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Traci Burch holds appointments as Associate Professor in Political Science at Northwestern University and Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation.
Dr. Burch’s areas of research focus include U.S. politics, political behavior and inequality, race and ethnic politics, social policy, and criminal justice. Her current research examines the effects of criminal convictions and incarceration on individual and neighborhood voter participation; changes in racial categorization as a result of intermarriage and immigration; and interest group participation in the Supreme Court. Her 2013 book, Trading Democracy for Justice: Criminal Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation, published by the University of Chicago Press, examines the effects of the criminal justice system on political behavior in low income communities. In addition to receiving a positive response within the field, the book received several book prizes in 2014, including the American Political Science Association Ralph Bunche award, which recognizes the best scholarly work in Political Science that explores the phenomenon of ethnic and cultural pluralism. |
Burch’s dissertation, Punishment and Participation: How Criminal Convictions Threaten American Democracy, won the American Political Science Association’s E.E. Schattschneider Award for the best dissertation in American Politics (2009), the William Anderson Award for the best dissertation in the field of state and local politics, federalism, or intergovernmental relations (2008), the American Political Science Association Urban Section Best Dissertation in Urban Politics Award (2008), and Harvard University’s Robert Noxon Toppan Prize for the best dissertation in political science (2007). In addition, her work has appeared in several peer reviewed journals, including Political Behavior, Law and Society Review, and Criminology and Public Policy.
Recent publications appear in Political Behavior, Law and Society Review, and Criminology and Public Policy. Notable items include “Contingent Public Policies and the Stability of Racial Hierarchy: Lessons from Immigration and Census Policy,” (with Jennifer Hochschild, Harvard University) in Political Contingency: Studying the Unexpected, the Accidental, and the Unforseen, edited by Ian Shapiro and Sonu Bedi and “Political Voice in an Age of Inequality,” (with Kay Lehman Schlozman, Boston College) in America at Risk: Dangers on the Horizon, edited by Robert Faulkner and Susan Shell.
Dr. Burch holds an A.B. in Politics from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Government and Social Policy from Harvard University.
Professional service and recognition:
- American Political Science Association Ralph Bunche Book Award for “Trading Democracy for Justice” (2014)
- American Political Science Association Urban Politics Section Best Book Award for “Trading Democracy for Justice” (2014)
- American Political Science Association Law & Courts Section C. Herman Pritchett Award for Best Book in the Field of Law & Courts for “Trading Democracy for Justice” (2014)
- American Political Science Association E.E. Schattschneider Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation in the field of American Government and Politics (2009)
- American Political Science Association Willam Anderson Award
- 2008 APSA Urban Section Best Dissertation in Urban Politics Award
- Associate Editor, Law and Social Inquiry (2007-2013)
- Harvard University Toppan Prize for the best dissertation in political science
- Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences Research Fellowship
- Doctoral Fellow, Malcolm Weiner Center for Inequality and Social Policy
- Member, Law and Society Association Diversity Committee
- Northwestern University Legal Studies Faculty Advisory Board
Books and select publications:
- Burch, Traci; 2014; “The Effects of Imprisonment and Community Supervision on Political Participation”; Detaining Democracy Special Issue; The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
- Burch, Traci; 2013; Trading Democracy for Justice: Criminal Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation; Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- Burch, Traci; 2012; “Did Disfranchisement Laws Help Elect President Bush? New Evidence on the Turnout and Party Registration of Florida’s Ex-Felons”; Political Behavior 34 (1): 1-26
- Hochschild, Jennifer L., Vesla Weaver, and Traci Burch; 2012; Creating a New Racial Order; Princeton: Princeton University Press
- Burch, Traci; 2011; “Turnout and Party Registration among Criminal Offenders in the 2008 General Election”; Law and Society Review 45(3): 699-730
