Ryan King

Ryan King is the Divisional Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences and a Professor at The Ohio State University, where he specializes in criminology, law, punishment, and intergroup conflict. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota (2005). His research examines hate crimes, sentencing disparities, and the intersection of crime with family dynamics. Current projects focus on hate crime prosecution challenges and racial sentencing trends. He is co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Sentencing. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Justice.

King’s research spans hate crime law, punitive attitudes, and criminal deportation. He has published in top journals like the American Sociological Review and Criminology. His administrative role since 2021 has reduced research time but not output. Grants have enabled projects on topics like housing discrimination audits and immigrant removals.

His expertise includes legal sociology, with a focus on how societal structures influence criminal justice outcomes. He addresses issues of trust in federal statistical systems and the societal impacts of economic insecurity on imprisonment rates. While no specific awards are listed, his contributions to criminal justice reform and hate crime analysis are widely recognized in academic circles.