Blogs are a popular outlet for timely and dynamic academic thought, as well as an avenue for activism and focused discussion. Below are some notable blogs in the areas of criminology and criminal justice, with descriptions from the sites themselves. Don’t see your favorite blog? Tell us about it in the comments!

Public Criminology from The Society Pages
Sociological Criminology from Chris Uggen, Michelle Inderbitzin, and Sara Wakefield.

Prison Culture
Prison Culture is an attempt to document how the current prison industrial complex operates and to underscore the ways that it structures American society.

Grits for Breakfast
The private weblog and nom de plume of Scott Henson, a former journalist turned opposition researcher/political consultant, public policy researcher and blogger. Grits for Breakfast looks at the Texas criminal justice system, with a little politics and whatever else suits the author’s fancy thrown in.

Crime & Consequences
Topics include: Criminal and crime-related civil cases before the U.S. Supreme Court; Significant decisions in the field by other courts; Studies with public policy implications related to crime and criminal justice; Links to and discussion of news items and blogs related to criminal law. We approach criminal law issues from the perspective of victims of crime and the law-abiding public.

Action Committee for Women in Prison
Our mission is to advocate for the humane and compassionate treatment of all incarcerated women everywhere. We work for the release of all women who are unjustly imprisoned, and strive to reduce the over reliance on incarceration. We work to bring fairness and equity into the criminal justice system and to shift the focus to treatment and restorative justice.

Juvenile Justice Blog
Tamar Rebecca Birckhead is an associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill… Her research interests focus on issues related to juvenile justice policy and reform, criminal law and procedure, indigent criminal defense, and the criminalization of poverty.

Innocence Blog from the Innocence Project
The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and created by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld in 1992. The project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

Prison Photography
The Image / Incarceration / Representation / Media / Social Justice / Responsible Photography

Just Policy Blog
Justice Policy Institute is a national nonprofit organization that changes the conversation around justice reform and advances policies that promote well-being and justice for all people and communities. Our research and analyses identify effective programs and policies and we disseminate our findings to the media, policymakers and advocates, and provide training and technical assistance supports to people working for justice reform.