Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve
Published March 22, 2016
Updated October 1, 2021

Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve is an associate professor in the department of sociology at Brown University and an affiliated scholar with the American Bar Foundation in Chicago. Previously, she was an assistant professor in the department of criminal justice at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is an expert on criminal justice, mass incarceration, police brutality, criminal defense racism and criminal courts.

Gonzalez Van Cleve focuses her research on the cultural impact of mass incarceration and the racial injustice within criminal courts. Her book, Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court, won 11 awards or finalist distinctions for its contribution to the areas of sociology, law, criminal justice and media. Her second book, The Waiting Room, is a collaboration with the Pulitzer Prize–winning team at the Marshall Project. Gonzalez Van Cleve’s written commentary has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, NBC News, Crain’s Chicago Business and CNN.  Her legal commentary has been featured on NPR, NBC News, CNN, and MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

Headshot; A latina woman with shoulder length, dark brown, curly hair, stares directly at the camera with a neutral expression. She is wearing a purple sleeveless dress with a gold, round, pendant necklace.

Pronouns: She/her

Expertise: Criminal justice, mass incarceration, police brutality, criminal defense, racism, criminal court reform

Location: Providence, R.I.

Email: nvancleve@brown.edu, nicolegonzalezvancleve@gmail.com

Phone: (773) 960-4132

Twitter: @nvancleve

Heard on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show:


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