Brenden Beck

I am a sociologist and an associate professor in the Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice. I study how local governments shape and are shaped by social forces like crime, fiscal crises, and suburbanization. My current research analyzes how local government spending on police and social services have different effects on crime. A second project examines how concentrations of institutional landlords are increasing home prices and changing neighborhoods.

My scholarly work has appeared in Criminology, Social Forces, the Annual Review of Criminology, and elsewhere. "Governing Through Police," co-authored with Adam Goldstein, received the American Society of Criminology's Petersilia Award for the best article of 2020. "Policing Gentrification" was among the five most-downloaded articles in City & Community from 2020 to 2023. My public writing has appeared in Slate, the New York Daily News, the Appeal, and AM New York.

I previously held appointments at the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Florida. I received my PhD in sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center.