​There is power in one's narrative — we all have a story to tell

Candice Crutchfield (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at The Ohio State University, where she is also a graduate affiliate of the Institute for Population Research and the Criminal Justice Research Center. Her work examines how incarceration reshapes gender, family, and other social ties, further revealing the consequences of punishment beyond the prison or jail. With advanced training in qualitative methods, prior work as a program analyst at The Vera Institute of Justice, and former prison education program instructor, she centers the perspectives of people directly impacted by the legal system. As a teacher-scholar, she draws on interdisciplinary research, teaching, and service experiences to bring diverse perspectives into the classroom and further enrich conversations among students. Beyond the classroom, her work appears in Sociological Forum, Sociology Compass, and the University of California Press, among other outlets.