Rate My Professor Erika Redner-Vera

Erica Redner-Vera is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice in the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University, a position she has held since 2020. She previously served as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Montana from 2019 to 2020 and as a Faculty Associate in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University from 2011 to 2020. Dr. Redner-Vera earned her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University in 2019, with a dissertation titled "Examining the Treatment of American Indian Defendants in United States Federal Courts." She also holds an M.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University (2011) and a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada, Reno (2008).

Her research interests center on race, ethnicity, crime, and justice, particularly issues affecting American Indians, including the treatment of American Indian defendants—especially females—across criminal justice decision points, cumulative disadvantages, temporal changes in disparities, and the influence of social context on federal sentencing. Dr. Redner-Vera has published peer-reviewed articles in prominent journals such as Justice Quarterly ("Examining Cumulative Disadvantages in the Sentencing of American Indian Defendants," 2022, co-authored with Xia Wang), Crime & Delinquency ("American Indians’ Attitudes Towards the Appropriateness of Use of Force by the Police," 2022, co-authored with Danielle Wallace), and the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice ("Attitudes and Marginalization: Examining American Indian Perceptions of Law Enforcement Among Adolescents," 2015, co-authored with Marcus A. Galeste, which received the 2016 Best Paper Award). She has received significant recognition, including a 2021 Fellowship from the Racial Democracy, Crime, and Justice Network, a 2015 Graduate Research Fellowship from the Bureau of Justice Statistics ($43,000 for her dissertation research), and a 2022 research assignment from SDSU's Division of Research and Innovation. Additionally, she has extensive teaching experience across graduate and undergraduate courses in criminal justice topics at SDSU, the University of Montana, and Arizona State University, and has presented her work at conferences such as the American Society of Criminology meetings.