Kayla Marie Martensen

Kayla Marie Martensen is a full-time Lecturer at Loyola University Chicago teaching courses on punishment, race, gender, and social justice. She is concurrently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois Chicago in Criminology, Law, and Justice, completing her dissertation on the web of detainment framework illustrating collusion between carceral agencies and social services.

Her research employs abolition feminism methodologies focused on:

• Critical examination of carceral systems
• Gender-based violence interventions
• Youth justice pathways
• Liberatory knowledge production

Previously, she developed curriculum at Northeastern Illinois University, creating courses like The Carceral State for the Justice Studies department.