Education
PhD University of California, Santa Barbara (Sociology)
MA University of California, Santa Barbara (Sociology)
BA Honors University of York, England (Politics)
Bio
Dr. Brotherton grew up in the East End of London, England where he worked in various blue-collar jobs while organizing labor and youth. He came to the United States in the 1980’s, working toward his Ph.D. degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara while teaching public high school in San Francisco. Dr. Brotherton gained his doctorate in Sociology in 1992 and began work on street gang subcultures at U.C. Berkeley in the same year. In 1994, Dr. Brotherton came to John Jay College of Criminal Justice where he continued his research and teaching on youth resistance, marginalization, and deportation co-founding the Street Organization Project in 1997. He has received numerous research grants from both private and public agencies and has published widely in journals, books, newspapers and magazines. In 2003 and 2004 Dr. Brotherton co-organized the first academic conferences on deportation in the Caribbean and the United States respectively. He received the Praxis award for contributions to social justice from the Critical Criminology Section of the American Society of Criminology and the Guggenheim Outstanding Scholar Awiard in 2015, named Critical Criminologist of the Year in 2011 and won the Choices award for "Keeping Out the Other" in 2008. He has also been nominated for the 2011 George Orwell Prize in England and the C.Wright Mills Award in the United States and has been an expert witness in more than 150 immigration removal hearings. Among his recent books are: Routledge International Handbook of Critical Gang Studies edited with Rafael Gude (Routledge 2021); Immigration Policy in the Age of Punishment: Detention, Deportation and Border Control with Phil Kretsedemas (Columbia 2017); Las Pandillas Como Movimiento Social with Luis Barrios (University of Central America Press 2016); Youth Street Gangs: A Critical Appraisal (Routledge 2015); Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees and Their Stories of Exile, with Luis Barrios (Columbia 2011); Keeping Out The Other: A Critical Introduction to Immigration Control, edited with P. Kretsedemas (Columbia 2009); and The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation: Street Politics and the Transformation of a New York City Gang, with Luis Barrios (Columbia 2004). Dr. Brotherton is the former chair of the Dept. of Sociology at John Jay College and the Director of the Social Change and Transgressive Studies Project https://www.socialchangejohnjay.com/. He is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Critical Criminology: An International Journal and the founding editor of the "Studies in Transgression" book series at Temple University Press. His current projects include Principle Investigator of the NSF funded "New York City Deportation Pipeline Study" (2021-23), the lead author of the monograph "What's Love Got to Do With It? Credible Messengers and the Power of Transformative Mentoring" (Temple) and scientific advisor to the European Research Ccouncil-funded "Solroutes Poject" 2022-27. He has also been scientific consultant to both the World Bank Group and to the Inter-American Bank on Latin America.
Course Taught
Graduate Studies (Graduate Center)
Deportation and the Ethnographic Imagination
Sociology of Youth Subculures and Social Resistance
Undergraduate Studies
Gangs and Transnationalism
The Criminology of Deportation
Global Social Movements
Languages spoken/fluent in
Scholarly Work
Books:
Brotherton, D., D. Kessler, L. Kontos, B. Muhammad, and R. Martinez. Forthcoming 2023. What’s Love Got To Do With It? Credible Messengers and the Power of Transformative Mentoring. Philadelphia: Temple University Press..
Brotherton, D. (editor and contributor) and R. Gude. 2021. Routledge International Handbook of Critical Gang Studies. London: Routledge.
Brotherton, D. (editor and contributor) and P. Kretsedemas. 2017. Immigration Policy in the Age of Punishment: Detention, Deportation, Border Control. New York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton, D. and L. Barrios. 2017 (2nd edition). Las Pandillas Como Movimiento Social: La Historia de los King y Queens Latinos de Nueva York. Quito: Centro de Publicaciones de la PUCE (Ecuador).
Brotherton, D. and L. Barrios. 2016 (1st edition). .Las Pandillas Como Movimiento Socia: La Historica de los Kings y Queens Latinos de Nueva York. San Salvador (El Salvador), University of Central America Press. (Spanish translation).
Brotherton, D. 2015. Youth Street Gangs: A Critical Appraisal. New York: Routledge.
Brotherton, D. (eds), D. Stageman and S. Leyro. 2013.Outside Justice: Criminalizing the Immigrant and the Criminal Justice System. New York: Springer.
Brotherton, D. and L. Barrios. 2011.Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees and Their Stories of Exile. New York: Columbia University Press. (Nominated for C. Wright Mills Award [ASA], Hindelang Award [ASC] and George Orwell Prize.
