About

Amanda Geller, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. Her research and scholarship sit at the intersection of criminal justice and social inequality, using life course theory and quantitative methodologies to examine ways in which systems of social and legal control affect urban residents, families, and communities. Her work has been published in outlets including Criminology and Public Policy, the American Journal of Public Health, and Social Science and Medicine.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Environmental health
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Demography
• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Criminology
• Developmental psychology
• Geography
• Nursing
• Law

Selected publications

• Downstream Consequences

  2026-01-09

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The enduring costs of a criminal record are well documented, not only for individuals with records, but for their families as well, including the 2.6 million children with a parent behind bars on a typical day, and 5 million children who have ever had an incarcerated parent. The “mark of a criminal record,” to use Devah Pager’s phrase, is not limited to the official barriers to employment faced by those with criminal records; incarceration and adjacent criminal-legal processes are associated with challenges for incarcerated individuals and their families in the domains of family relationships, housing, schooling, and child development. This chapter reviews the literature on parental incarceration, with attention to the multiple determinants of parents’ exposure to jail and prison, through both sentencing and pre-disposition detention, and the associated family challenges. We view sentencing as a process rather than a singular decision and argue that each actor in this process—prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges—should consider the implications of their decisions for families as part of their cost-benefit calculations. Research provides overwhelming evidence that children of incarcerated parents face tremendous challenges. The moment of sentencing (or when a charge is dismissed, when relevant) provides an opportunity for intervention, both through the sentence itself and through the provision of social services, to help families navigate these challenges.

  PublisherDOI

• Early age at childhood parental incarceration and STI/HIV-related drug use and sex risk across the young adult lifecourse in the US: Heightened vulnerability of black and Hispanic youth

  UNC Libraries · 2025-09-11

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Associations between police harassment and distrust in and reduced access to healthcare among Black sexual minority men: A longitudinal analysis of HPTN 061

  PLoS ONE · 2023-08-18 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  OBJECTIVE: Evaluate associations between racialized and homophobia-based police harassment (RHBPH) and healthcare distrust and utilization among Black Sexual Minority Men (BSMM). METHODS: We utilized data from a longitudinal cohort study from HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 061 with baseline, six and 12 month follow-up assessments. Using multivariable analysis, we evaluated associations between RHBPH and healthcare distrust and utilization reported at the 6 and 12 month visits. RESULTS: Of 1553 BSMM present at baseline, 1160 were available at six-month follow-up. In multivariable analysis, increasing frequency of RHBPH was associated with increasing levels of distrust in healthcare providers (aOR 1.31, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.74) and missing 50% or more of healthcare visits at six-month follow-up (aOR 1.93, 95% CI: 1.09, 3.43). CONCLUSIONS: Recent experiences of RHBPH are associated with reduced trust in and access to healthcare among BSMM, with more frequent RHBPH associated with greater vulnerability.

  PublisherDOI

• Issue Information

  Criminology & Public Policy · 2023-05-01

  paratextOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Policing sexuality: Sexual minority youth, police contact, and health inequity

