Zimife Umeh

Dr. Zimife Umeh is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at The George Washington University. She received her degrees from Duke University and University of Pittsburgh. She has published research on school discipline and educational attainment. Her current research focuses on the processes and mechanisms that criminalize working-class Black women. Specifically, she explores how institutions transform victimized Black women and girls into “criminals” who need to be punished and reformed. Her research asks two central questions: 1) what role do institutions play in Black women's pathways to the criminal justice system? And 2) how do social institutions rely upon racialized and gendered criminalization processes to stigmatize, marginalize, and punish Black women.