Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

(*denotes equal authorship)

•  Ballard, M.M. & Kubrin, C.E. (2023). Immigrant Victimization: Centering Language in Theory, Data and Method. Societies, 13(4), 101. MDPI AG. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/soc13040101
•  Ballard, M.M. & Rodriguez, N.R. (2022). Digital Language Accessibility on Police Websites: Strengthening Effective Communication Between Limited English Proficient Communities and the Police. Policing & Society, 33(2), 129-149. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2022.2071893
•  Sykes, B.L., Ballard, M.M.*, Kaiser, D.*, Mata, V.C.*, Sharry, J.A.*, & Sola, J.* (2022). Barred: Labor Market Dynamics and Human Capital Development Among People on Probation and Parole. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 701(1), 28-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162221099291
•  Sykes, B.L., Ballard, M.M.*, Giuffre, A.*, Goodsell, R.*, Kaiser, D.*, Mata, V.C.*, & Sola, J.* (2022). Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Financial Double-Dealing, Public Assistance, and the Repayment of Criminal Justice Debt. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 8(1), 148-178. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.1.07 

Book Chapters

• Echols, C.M. & Ballard, M.M. (2024). How can we survive these times by centering care? Archival research on anti-Blackness and Black resistance in the United States. In Lee Cabatingan, Susan Coutin, and Deyanira N. Martinez (Eds.), Communities of Practice and Ethnographic Fieldwork: Creating Supportive Research Experiences (pp. 151-171). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003402701-12/survive-times-centering-care-courtney-echols-meghan-maree-ballard
• Ballard, M.M. & Sykes, B.L. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Sex-Related Offense Charging and Sentencing Decisions. Invited book chapter under review for In Racism by Context: Police and Criminal Justice (ed. Delores Jones-Brown), Oxford University Press. 

Research & Other Scholarly Papers

• Rodriguez, N.R., Ballard, M.M. & Martinez, M. (Forthcoming). Spanish-Dominant Speakers and Language Access in the Justice System [policy brief]. MacArthur Foundation, Safety and Justice Challenge.
• Sykes, B.L. & Ballard, M.M. (2024). Race, the Criminal Legal System, & Stategraft: The California Racial Justice Act (2020). Wisconsin Law Review Forward. https://wlr.law.wisc.edu/race-the-criminal-legal-system-and-stategraft-the-california-racial-justice-act-2020/ 
• Rodriguez, N.R. & Ballard, M.M. (2023). Establishing, Implementing, and Maintaining a Language Access Program [policy brief]. MacArthur Foundation, Safety and Justice Challenge. https://safetyandjusticechallenge.org/resources/establishing-implementing-and-maintaining-a-language-access-program/ 
  • Policy brief cited by:
    • Albarino, Seyma. 2023, June 7. US Criminal Justice Agencies’ Language Access Programs Fall Short of Requirements. Slator. https://slator.com/us-criminal-justice-agencies-language-access-programs-fall-short/.
    • Sanchez, Melissa, & Maryam Jameel. 2023, June 9. Following the Death of an 8-Year-Old on a Wisconsin Dairy Farm, Officials Look to Bridge Law Enforcement Language Gap. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/wisconsin-dairy-farm-jefferson-rodriguez-settlement-language.
    • White, Rebecca. 2023, July 14. Coalition calls on Spokane County to improve language access. Spokane Public Radio. https://www.spokanepublicradio.org/regional-news/2023-07-14/coalition-calls-on-spokane-county-to-improve-language-access.
• Sykes, B.L. & Ballard, M.M. (2023). Redressing Racial and Ethnic Wrongs in the Criminal Legal System. Contexts; Sociology for the Public, 22(3), 74-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/15365042231192505 
• Ballard, M.M., Brothers, A., & Ligor, D. (2022). Federal Personnel Vetting Criminal History Records Information (CHRI) Education and Training Materials for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) Law Enforcement Agency Partners: Privacy Law Overview, Catalogue of Local and State Laws on Collecting CHRI, Review of DCSA’s Legal Authority on Collecting CHRI [RAND Project Report ND-822013 (Non-public)]. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. 
• Grisé, M., Ballard, M.M., Keller, K.M., & Verástegui, J.V. (2022). Justice Must Go On: The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Military Court Operations [commentary]. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA1219-1.html 
• Sykes, B.L., Ballard, M.M.*, Kaiser, D.*, Mata, V.C.*, Sharry, J.A.*, and Sola, J.*. (2021). Labor Market Structure [white paper]. REFORM Alliance paper series. Justice Lab, Columbia University. [Editors: Bruce Western and David Harding]
• Hurry, A., & Ballard, M.M. (2020). Great Streets Small Business Grant Program: Criminological Effects in Washington, D.C.’s Emerging Corridors. Public Purpose Journal: The Graduate Journal of American University’s School of Public Affairs, 18, 42-55. https://thepublicpurpose.com/article/april-hurry-meghan-ballard-great-streets-grant-program/ 
• Ballard, M.M. (2019). Cracking Down on Sentencing Disparities: The Federal Sentencing Act of 2010’s Impact on Federal Cocaine Offenders. Public Purpose Journal: The Graduate Journal of American University’s School of Public Affairs, 17, 18-25. https://thepublicpurpose.com/article/ballard-cracking-down-on-sentencing-disparities/ 
• Ballard, M.M. (2018). Effects of linguistic solitary confinement: Conceptual note. BleakHouse Review. 10, 41-42. 

Book Reviews

• Ballard, M.M. (2022). Review of Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice: An International Dilemma (2nd ed.) by Akwasi Owusu-Bempah and Shaun Gabbidon, Routledge. Race and Justice. DOI: 10.1177/21533687221101208

Works In-Progress

• Rodriguez, N.R., & Ballard, M.M. Language Accessibility and Societal Inequality. Article manuscript in progress for submission to Race and Justice. 
• Ballard, M.M. Underwriting Injustice: A Social-Legal History of Federal Funding and Racial Discrimination in the Decades Prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Article manuscript in progress for submission to Law & Social Inquiry.