Department of Sociology and Criminology

Professional Bio

Research Interests

Criminology, Immigration and Citizenship, Sociology of Punishment, Stratification, Urban Sociology

Honors, Awards & Fellowships

• Crawford Family Fellowship in Ethical Inquiry, Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University. 2012-2013.
• Fellow, Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University. 2012-2013.
• Visiting Research Scholar, Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law. Freiburg, Germany. 2012.
• Rock Ethics Dissertation Research Award, Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University. 2012.
• 1^st Prize, American Sociological Association Student Paper Award in the area of Crime, Law, and Deviance (with Casey T. Harris). 2010.
• 2^nd Prize, American Society of Criminology Gene Carte Student Paper Award: “Race, Space, and Violence (with Casey T. Harris). 2010.
• 1^st Prize, Penn State Crime, Law and Justice Graduate Student Paper Competition (with Casey T. Harris). 2010.
• 2^nd Prize, Young Scholar Paper Competition at SUNY Albany Symposium, The Past and Future of Empirical Sentencing Research. 2010.

funded research

• National Science Foundation Dissertation Grant. “Punishing the ‘Others’: Understanding Citizenship through Punishment in the United States and Germany.” (PI) $18,074 (SES-1226453).
• Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University. Mary O’Neill Marsh Student Enhancement Fund in Crime, Law, and Justice Grant. “The International Use of Incarceration.” (PI) $1,100.

Journal Articles

• Light, Michael T. and Casey T. Harris. Forthcoming. “Race, Space, and Violence: Exploring Spatial Dependence in Structural Covariates of White and Black Violent Crime in U.S. Counties.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
• Ulmer, Jeffery T., Michael T. Light, and John Kramer. 2011. “Racial Disparity in the Wake of the Booker/Fanfan Decision: An Alternative Analysis to the USSC’s 2010 Report.” Criminology & Public Policy 10: 1077-1118.
• Ulmer, Jeffery T., Michael T. Light, and John Kramer. 2011. “Does Increased Judicial Discretion Lead to Increased Disparity? The “Liberation” of Judicial Sentencing Discretion In the Wake of the Booker/Fanfan Decision.” Justice Quarterly 28: 799-837.
• Ulmer, Jeffery T. and Michael T. Light. 2011. “Beyond Disparity: Changes in Federal Sentencing Post-Booker and Gall.” Federal Sentencing Reporter 23(5):333-341.
• Ulmer, Jeffery T. and Michael T. Light. 2010. “Federal Case Processing and Sentencing Before and After the Booker/Fanfan Decision: Little Has Changed.” Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice 14:143-178.
• Light, Michael T. and Dimeji Togunde. 2008. “The Mexican Immigration Debate: Assimilation and Public Policy.” International Review of Modern Sociology 34(2): 279-293.

Other Publications

• Lopez, Mark Hugo and Michael T. Light. “A Rising Share: Hispanics and Federal Crime,” Pew Hispanic Center, Washington, D.C. (February 18, 2009).

Manuscripts Under Review

• Light, Michael T., Michael Massoglia, and Ryan D. King. “Immigrants and Outlaws: The Salience of Citizenship in Criminal Courts.” (2nd Revise and Resubmit to the American Sociological Review.)
• Light, Michael T. “Who’s Unequal Under Law? Race/Ethnicity, Citizenship, and the Long-Term Trends in Sentencing Disparities. (In preparation for resubmission to Law & Society Review)