The Ruth D. Peterson Fellowship is designed to encourage students of color, especially those from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the field, to enter the field of criminology and criminal justice, and to facilitate the completion of their degrees.
Maria is the second George Mason University student to win the fellowship since the first award was made in 1989. Last year, Lina Marmolejo, a student in criminology, law, and society won the fellowship.
Maria is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology program and research affiliate at the Movement Engaged Research Hub in the Center for Social Science Research.
Maria’s dissertation comprises a series of essays on criminal legal reform and prisoner reentry in the era of decarceration and movement toward abolition. She is currently collecting data in support of an essay addressing the question of how existing and envisioned social systems and social policies might organize the provision of care for the formerly incarcerated under a larger paradigmatic shift from punishment-oriented responses to care-oriented ones.
May 06, 2021
