Jessica Katzenstein

Jessica Katzenstein is Assistant Professor in the justice and social inquiry program at Arizona State University's School of Social Transformation. A cultural anthropologist, her research examines U.S. police reform, racial justice, and state power through ethnographic methods.

Her current project investigates how police officers interpret and implement reforms during legitimacy crises, analyzing why reforms consistently fail to reduce racialized violence. Supported by NSF and Center for Engaged Scholarship, her work explores how 'police common sense' translates reform efforts into institutional logics.