Brotherton, D. (editor and contributor) and P. Kretsedemas. 2008.Keeping Out the Other: A Critical Introduction to Immigration Control. New York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton, D. (editor and contributor) and M. Flynn. 2008.Globalizing the Streets: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Youth, Marginalization and Resistance. New York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton, D. (editor and contributor) and L. Kontos. 2007.The Encyclopedia of Gangs. New Haven, Connecticut: Greenwood Press
Brotherton, D. and L. Barrios. 2004. The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation: Street Politics and the Transformation of aNew York Gang. New York: Columbia University Press.
S. Will, S. Handelman and D. Brotherton (editors). 2012.“How They Got Away With It: White-Collar Crime and the Financial Meltdown,” New York: Columbia University Press.
Kontos, L., D. Brotherton (editor and contributor) and L. Barrios 2003.Gangs and Society: Alternative Perspectives. New York: Columbia University Press.
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:
Brotherton, D. 2022.
“Eddie Ellis, Credible Messengers and the Neo-Liberal Imagination of Anti-Violence.” Under review at Journal of Social Justice.
Brotherton, D. 2017. Social Banishment of the U.S. Criminal Alien: Norms of Violence and Repression in the Deportation Regime. L'Annee Sociologique, 68(1), 185-210.
Brotherton, D. 2014.
“Jock Young and the Criminological Imagination as a Life Force,” Journal of Crime, Media, Culture. 10(2): 227-237.
Brotherton, D. 2011.
“The Latin Kings and the Global Process: An Extended Case Study Analysis,” Journal of Studi Sulla Questione Criminale (translated into English, Spanish and Italian). 4(1): 7-46.
Brotherton, D. 2007.
“Beyond Social Reproduction: Bringing Resistance Back Into the Theory of Gangs,” Theoretical Criminology. Vol. 12, No. 1, 55-77.
Brotherton, D. 2002.
“King Tone’s Journey: From the Barrio to the SHU,” The Review of
Education/Pedagogy/Cultural Studies, 24(4), pp. 305-333, Oct-Dec.
Brotherton, D. 1999, 2001.
"Old Heads Tell Their Stories: From Street Gangs to Street Organizations in New York
City," Journal of Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology, 27(1), pp. 1-15. [Reprinted in
Special Edition of same journal vol 28(1)].
Brotherton, D. 1997.
"Socially Constructing The Nomads: Part One," Humanity and Society, pp. 1-21 (June).
Brotherton, D. 1996.
"The Contradictions of Suppression: Notes from a Study of Approaches to Gangs in Three Public High Schools (Lead article)," Urban Review, 28(2), pp. 95-120. (Also selected for Rutgers University Special Collection on Criminal Justice).
Brotherton, D. 1996.
"Smartness, Toughness and Autonomy: Drug Use in the Contexts of Gang FemaleDelinquency," Journal of Drug Issues, 26(1), pp. 261-277. (Reprinted in In Her Own Words: Women Offenders' Views on Crime and Victimization An Anthology Edited by Leanne F. Alarid and P. Cromwell. London: Oxford University Press].
Brotherton, D. and L. Kontos. 2022.
“Introduction” to Critical Gang Studies,” Special Issue of Critical Criminology: An International Journal, (30)1:3-12.
Brotherton, D. and R. Gude. 2021.
“Social Control and the Gang: Lessons from the Legalization of Street Gangs in Ecuador,” International Journal of Critical Criminology. 29(4):931-955.
Brotherton, D. and R. Gude. 2018. (also translated into Spanish). “Social Inclusion from Below: The Perspectives of Street Gangs and their Possible Effects on Declining Homicide Rates in Ecuador,” Discussion Paper Nº IDB-DP-578, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, D.C.
Brotherton, D. and R. Gude. 2018.
“Gang Legalization and Violence Reduction in Ecuador’s Murder Miracle,” Journal of Human Security.
Brotherton, D. and L. Naegler. 2014.
“Social Bulimia: Crime and the Contradictions of Capitalism.” Theoretical Criminology. 18(4): 441-449.
Brotherton, D. and J. Young. 2014.
“A Cultural Criminology and its Practices: A dialogue between the Theorist and the Street Researcher,” Dialectical Anthropology, (32)2:117-132.
Brotherton, D. and Y. Martin. 2009.
“The War on Drugs and the Dominican Deportee,” Journal of Crime and Justice, (32)2: 21-48.
Brotherton, D. and L. Barrios. 2009.
“Displacement and Stigma: The Social Psychological Crisis of the Deportee,” Journal of Crime, Media, Culture, 5(1), 29-55. (Reprinted in “Globalization & Crime” edited by K.F. Aas. London: Sage)
Hess, M. and D. Brotherton (under review).
“Counter-Terrorism, Dangerous Knowledge and the Ethnographic Intervention” submitted to Journal of Crime, Media, Culture.
