Michael T. Light

Michael T. Light is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds degrees in Sociology (PhD) and Criminology (MA) from Penn State University, and has been a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law and the University of Warwick School of Law. His research focuses on immigration, crime, and punishment. Publications from this work include “How do Criminal Courts Respond in Times of Crisis? Evidence from 9/11” (American Journal of Sociology), “Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime” (Criminology), “Punishing the ‘Others’: Citizenship and State Social Control in the United States and Germany” (European Journal of Sociology), “Citizenship and Punishment: The Salience of National Membership in U.S. Criminal Courts” (American Sociological Review), and “The Punishment Consequences of Lacking National Membership in Germany” (Social Forces). Current projects examine the criminal case processing of immigrants in state courts (National Science Foundation, 2019-2021) and crime and recidivism among the undocumented (National Institute of Justice grant, 2020-2022).