Reentry Lab; Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Megan Denver’s research interests include criminal record stigma, employment and recidivism, credentialing decisions for people with criminal records, and desistance. She uses a variety of methods to address her research questions and integrates criminological theory with policy. Denver was a 2016 National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellow and previously worked as a research associate at the Urban Institute.
Read Denver’s faculty spotlight.
- Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award, 2021, American Society of Criminology.
- Outstanding Young Experimental Criminologist Award, 2019, American Society of Criminology, Division of Experimental Criminology.
- University Distinguished Dissertation Award, 2018, University at Albany.
- Denver, Megan Abby Ballou and Samuel E. DeWitt. 2024. What’s in a Label? Public Use and Perceptions of Labeling Alternatives in Criminology Justice Quarterly (OnlineFirst)
- Denver, Megan, and Samuel E. DeWitt. 2023. “[It’s] what you do after the mistake that counts”: Positive employment credentials, criminal record stigma, and potential pathways of mediation. Criminology.
- Denver, Megan, and Abigail Ballou. 2022. Collateral Consequences & Public Safety. Arnold Ventures Discussion Paper.
- 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, and Alec Ewald. 2018. Credentialing Decisions and Criminal Records: A Narrative Approach. Criminology 56(4): 715-749.
- 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.
- 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.
- “All Reentry is Local: Evaluating a Strategy to Reenter State Prisoners through Local Correctional Systems.” National Institute of Justice ($249,766). Principal Investigator. (Co-PI: Ben Struhl). 2022–2023.
- “Navigating Mainstream Institutions and Non-Traditional Alternatives Post-Incarceration.” National Science Foundation ($297,178). Principal Investigator. (Co-PI: Rod Brunson). 2021–2023.
- “Targeting the ‘absence’ in a desistance framework: Balancing risk and rehabilitation in mandated criminal background check employment decisions.” National Institute of Justice, Graduate Research Fellowship Program in the Social and Behavioral Sciences ($32,000). 2016–2017.
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Education
PhD, Criminal Justice, University at Albany
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Contact
