Kim Richman

Kimberly Richman

Professor

Full-Time Faculty
Kalmanovitz Hall 256
(415) 312-2456

Biography

Kimberly Richman received a BA at Pitzer College and an MA and a PhD in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at UC Irvine, where she also completed a graduate emphasis in feminist studies. She currently teaches Criminology; Sociology of Law; Deviance and Social Control; Senior Thesis Workshop; Capstone in Sociology; and Law School 101. She also collaborates with the USF School of Law's Racial Justice Clinic.

Professor Richman's primary areas of research interest are law and society, criminology, and the effects of legal rights (or their lack) on social, civic, and personal aspects of life, including legal consciousness, identity, and civic personhood. Past research has focused on the creation of legal and social meaning in legal processes involved with LGBT family law issues and legal consciousness among same-sex married couples. Her more recent research focuses on the experience of incarceration, rehabilitative prison programming, parole, and reentry. Her current projects examine the role of remorse narratives in parole board hearings and the experience of transgender applicants for parole in the California prison system. She also is co-founder and chief executive of the Bay Area reentry nonprofit Alliance for CHANGE.

Expertise

  • Criminology
  • Legal studies
  • Gender and sexuality
  • Social justice and inequalities (Race, class, gender, and gender identities)

Research Areas

  • Parole and reentry
  • Incarceration and rehabilitation
  • Gender, sexuality, and law
  • Inequalities in criminal legal process
  • Legal consciousness

Appointments

  • Honors Coordinator, Department of Sociology
  • Chair, CORE Area E Committee
  • Program Committee, American Society of Criminology

Education

  • PhD, University of California, Irvine
  • MA, University of California, Irvine
  • BA, Pitzer College

Prior Experience

  • President, Western Society of Criminology
  • Chair, Society for the Study of Social Problems Law and Society Division
  • Co-Founder, President of Board of Directors, Alliance for CHANGE (nonprofit)
  • Visiting Scholar in Residence, UCLA School of Law Williams Institute
  • Chair, Department of Sociology

Awards & Distinctions

  • Richard Tewksbury Award for Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship and Activism at the Intersection of Sexuality and Crime, Western Society of Criminology, 2020
  • Dean's Scholar Award for Distinguished Research in the Social Sciences
  • Joseph D. Lohman Award from the Western Society of Criminology for Outstanding Contributions
  • Edwin Sutherland Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems, for her book, License to Wed.

Selected Publications

  • Richman, Kimberly (2023). "Mass Incarceration and the Collateral Problems of Parole." In Beyond Bars: A Path Forward from 50 Years of Mass Incarceration, Polity Press.

  • Richman, Kimberly. (2021). The Perils of Parole and ‘Program Speak’: Understanding and Managing Culpability Statements in Post-Conviction Settings. The Champion: Journal of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
  • Richman, Kimberly. (2018). “Race and Incarceration.” Invited book chapter in Today I Gave Myself Permission to Dream: Race and Incarceration in America, Ed. Erin Brigham and Kimberly Rae Connor. University of San Francisco Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought. University of San Francisco Press.
  • Richman, K. (2015). License to Wed: What Legal Marriage Means to Same-Sex Couples. New York: New York University Press.
  • Richman, K. (2010). Courting Change: Queer Parents, Judges, and the Transformation of American Family Law. New York: New York University Press.

Media