Dr. Mari Kita
Associate Professor
Office: 3149 - Blair Hall
Email: mkita@eiu.edu
INTRODUCTION
Spring 2025 Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 2:00-4:00 PM or by appointment.
Education & Training
University of HawaiÊ»i at MÄnoa - Ph.D., Sociology; Emphasis: Criminology, May 2018
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York - M.A., Criminal Justice, May 2009
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York - B.A., International Criminal Justice, with Honors, May 2007
Conference Presentations
American Society of Criminology (November 2021) – Chicago, IL
- Prisoners’ Families: Carcerality, Shame, Blame and Stigma
- Doing Fieldwork with Prisoners/Offenders’ Families
Asian Criminological Society (July 2021) – Online
- Doing Criminological Fieldwork in Japan
American Society of Criminology (November 2019) – San Francisco, CA
- Collateral Damage: Children of Offenders in Japan
Publications
Books
Kita, Mari. 2023. Offender Care and Support by Families in Contemporary Japan: The Nexus of Gender, Shame, and Ambivalence. Oxford, UK: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-367-65441-2
Referred Journal Articles
Kita, Mari. 2018. “Proxy Punishment: Consequences of Informal Sanctions among Families of Offenders in Japan.” Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology 6 (1):1-22.
Kita, Mari and Johnson, David T. 2014. “Avoidance, Ambivalence, Atonement: Framing Capital Punishment in Japan.” Asian Journal of Criminology 9 (3):221-240.
Book Chapters
Kita, Mari. 2017 “Kin, Crime, Justice in Contemporary Japan.” in Crime and Justice in Contemporary Japan, edited by J. Liu and S. Miyazawa. Pp. 29-50. New York: Springer.
Kita, Mari. 2017. “America No Seihanzai Kagaisha Kazoku Ni Kansuru Gaiyo (Sex Offenders’ Families in the US).” in Seihanzai Kagaisha Kazoku No Kea To Jinken (Supporting the Human Rights of Sex Offenders’ Families), edited by K. Abe. Pp. 55-75. Tokyo: Gendaijinbunsha.
Funding & Grants
June Chun Naughton International Student Services Scholarship, University of HawaiÊ»i at MÄnoa, Fall 2017
Takie Sugiyama Lebra Scholarship, University of HawaiÊ»i at MÄnoa, 2014-2015 Academic Year (P.I.)
Center for Japanese Studies Graduate Fellowship, University of HawaiÊ»i at MÄnoa, 2014-2015 Academic Year (P.I.)
Frequently Taught Courses
Gender and Crime, Deviant Behavior, Criminological Theory, Intro to Criminology, etc.
Research & Creative Interests
My primary research interests are collateral consequences of social control, feminist criminology, crime and delinquency in Asia, and families and crime.
My dissertation examines the repercussions of criminal justice contact on families of offenders in Japan. Conducting twenty-month ethnography in urban areas of Japan, I observed and interviewed fifty individuals whose kin came into conflict with the law for violent, property, and drug-related offenses. Through a feminist lens, I looked at the families’ life experiences including their perceptions of the courtesy stigma, the feelings of ambivalence toward the criminal justice system as well as the offender, and the gendered and unequal distribution of offender support activities. In the end, I conclude that families of offenders, women in particular, often step in to fill the voids left by criminal justice institutions and social services to provide offenders all-inclusive care.
Professional Affiliations
American Society for Criminology
