Valli Rajah

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Sociology, Department Member

Followers

Following

267

Co-authors

Public Views

Dr Valli Rajah is an Associate Professor in sociology and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Criminal Justice at John Jay College/ The Graduate Center, City University New York. Her research focuses on intimate partner violence and its unintended health consequences, particularly for those who defy easy categorization as either ‘victims’ or ‘criminal offenders’. Dr Rajah explores individuals’ everyday acts of resistance and how, over time, they make meaning of their experiences, typically through personal narrative. She has also led initiatives to promote diversity and inclusivity in criminal justice.

less

Esther Rivas

Noémie Bigras

Université du Québec à Montréal

Enrique Echeburúa

Gabriela Zapata-Alma

University of Chicago

Manuela Martinez Ortiz

Olga Mayoral

Anna Isabel Costales Zavgorodniaya

Dr. Erick David Arguello

Khondker Mohammad Zobair

Concepcion Blasco-Ros

Universitat de València

InterestsView All (19)

Uploads

Papers by Valli Rajah

The Effects of Polyvictimization by Intimate Partners on Suicidality Among Salvadoran Women

by Valli Rajah and Lidia Vásquez

The Effects of Polyvictimization by Intimate Partners on Suicidality Among Salvadoran Women, 2023

Intimate partner violence (IPV) victims tend to suffer from various mental health issues. Mental ... more Intimate partner violence (IPV) victims tend to suffer from various mental health issues. Mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts and attempts caused by IPV victimization, might be more severe among women in El Salvador, where violence against women is prevalent overall. Although polyvictimization, which is defined as experiencing more than one type of violence by one or multiple partners, is associated with more severe mental health consequences than victimization by just a single form of violence due to accumulative trauma, not enough attention has been paid to this phenomenon among Salvadoran women. Thus, guided by trauma theory, this study aimed to examine the impact of polyvictimization from different types of violence (i.e., physical, sexual, emotional, and economic) on suicidal thoughts and attempts among Salvadoran women using the 2017 Violence Against Women National Survey. A nationally representative sample of 3,074 Salvadoran women aged 15 years or older and who had experienced an intimate relationship in their lifetime, recruited through a multistage random sampling design, was analyzed in this study using logistic regression analyses.

Download

The Personal is Political and so is Discomfort: Intersectional, Anti-Racist Praxis in Feminist Criminology

Race and justice, May 17, 2022

The phrase &quot;the personal is political&quot; is commonly associated with 1970s femini... more The phrase &quot;the personal is political&quot; is commonly associated with 1970s feminists, for whom it denoted the relationship between personal experiences and broad systems of inequality. However, considering bell hooks&#39; argument that feminists have lost the power analysis fundamental to the relationship between the personal and the political, we assess the relevance of the notion the &#39;personal is political,&#39; to our work as feminist criminologists. Building on hooks&#39; insight, we argue there is a need to take up an intersectional and anti-racist feminist praxis that centers multiple forms of oppression in scholarship and seeks greater accountability for sexism, racism, and transphobia both within and beyond academic spaces. We elaborate our ideas by, first, outlining the intellectual history and evolution of feminist criminology. Second, we examine how the relationship between the personal and political figures in the work of minoritized scholars. Third, we discuss the necessary discomforts associated with working towards an intersectional and antiracist feminist criminology.

Article Rendering Invisible Punishments Visible: Using Institutional

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

Notes on Identity Challenges Relating to Police Action in a Mandatory Arrest Jurisdiction

Authors ’ Note: The authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward?

Race and Justice

Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floy... more Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, universities – and some departments – have expressed their commitments to anti-racism in public statements. While statements are laudable, what matters most is how anti-racism is actualized in our classrooms, our syllabi, our departmental policies and practices, our research, and the discipline of criminology. In this paper, we outline the racist history of “criminality,” policing, prisons, and criminology, along with current manifestations of systemic racism in the criminal legal system. Against this backdrop, we aim to start a conversation about whether it is possible for the discipline to be proactively anti-racist or if this transformation is impossible due to the discipline's historical - and ongoing - complicity with racism. We also offer questions for criminology departments to consider if they seek to actively uproot present day racism within the discipl...

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward?

Race and justice, May 18, 2022

Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floy... more Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, universitiesand some departmentshave expressed their commitments to anti-racism in public statements. While statements are laudable, what matters most is how anti-racism is actualized in our classrooms, our syllabi, our departmental policies and practices, our research, and the discipline of criminology. In this paper, we outline the racist history of &quot;criminality,&quot; policing, prisons, and criminology, along with current manifestations of systemic racism in the criminal legal system. Against this backdrop, we aim to start a conversation about whether it is possible for the discipline to be proactively anti-racist or if this transformation is impossible due to the discipline&#39;s historical-and ongoing-complicity with racism. We also offer questions for criminology departments to consider if they seek to actively uproot present day racism within the discipline and the criminal legal system.

Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology and Academia: Introduction to a Special Issue

Race and Justice

In this introduction to the special issue on Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Crimin... more In this introduction to the special issue on Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology and Academia, we describe the Virtual Forum of the same name that inspired the special issue. The June 4, 2021 Forum was organized by an ad hoc committee of the American Society of Criminology's Division on Women & Crime's Diversity & Inclusion Committee and featured over 100 presenters. We also outline the contributions to the special issue, which contain concrete recommendations on how to improve our discipline, our research, our mentorship, our departments, and our universities. Finally, we included two beautiful tributes on the legacy of bell hooks, in light of her December 2021 passing. We hope that readers will find the contributions to this special issue informative and beneficial as they work to advance antiracist and intersectional ideas and practices within criminology, feminist criminology and academia.

Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology and Academia: Introduction to a Special Issue

Download

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward

Race and Justice, 2022

Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floy... more Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, universitiesand some departmentshave expressed their commitments to anti-racism in public statements. While statements are laudable, what matters most is how anti-racism is actualized in our classrooms, our syllabi, our departmental policies and practices, our research, and the discipline of criminology. In this paper, we outline the racist history of "criminality," policing, prisons, and criminology, along with current manifestations of systemic racism in the criminal legal system. Against this backdrop, we aim to start a conversation about whether it is possible for the discipline to be proactively anti-racist or if this transformation is impossible due to the discipline's historical-and ongoing-complicity with racism. We also offer questions for criminology departments to consider if they seek to actively uproot present day racism within the discipline and the criminal legal system.

Download

The Personal is Political and so is Discomfort: Intersectional, Anti-Racist Praxis in Feminist Criminology

Race and Justice, 2022

The phrase "the personal is political" is commonly associated with 1970s feminists, for whom it d... more The phrase "the personal is political" is commonly associated with 1970s feminists, for whom it denoted the relationship between personal experiences and broad systems of inequality. However, considering bell hooks' argument that feminists have lost the power analysis fundamental to the relationship between the personal and the political, we assess the relevance of the notion the 'personal is political,' to our work as feminist criminologists. Building on hooks' insight, we argue there is a need to take up an intersectional and anti-racist feminist praxis that centers multiple forms of oppression in scholarship and seeks greater accountability for sexism, racism, and transphobia both within and beyond academic spaces. We elaborate our ideas by, first, outlining the intellectual history and evolution of feminist criminology. Second, we examine how the relationship between the personal and political figures in the work of minoritized scholars. Third, we discuss the necessary discomforts associated with working towards an intersectional and antiracist feminist criminology.

Download

“Aren’t I a Victim?”

Violence Against Women, 2006

The mandated arrest of domestic violence perpetrators is a policy response to the problem of part... more The mandated arrest of domestic violence perpetrators is a policy response to the problem of partner violence. Mandatory arrest can result, however, in unintended and sometimes undesirable arrest outcomes, including dual arrests (when both parties are arrested), retaliatory arrests (when the perpetrator has his or her partner wrongfully arrested), and failures to make an arrest (when one is warranted by law). Using an inter-actionist perspective, this research focuses on one negative effect of mandatory arrest: the identity challenge faced by female victims of domestic violence who experience undesirable arrest outcomes. The authors discuss policy implications, focusing on the potential empowerment effects of mandatory arrest.

Download

Rendering Invisible Punishments Visible: Using Institutional Ethnography in Feminist Criminology

As the pendulum swings away from mass incarceration, feminist criminologists must be alert to the... more As the pendulum swings away from mass incarceration, feminist criminologists must be alert to the ways in which forms of invisible punishment continue to oppress and marginalize crime-processed women. Institutional ethnography is a mode of inquiry that examines work processes and how they are coordinated, often through texts and discourses. Through illustrative examples from a sample of formerly incarcerated women in post-realignment California, we demonstrate institutional ethnography’s importance as a feminist research tool that places the reentry work of crime-processed women in conversation with the invisible punishments imposed on them after and in lieu of incarceration.