  SSM - Population Health · 2022-11-17 · 21 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Police contact is increasingly recognized as an adverse childhood experience and determinant of poor mental health. While targeting of LGBTQ sex and community spaces by law enforcement has a long precedent in US history-and while LGBTQ people continue to protest unfair police treatment-little population-level research has examined police contact disparities by sexual orientation or gender identity. We test whether sexual minority (SM) youth have higher risk of police contact through young adulthood. We analyze a nationally representative cohort of >15,000 US young adults who were in middle/high school in the mid-1990s, with police contact histories collected at age 18-25. Using four different, equally reasonable approaches to coding youth-reported sexual orientation, we identified ∼500-1900 SMs. Compared to heterosexual youth, SM youth had 1.86 times the odds of ever being stopped by police (95% CI = 1.56-2.22, p < 0.001), were stopped 1.60 times as often (CI = 1.38-1.86, p < 0.001), and were stopped at younger ages (survival time ratio = 0.91, CI = 0.88-0.93, p < 0.001). Inequities were particularly driven by SM women, among whom disparities were severe (ever stopped OR = 2.18, stop count ratio = 2.44, survival time ratio = 0.87). For men, inequities only emerged once a broad definition of SM was adopted, suggesting that young SM men who do not identify as LGB (or who are reticent to report themselves as such) may be at particular risk. Results were robust to adjustment for race/ethnicity and parental nativity, though small cells meant models stratified by race/ethnicity were underpowered. Given substantially heightened police contact among SM youth (particularly, young SM women), care providers and educators working with them should explicitly combat homophobic and criminal legal system stigma and screen for police contact and its psychological sequelae. More data on LGBTQ communities' criminal legal system contact throughout life is essential for preventing the causes and consequences of related sexual orientation-based health inequities.

  PublisherDOI

• Disclosure among youth stopped by the police: Repercussions for mental health

  SSM - Mental Health · 2022-03-16 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  Police contact is a common and consequential experience disproportionately endured by youth of color living in heavily surveilled neighborhoods. Disclosing police contact to others (including parents, siblings, or friends) may buffer against the harmful mental health repercussions of police contact, but little is known about the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a cohort of urban children born around the turn of the 21st century and followed through age 15, to examine the relationship between disclosure of police contact and mental health among youth. Results suggest three conclusions. First, youth who experience police contact (regardless of whether they disclose this contact) report more depressive symptoms and anxiety than youth who do not experience police contact. Second, among youth who experience police contact, disclosure is associated with significantly less anxiety (but is not significantly associated with depressive symptoms). Third, this protective nature of disclosure is concentrated among Black youth and boys. Taken together, these findings suggest that disclosing police contact, particularly for groups most likely to experience it, may ameliorate some of the harmful mental health repercussions of this contact for youth.

  PublisherDOI

• Adding Insult to Injury: Arrests Reduce Attendance through Institutional Mechanisms

  Sociology of Education · 2022-05-20 · 9 citations

  article

  Students across the United States experience high levels of contact with the police. To clarify the causal relationships of this contact with educational outcomes and the mechanisms by which such relationships arise, we estimate the effects of arrest on student engagement with school using daily attendance data. Recently arrested students missed significantly more school than did students who would be arrested later in the school year. The effects of arrest on attendance can be attributed to suspensions and court appearances; we found little evidence of changes in absences due to health or skipping school. These results suggest that institutional, not student centric, mechanisms drive the relationship between arrest and educational outcomes. Were it not for institutional channels, particularly exclusionary discipline, arrested students would likely remain more engaged in school. Estimates are similar for white and black students, but black students are differentially affected because they are arrested at higher rates.

  PublisherDOI

• Student absenteeism and the role of police encounters

  Criminology & Public Policy · 2022-09-18 · 7 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Research Summary Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we estimated associations between adolescent–police contact and several measures of school absenteeism. Adolescents self‐reported absences due to health and due to truancy; police contact was linked to both. Youth reporting police contact were absent approximately 2.2 more days in total than those not reporting contact. Police contact was also associated with a 10 percentage point increase in the probability that absenteeism concerns precipitated a parent–teacher conversation. Policy Implications Extensive literature documents a “school to prison pipeline” in which aggressive school discipline exposes students to law enforcement. Less attention has been paid to how police contact outside of school shapes educational experiences. Recognizing and excusing absenteeism driven by police contact can provide students with flexibility needed to maintain educational progress. Such a policy may also signal to students stopped by police that school personnel can serve as sources of support and facilitate linkages to outside resources.

