Kaaryn Gustafson
Professor of Law
Director, Center on Law, Equality and Race
Expertise:
Welfare and economic policy; criminal law and procedure; interdisciplinary research on race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic inequality
Background:
Professor Gustafson’s research and scholarship is interdisciplinary and explores the role of law in remedying inequality—and in reinforcing inequality. Her research over the last decade focused on the expanding administrative overlap between the welfare and criminal justice systems, as well as the experiences of those individuals and families caught in those systems. Her current research explores the history of law in regulating African American families and in regulating labor among poor people of various ethnic backgrounds.
(Log in to view full course descriptions in the UCI Law Course Catalog)
- Kaaryn Gustafson, Cheating Welfare: Public Assistance and the Criminalization of Poverty (2011, NYU Press)
- Kaaryn Gustafson, Degradation Ceremonies and the Criminalization of Low-Income Women, 3 UC Irvine L. Rev. 297 (2013)
- Kaaryn Gustafson, Breaking Vows: Marriage Promotion, The New Patriarchy, and the Retreat from Egalitarianism, 5 Stanford J. C.R. & C.L. 269 (2009)
- Kaaryn Gustafson, The Criminalization of Poverty, 99 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 643 (2009)
- Kaaryn Gustafson, Disability, Fluidity, and Measuring without Baselines, 75 Miss. L.J. 1007 (2006)
- Jan. 8, 2022:
Presenter, Implementing Anti-Racism and Racial Justice Into the Law School Curriculum, 2022 AALS Annual Meeting, Online - Jan. 6, 2022:
Featured Speaker, The Forgotten Demographic: Law Professors with Disabilities in Legal Academia, 2022 AALS Annual Meeting, Online - Dec. 8, 2021:
Panelist, California’s New Ethnic Studies Requirement: What Is It and Why Is It Necessary?, OCBA & Thurgood Marshall Bar Association Webinar, Online - Oct. 29, 2021:
Panelist, Diversity and Social Justice Forum Symposium Panel 1, COVID 19: Lessons in Racial Hierarchy and Solidarity, Fowler School of Law, Chapman University, Online - Oct. 8, 2020:
Panelist, The 1619 Project and the Matter of Black Lives, UCI Humanities Center, Online - Oct. 19, 2018:
Panelist, Concurrent Session on Policing I, Western Law Professors of Color & Conference of Asian Pacific American Law Faculty Joint Conference, University of Nevada Las Vegas Boyd School of Law, Las Vegas, NV - Sept. 20, 2018:
Speaker, “Re-Embodying the Fourth Amendment,”University of Connecticut School of Law Faculty Workshop Series, Hartford, CT - July 19, 2017:
Moderator, Panel on “Activism and policy change around the world,” Expanding Perspectives on Gender Equality conference, UCI Newkirk Alumni Center - Oct. 7, 2016:
Chair, Panel on Race and Suspicion, Race and Policing Symposium, UC Irvine - July 21, 2016
Panelist, 6th annual Supreme Court Term in Review, UC Irvine - Aug. 8–16, 2016
Faculty, UCI High School Summer Institute in Law, UC Irvine - June 2, 2016
Discussant, “Dimensions of Equality,” LSA Annual Meeting Workshop, New Orleans - May 31, 2016
Participant, Law & Society Association Professional Development Workshop, New Orleans - May 11-12, 2016
Speaker, Scandal in Real Time: A National Conference on Black Women, Politics & Oral History, UC Irvine - April 1, 2016
Speaker, Festschrift for Kristin Luker, Berkeley Law - March 21, 2016
Presenter, James A. Thomas Lecture, “Bastardy, Debt, and Social Control,” Yale Law School - March 8, 2016
Speaker, “Introduction to Intersectionality,” Guest Speaker Series, UCI Law - Feb. 26, 2016
Plenary Panel Speaker, 2016 West Coast Law & Society Retreat, UCI Law - Feb. 19, 2016
Keynote Speaker, Poverty Law Conference, Seattle University
- UC Irvine Professors Kaaryn Gustafson, Ari Ezra Waldman and Kelley Fong Receive 2024 Law and Society Association Awards
- Mario Barnes and Kaaryn Gustafson Honored with Prestigious American Bar Foundation Fellows Outstanding Scholar Award
- American Bar Foundation: Professor Kaaryn Gustafson and Professor Mario L. Barnes to Receive the 2023 ABF Fellows Outstanding Scholar Award
- UCI News: WATCH: Prof. Gustafson discusses the definition and history of critical race theory
- Daily Pilot: Prof. Gustafson comments on Critical Race Theory scholarship and the politics and debate around the subject
- UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence: Prof. Gustafson selected for inaugural cohort of UCI Inclusive Excellence Term Chairs
- UCI Humanities Center: WATCH: Prof. Gustafson participates in panel discussion on the 1619 Project and the matter of Black lives
- LSA: Profs. Ballakrishnen and Gustafson elected to serve on Law and Society Association’s Board of Trustees
- LatCrit: Prof. Gustafson presents working paper on social Darwinism and acceptance of premature death in American law and policy
- Law 360: Astor-White v. Strong case, led by Prof. Gustafson and UCI Law Appellate Litigation Clinic, named top 10 copyright ruling of 2018
- Jezebel: Prof. Gustafson comments on arrest of Jazmine Headley, “slow violence of everyday life” for low-income women
- The Washington Post: Dean Chemerinsky and 17 UCI Law professors among more than 1,200 law school faculty nationwide opposing nomination of Sessions as Attorney General
- The Society Pages: Prof. Gustafson discusses “Culture of Poverty” in online roundtable
- The Divide: Interview with Prof. Gustafson quoted in book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
- Making Contact radio show: Prof. Gustafson interviewed on government surveillance
- Vice News: Prof. Gustafson quoted on SNAP benefits