Resistance as Edgework in Violent Intimate Relationships of Drug -Involved Women

British Journal of Criminology, 2006

Intimate relationships marked by partner violence are also characterized by sociological ambivale... more Intimate relationships marked by partner violence are also characterized by sociological ambivalencethe incompatible and sometimes contradictory normative expectations and privileges granted to each partner in the relationship. This ethnographic interview study of poor, minority, drug-involved women in violent relationships examines one mode of response to this sociological ambivalence: edgework-resistance. 'Edgework' describes volitional risk-taking activities in which individuals court physical injury but deploy context-specific expertise to avoid it. As applied to situations of intimate partner violence (IPV), edgework-resistance gives oppressed women the opportunity to experience the embodied rewards of self-authorship. This paper explores how edgework may be differentiated across gender, class and race, and it refines the resistance concept by specifying both when resistance is likely to occur and what the specific rewards of resistance may be.

Download

Intimacy, Time, and Scarcity: Drug-Involved Women Account for Secretly Withholding Financial Capital in Violent Intimate Relationships

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 2010

Research on the intimate relationships of drug-involved women has characterized these women eithe... more

Enhancing the tellability of death-row exoneree narratives: Exploring the role of rhetoric

Punishment & Society

Individuals make sense of experience through telling stories they hope others will hear. To estab... more Individuals make sense of experience through telling stories they hope others will hear. To establish an interpretive connection with their audience, narrators must tell stories that are tellable, conceptualized as engaging but not too socially or emotionally challenging. We analyze the narratives of death-sentenced exoneree activists. When depicting their wrongful convictions, we find exoneree activists convey accepted critiques of criminal justice system processing through familiar tropes that reinforce shared understanding with their audience. When representing their unique suffering and conveying a more critical perspective, exonerees marshal sarcasm, metaphor, and litotes. These rhetorical devices convey irony that encourages listeners to question their assumptions, thereby, enhancing audience receptivity to exonerees’ perspectives. We consider the broader significance of figurative language in narrative representations of justice-system involvement.

Understanding the Body and Embodiment in the Context of Women’s Resistance to Intimate Partner Violence: A Scoping Review

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

Scholars acknowledge that women oppose male intimate partner violence (IPV). Yet there is limited... more Scholars acknowledge that women oppose male intimate partner violence (IPV). Yet there is limited comprehensive knowledge regarding how women’s bodies and embodiment, that is, their physical and emotional practices and the cultural and social systems that influence them, figure in this process. Our scoping review helps fill this gap by analyzing and synthesizing 74 research articles published in English-language scholarly journals between 1994 and 2017 to address three research questions: (1) How does existing IPV research conceptualize resistance? (2) To what extent do the body and embodiment appear in this research? and (3) What common themes emerge from investigation of the role of embodiment and the body in the context of IPV? The articles identify several subtypes of resistance strategies including avoidance, help-seeking, violent action, and leaving a violent relationship. The reviewed research also regularly describes women’s physical and emotional states in the context of IP...

Understanding Formal Responses to Intimate Partner Violence and Women’s Resistance Processes: A Scoping Review

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

Intimate partner violence (IPV) literature addresses the ways in which women oppose violent male ... more Intimate partner violence (IPV) literature addresses the ways in which women oppose violent male partners through acts of “everyday resistance.” There is a limited understanding, however, of the relationship between women’s resistance and their formal help-seeking in the context of IPV. Our scoping review, which includes 74 articles published in English-language journals between 1994 and 2017, attempts to help fill this gap by developing systematic knowledge regarding the following research questions: (1) How are formal institutional responses discussed within the literature on resistance to IPV? (2) How does institutional help-seeking facilitate or obstruct IPV survivors’ personal efforts to resist violence? We find that institutions and organizations succeed in facilitating resistance processes when they counter victim-blaming ideas and provide IPV survivors with shared community and a sense of control over their futures. However, they fall short in terms of helping survivors by e...

Understanding Women’s Resistance to Intimate Partner Violence: A Scoping Review

Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

Scholars widely acknowledge that women oppose male violence and control in intimate relationships... more Scholars widely acknowledge that women oppose male violence and control in intimate relationships. Yet there is limited comprehensive knowledge of how resistance features in intimate partner violence (IPV) research across the social sciences. Our scoping review helps fill this gap, analyzing and synthesizing 74 research articles published in English-language scholarly journals between 1994 and 2017. Our review is guided by the following questions: (1) How is research on IPV and resistance designed and executed? (2) How do IPV researchers define the term resistance? (3) What specific types of resistance do IPV researchers discuss in their work? (4) What policy and practice implications are provided by current literature on women’s resistance to IPV? We find that scholarship on resistance to IPV is varied, spanning 10 scholarly disciplines with research samples drawn from 19 countries. Studies overwhelmingly used qualitative data, gathered through a range of techniques. The 42 article...

