Publications
DeCaro, J. B., Straka, K., Malek, N., & Zalta, A. K. (2024). Sentenced to shame: Moral injury exposure in former lifers. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 16(5), 722-730. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001400
DeCaro, J.B. (2024) How Do Ethnographers Survive Methodological, Ethical, and Practical Challenges in the Field? Adaption Through Deepening and Expanding Connections. In Making Ethnography Work for You: Learning through a Supportive Community of Practice. Routledge.
Seeds, C. & DeCaro, J.B. (2024) Care in the End. White Paper. Prepared for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Arroyo-Ramirez, E., DeCaro, J.B., Reiter, K., Rowland, A., and Wood, L. (2025) PrisonPandemic Procedures of Care: Case study of Letter 154. Archivist Actions, Abolitionist Futures: Reimagining Archival Practice Against Incarceration. Council On Library and Information Resources.
Fellowships & Grants
2024 $28,000. Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship administered by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. 1-year fellowship.
2024 $25,000. American Association of University Women (AAUW) American Dissertation Fellowship. 1-year fellowship.
2021 $125,000. Co-PI. Mellon Foundation. Capacity Building Grant. With Mourning Our Losses.
2021 $10,000. PI. California Humanities. Recovery Grant. With Restorative Justice Fund.
2020 $81,000. Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship administered by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. 3-year fellowship.
2020 $1,770. Co-PI. Council on Research, Computing, and Libraries research grant.
2018 $50,000. Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship. University of California. 2-year fellowship.
Recent Invited Talks
2023 “Moral Injury and Long-term Confinement” Long-term and Life Imprisonment Conference. Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. June 2023.
2023 “PrisonPandemic: The Isolation Within Isolation of Carceral COVID Confinement” Reclaim Mental Health Conference. May 2023.
2022 Closing Plenary Speaker. “Real World Ripples: Current Events & Digitizing Collections” Digital Library Federation Forum. October 2022.
2022 “PrisonPandemic: Digital Archives and Incarcerated People” Chiang Mai University. January 2022.
2021 “PrisonPandemic Project” NJIT Digital Humanities. April 2021.
Recent Presentations
2024 “Metabolizing Risk as Prison Researchers: Navigating the Ethics of Engaging Criminalized Voices” American Society of Criminology Conference. November 2024.
2024 “Nonlinear Temporality and Histories of Trauma in Incarcerated People” European Society of Criminology. September 2024.
2024 “Beyond Masking in Prison: A Deadening” Law and Society Association. June 2024.
2024 “Carceral Trauma: The Ongoing, Underlying Traumas of Long-term Confinement” Conference of Ford Fellows. June 2024.
2024 “Unveiling hidden scars: Vicarious trauma among non-law enforcement professionals” Western Society of Criminology Conference. Feb. 2024.
2023 “The Denial of Communal Grief in Prison: Shared Knowledge and Decision Making” Law and Society Association. June 2023.
2022 “Experiences of Moral Injury Exposure Among Former Lifers” Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. November 2022.
2022 “PrisonPandemic: Navigating the Ethics of a Prison Collection” Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives Symposium. October 2022.
2022 “Lifer Records: Stories of Long-Term Incarceration” Oral History Association Annual Meeting. October 2022.
2022 “The Everyday Traumas of Incarceration: Decades on the Battlefield” Law and Society New Directions Conference. October 2022.
2022 “Punishment and Shame: Moral Injury Exposure and Well-being in Prison and Reentry” Law and Society Association Annual Meeting. July 2022.
2022 “Shame and Guilt: Moral Injury Exposure in Former Lifers” Western Society of Criminology Conference. Feb. 2022.
2021 “Stories From the Inside: Documenting Incarcerated People’s Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic” Digital Library Federation Forum. November 2021.
2021 “PrisonPandemic: Collecting Testimonies from Incarcerated People During COVID” Conference of Ford Fellows. October 2021.