Rostami, A., F. Leinfelt and D. Brotherton. 2013.
“Understanding Gang Leaders: Characteristics and Typologies.” Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology. 1(2):1-25.
Book Chapters:
Brotherton, D. 2020.
“Studying The Gang Through Critical Ethnography,” in Oxford University Handbook of Ethnographies of Crime and Criminal Justice, edited by S. Bucerius and K. D. Haggerty. New York: Oxford University Press.
Brotherto, D. 2018. "Studying the Gang Through Critical Ethnography,"Oxford Handbook of Criminal Justice and Ethnography edited by S. Bucerius and K. Haggerty. New York: Odford University Press.
Brotherton, D. 2017. "Critical Gang Studies," in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminal Justice and Criminolgy edited by H. Pontell and J. Miller. London: Oxford University Press.
Brotherton, D. 2014.
“Prologo” in La Fabricacion de las gangas by Lucas Palmas. Madrid:
Brotherton, D. 2014.
“Youth Groupings, Riots and Discrimination,” in European Youth Studies Compendium. Edited by C. Feixa. Barcelona, Anthropos.
Brotherton, D. 2014.
“The Criminalization of Zucotti Park and Lessons from the UK Riots,” in “Riots and Social Movements” in Social Movements in the Neo-Liberal Era edited by David Pritchard and Frances May. London: Palgrave, pp. 285-295.
Brotherton, D. 2014.
“The Theater of Cruelty and the Permanent Exile of Immigrants” in The Criminalization of Immigration: Contexts and Consequences edited by Alissa Ackerman and Rich Furman. Carolina Academic Press. Pp.31-49.
Brotherton, D. 2013.
“The Social Bulimia of Forced Repatriation: A Case Study of Dominican Deportees” in The Borders of Punishment: Criminal Justice, Citizenship and Social Exclusion edited by Katje Frank Aas and Mary Bosworth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.201-217.
Brotherton, D. 2012.
“Social Constructionism and the Gang” in The Gang Manual edited by Amir Rostami. Stockholm: University of Stockholm Press, pp. 65-82.
Brotherton, D. 2009.
“Richard Cloward (1926-2001)” in Fifty Key Thinkers in Criminology edited by K. Hayward, S. Maruna and J. Mooney. Routledge: New York, pp 147-152.
Brotherton, D. 2008.
“La Globalización de los Latin Kings: Criminologia Cultural y Los Latin Kings” in Otras Naciones: Transnacionalismo, Jovenes y Exclusion edited by L. Barrios and M. Cerbino. Quito: Flacsco Publications, pp. 27-40.
Brotherton, D. 2008.
“Introduction” and “Youth Resistance and the Street Organization in Late Modern New York” in D. Brotherton and M. Flynn (editors) Globalizing the Streets: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Youth, Marginalization and Resistance, New York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton, D. 2008.
“Exiling New Yorkers,” in Keeping Out The Other: Immigration Control in the Post-9/11
Era edited by P. Kretsedemas and D. Brotherton. New York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton, D. 2006.
“Towards the Gang as a Social Movement,” in Gangs in the Global City, edited by J.Hagedorn. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Brotherton, D. 2004
“What Happened to the Pathological Gang: Issues and Findings from a Case Study of the Latin Kings and Queens of New York,” in Cultural Criminology Unleashed, edited by J.Ferrell, K. Hayward, W. Morrison and M. Presdee. London: Cavendish.
Brotherton, D. 2003.
“The Role of Education in the Reform of Street Organizations in New York City” in L.Kontos, D. Brotherton and L. Barrios (editors), pp.136-157, “Gangs and Society: Alternative Perspectives,” New York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton, D. and S. Tosh. 2018. "Immigration and Deportation Enforcement," in Oxford Encyclopedia of Criminal Justice and Criminology edited by H. Pontell and J. Miller. London: Oxford University Press.
Brotherton, D. and S. Tosh. 2017. "The Sociology of Vindictiveness and the Deportee," Immigration Policy in the Age of Punishment edited by D. Brotherton and P. Kretsedemas. New York: Columbia.
Brotherton, D. and C. Salazar. 2003.
“Pushes and Pulls in the Resistance Trajectories of the Latin Queens,” in L. Kontos, D. Brotherton and L. Barrios (editors), pp.183-209, “Gangs and Society: Alternative Perspectives,” New York: Columbia University Press.
Brotherton, D. 2001 (revised 2nd edition), 1998 (1st edition).
"From Gangs to Street Organizations: The Changing Characteristics of Street Subcultures in New York City," Crime and Justice in New York City, edited by A. Karmen. New York: McGraw Hill.
Brotherton, D. 1994.