Entrapments of consumerism: Adolescent prisoners, cognitive treatment, and consumption

Journal of Consumer Culture

Based on fieldwork involving unobtrusive observations and interview data collected from young mal... more Based on fieldwork involving unobtrusive observations and interview data collected from young male prisoners participating in a cognitive-therapy program, this article explores how consumerism interpolates the treatment setting and the cultural views of racially marginalized adolescents. While recent literature intimates that such men will possess idiosyncratic cultural “repertoires” or “worldviews,” we find that many young prisoners are strongly invested in consumerism. This is evident in the central role that money, commodities, and lifestyles play in their lives. We also find that correctional officers are just as wedded to consumerism, yet castigate the young men for how they make sense of what it means to live in a consumerist world. In our view, this embodies a peculiar form of social injustice that we call “consumerist entrapment”: Young men are strongly encouraged to adopt cultural orientations and consumerist behaviors for which they are subsequently penalized.

Changing narrative accounts: How young men tell different stories when arrested, enduring jail time and navigating community reentry

Punishment & Society, 2014

Using fieldwork, interviews, and survey data collected from male adolescent prisoners who complet... more Using fieldwork, interviews, and survey data collected from male adolescent prisoners who completed a cognitive treatment program, this study addresses two questions: how do adolescent prisoners account for past and possible future acts to illegally acquire money? What frames are identifiable across these accounts? We identify three frames in adolescent prisoner narratives: a ‘victim’; ‘rebirth/redemptive’; and ‘critical’ frame. While the first frame is used to rationalize crime, the second promises that, as changed individuals, future crime will be avoided. The third frame questions the moral and structural hierarchies that render certain groups susceptible to being labeled deviant. Drawing on narrative-identity and intersectional theory, we argue that adolescents' narratives of economic prospects change over time as a function of navigating the different strains associated with initial incarceration, enduring jail programming, and reentering communities. We argue that these ch...

The Effects of Polyvictimization by Intimate Partners on Suicidality Among Salvadoran Women

by Valli Rajah and Lidia Vásquez

The Effects of Polyvictimization by Intimate Partners on Suicidality Among Salvadoran Women, 2023

Download

The Personal is Political and so is Discomfort: Intersectional, Anti-Racist Praxis in Feminist Criminology

Race and justice, May 17, 2022

Article Rendering Invisible Punishments Visible: Using Institutional

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

Notes on Identity Challenges Relating to Police Action in a Mandatory Arrest Jurisdiction

Authors ’ Note: The authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward?

Race and Justice

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward?

Race and justice, May 18, 2022

Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floy... more Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, universitiesand some departmentshave expressed their commitments to anti-racism in public statements. While statements are laudable, what matters most is how anti-racism is actualized in our classrooms, our syllabi, our departmental policies and practices, our research, and the discipline of criminology. In this paper, we outline the racist history of &quot;criminality,&quot; policing, prisons, and criminology, along with current manifestations of systemic racism in the criminal legal system. Against this backdrop, we aim to start a conversation about whether it is possible for the discipline to be proactively anti-racist or if this transformation is impossible due to the discipline&#39;s historical-and ongoing-complicity with racism. We also offer questions for criminology departments to consider if they seek to actively uproot present day racism within the discipline and the criminal legal system.

Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology and Academia: Introduction to a Special Issue

Race and Justice

Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology and Academia: Introduction to a Special Issue

Download

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward

Race and Justice, 2022

Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floy... more Since the uprisings of 2020 in the aftermath of the police-perpetrated the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, universitiesand some departmentshave expressed their commitments to anti-racism in public statements. While statements are laudable, what matters most is how anti-racism is actualized in our classrooms, our syllabi, our departmental policies and practices, our research, and the discipline of criminology. In this paper, we outline the racist history of "criminality," policing, prisons, and criminology, along with current manifestations of systemic racism in the criminal legal system. Against this backdrop, we aim to start a conversation about whether it is possible for the discipline to be proactively anti-racist or if this transformation is impossible due to the discipline's historical-and ongoing-complicity with racism. We also offer questions for criminology departments to consider if they seek to actively uproot present day racism within the discipline and the criminal legal system.

Download

The Personal is Political and so is Discomfort: Intersectional, Anti-Racist Praxis in Feminist Criminology

Race and Justice, 2022

Download

“Aren’t I a Victim?”

Violence Against Women, 2006

Download

Rendering Invisible Punishments Visible: Using Institutional Ethnography in Feminist Criminology