معرفی
Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Law. She also holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Africana Studies and Sociology and serves as founding director of the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society.
Roberts earned her BA from Yale University (1977) and JD from Harvard University (1980). After clerking for Judge Constance Baker Motley, she held faculty positions at Rutgers University (1988-1998) and Northwestern University (1998-2012) before joining Penn in 2012.
As a legal scholar, Roberts exposes racial inequities in health and social service systems, with research spanning reproductive health, bioethics, and child welfare. Her work analyzes how structural racism permeates systems designed to protect vulnerable populations, particularly how poverty is punished as neglect and Black families are disproportionately investigated and separated. Roberts argues that current child welfare systems function as 'family policing' mechanisms that cannot be reformed but must be dismantled and replaced with supportive approaches.
Her publications, including four influential books and over 100 scholarly articles, consistently examine how race, gender, and class intersect in legal frameworks. Roberts's research reveals historical continuities from slavery to contemporary policies, documenting how stereotypes about Black parents as negligent and devaluation of Black family bonds drive unequal outcomes.
- 2024 MacArthur Fellowship
- Association for Humanist Sociology 2023 Betty and Alfred McClung Lee Book Award
- Society for the Study of Social Problems 2023 C. Wright Mills Award (finalist)
- American Sociological Association 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Book Award (honorable mention)
Through advocacy work with parents, social workers, and defense lawyers, Roberts has developed a powerful critique of current systems and a vision for transformative change. Her 'Torn Apart' podcast with Ms. Magazine amplifies voices of impacted families and advocates for abolition of family policing systems.
As founding director of the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society, Roberts leads interdisciplinary research examining how scientific research reinforces racial hierarchies and how policies can be transformed to promote racial justice.