"Who Do You Claim?: Gang Formations and Rivalry in an Inner City High School",
Perspectives on Social Problems, vol 5, pp. 147-171, 1994, edited by J. Holstein and G.
Miller. Connecticut: JAI Press.
Daza, Anna, D. Brotherton, and G. Escobar 2008.
“Children of the Desert, Fruits of the Ghetto,” in D. Brotherton and M. Flynn (editors)
Globalizing the Streets: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Youth, Marginalization and Resistance, New York: Columbia University Press.
Hart, S. and D. Brotherton. 2003.
“Snapshots from a Movement: The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation 1997-1999,” in L. Kontos, D. Brotherton and L. Barrios (editors), 2002, pp.314-336, “Gangs and Society: Alternative Perspectives,” New York: Columbia University Press.
Barrios, Luis, Marcia Esparza y David C. Brotherton. 2006.
“Amor de Rey de Corazón: Transnacionalizando la resistencia desde Nueva York a
Barcelona” in “Jóvenes ‘Latinos’ en Barcelona: Espacio Público y Cultura Urbana edited
by Carles Feixa. Barcelona: Anthropos.
Ocejo, R. and D. Brotherton, 2009.
“Night Time Economy in New York City” in Nightlife and crime: social order and governance in international perspective edited by P. Hadfield. New York: Oxford University Press 2009.
Encyclopedic Contributions:
Brotherton, D. 2013.
“Latino Deportations” in Oxford Encyclopedia of Latino/as in Contemporary Politics, Law, and Social Movements edited by S. Oboler and D. Garcia. New York: Oxford University Press.
Brotherton, D. 2013.
“The Criminology of Richard Cloward” in Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice edited by J. Albanese and M. Dodge. London: Wiley.
Brotherton, D. 2013.
“The Latin Kings” in Encyclopedia of Crime, Edited by Jeffrey Ian Ross. Sage Publications.
Brotherton, D. 2006.
“Introduction,” “The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation,” “The Street
Organization,” “Gangs and Anti-Gang Tactics,” “Gangs and the Media,” “King Blood,”
“The Asociación Ñeta” in The Encyclopedia of Gangs edited by D. Brotherton and L.
Kontos. New Haven, Connecticut: Greenwood Press
Brotherton, D. 2004.
“Anti-Gang Police Repression,” in Encyclopedia of Criminal Justice edited by L.
Sullivan. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.
Honors and Awards
Nominee, Lifetime Achievement Award, Division of Critical Criminology, 2020.
Office for the Advancement of Research (JJ) Senior Scholar Award, 2020-21.
Office for the Advancement of Research (JJ) Senior Scholar Award, 2019-20.
Nominee, Critical Criminal Justice Award, American Criminal Justice Society, 2017.
Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award, 2015.
Praxis Award for Contribution to Social Justice, Division of Critical Criminology, American Society of Criminology, 2015.
Office for the Advancement of Research (JJ) Scholarly Excellence Award, 2015.
Distinguished Research Fellow, Advanced Research Collaborative, CUNY Graduate Center, 2014-15.
George Orwell Prize nominated by Runnymede Trust, UK and Columbia University Press, 2011.
C. Wright Mills Award (Society for the Study of Social Problems) nominated by Columbia University Press for “Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees and Their Stories of Exile,” 2011.
“Critical Criminologist of the Year,” awarded by the Critical Criminology Section of the American Society of Criminology, 2011.
CUNY Chancellor's Distinction for Faculty Research, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001,
2002, 2005, 2019, 2021.
Choices Award (American Library Association), Outstanding Academic Title for “Keeping Out the Other,” 2008.
Research Summary
The Dominican Deportation Project:
An ongoing study of pre- and post-deportation experiences of Dominican "deportable aliens" through the lens of critical sociology and criminology. This project started in 2002 and is one of the longest studies of the historical causes, social processes and multivalent effects of deportation on a sub-population in the U.S. and the Caribbean.
Social Anatomy of the Deportation Regime in New York City:
The first inter-disciplinary case study research into the organization, practices and consequences of a deportation regime in a major U.S. city funded by the National Science Foundation as the "New York City Deportation Pipeline Study." How has New York's criminal justice system meshed with the immigration administrative system to produce 4,000 deportees per year since 1996?
Social Inclusion, Gangs and and Violence in Ecuador:
An ongoing study of street gang policy in the first country to implement gang legalization in the world and the aftermath. How did Ecuador go from the lowest sustained drop in homicide from 2007-17 to incurring the worst prison massacres in Latin American history in 2021?
The Credible Messenger Project:
A multi-site study of the phen0menon of credible messengers as a major component in youth anti-violence and community crime interventions. How did this intervention developed by prison scholars in the 1980s become one of the leading modes of rehabilitation and transformation in the U.S. for at-risk youth in 2020s?