  PublisherDOI

• Racial and ethnic disparities in “stop-and-frisk” experience among young sexual minority men in New York City

  PLoS ONE · 2021 · 18 citations

  • Political Science
  • Demography
  • Medicine

  Although racial/ethnic disparities in police contact are well documented, less is known about other dimensions of inequity in policing. Sexual minority groups may face disproportionate police contact. We used data from the P18 Cohort Study (Version 2), a study conducted to measure determinants of inequity in STI/HIV risk among young sexual minority men (YSMM) in New York City, to measure across-time trends, racial/ethnic disparities, and correlates of self-reported stop-and-frisk experience over the cohort follow-up (2014-2019). Over the study period, 43% reported stop-and-frisk with higher levels reported among Black (47%) and Hispanic/Latinx (45%) than White (38%) participants. Stop-and-frisk levels declined over follow-up for each racial/ethnic group. The per capita rates among P18 participants calculated based on self-reported stop-and-frisk were much higher than rates calculated based on New York City Police Department official counts. We stratified respondents' ZIP codes of residence into tertiles of per capita stop rates and observed pronounced disparities in Black versus White stop-and-frisk rates, particularly in neighborhoods with low or moderate levels of stop-and-frisk activity. YSMM facing the greatest economic vulnerability and mental disorder symptoms were most likely to report stop-and-frisk. Among White respondents levels of past year stop-and-frisk were markedly higher among those who reported past 30 day marijuana use (41%) versus those reporting no use (17%) while among Black and Hispanic/Latinx respondents stop-and-frisk levels were comparable among those reporting marijuana use (38%) versus those reporting no use (31%). These findings suggest inequity in policing is observed not only among racial/ethnic but also sexual minority groups and that racial/ethnic YSMM, who are at the intersection of multiple minority statuses, face disproportionate risk. Because the most socially vulnerable experience disproportionate stop-and-frisk risk, we need to reach YSMM with community resources to promote health and wellbeing as an alternative to targeting this group with stressful and stigmatizing police exposure.

  PublisherDOI

• Police harassment and psychosocial vulnerability, distress, and depressive symptoms among black men who have sex with men in the U.S.: Longitudinal analysis of HPTN 061

  SSM - Population Health · 2021-02-07 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access

  The mental health impact of exposure to police harassment is understudied, particularly among Black men who have sex with men (BMSM), a group at elevated risk of exposure to such discrimination. This study aimed to identify the associations among BMSM between recent police harassment and psychosocial vulnerability, psychological distress, and depression measured six months later. Data come from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 061 Study, a cohort study of BMSM recruited in 6 U.S. cities (Atlanta, GA, Boston, MA, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Washington DC). Participants completed baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up interviews. A convenience sample of 1553 BMSM was recruited between July 2009 and October 2010 of whom 1155 returned for a follow-up interview 12 months later. Accounting for previous police interaction, poverty, psychopathology, drug use, and alcohol use, we estimated associations between recent police harassment reported at the 6 month follow-up interview and 12 month outcomes including psychosocial vulnerability (elevated racial/sexual identity incongruence), psychological distress (being distressed by experiences of racism and/or homophobia), and depression. About 60% of men reported experiencing police harassment between the baseline and 6-month interview due to their race and/or sexuality. Adjusted analyses suggested police harassment was independently associated with a 10.81 (95% CI: 7.97, 13.66) point increase and 8.68 (95% CI: 6.06, 11.30) point increase in distress due to experienced racism and distress due to experienced homophobia scores, respectively. Police harassment perceived to be dually motivated predicted disproportionate levels of distress. Police harassment is prevalent and associated with negative influences on psychosocial vulnerability and psychological distress among BMSM. Reducing exposure to police harassment may improve the psychosocial health of BMSM.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jeffrey Fagan

  National Institute of Standards

  54 shared

• Tom R. Tyler

  44 shared

• Irwin Garfinkel

  9 shared

• Kenneth H. Mayer

  Fenway Health

  8 shared

• Marah A. Curtis

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  6 shared

• Jeffrey Fagan

  6 shared

• Maria R. Khan

  Nishtar Medical College and Hospital

  6 shared

• Joy D. Scheidell

  6 shared