Christian Bolden

Christian Bolden earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Central Florida and Masters in Sociology from Texas State University-San Marcos. His areas of research include gang histories and processes, mass incarceration, and human trafficking. His recent book Out of the Red: My Life of Gangs, Prison, and Redemption received the 2020 Frank Tannenbaum Outstanding Book Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Convict Criminology. Dr. Bolden also received the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from
the College of Liberal Arts at Texas State University San Marcos and the 2021 Faculty Senate Award for Research from Loyola University New Orleans. In 2012-2013, Dr. Bolden was the “Futurist in Residence” research fellow for the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit.

Dr. Bolden’s other activities include participation in the Modern Slavery Research Project, which resulted in the (2015) report “Trafficking and Exploitative Labor Amongst Homeless Youth in New Orleans.” Some of his publications on gang social networks can be found in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, on gang joining and desistance in Criminal Justice Review, on gang membership fluidity in Deviant Behavior, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.