publications

 

books

  1. Michael Leo Owens, God & Government in the Ghetto: The Politics of Church-State Collaboration in Black America (University of Chicago Press, 2007), 304 pp.

    God and Government in the Ghetto is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the political significance of contemporary African-American churches. Without a hint of sentimentality or nostalgia for an idealized ‘black church,’ Owens lays bare the contributions, challenges, and contradictions inherent in collaborative efforts among black churches and state structures. It is a refreshing analysis and a timely contribution in a critical moment.”

    Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Princeton University

    Owens provides a theoretically rich study that considers how activist black churches collaborate with local governments, demonstrating how collaboration can create a ‘third wave’ of church-based activism in black communities today. God and Government in the Ghetto documents this alternative form of activism like no other study has done before. It is an important scholarly work that will inform policymakers and practitioners alike.

    Fredrick C. Harris, Columbia University

  2. Tom Clark, Adam N. Glynn, and Michael Leo Owens, Deadly Force: Police Shootings in Urban America (Princeton University Press, forthcoming Spring 2025), 328 pp.

    Police shootings get media attention, but less careful academic study. This remarkable, extremely readable book is an exception: it’s an important read for policing scholars, policymakers, and the general public. The product of extremely hard work and rigorous social science, it is full of findings both fascinating and troubling.

    Barry Friedman, The Policing Project, New York University School of Law

    This book presents the largest, most comprehensive, and best study to date of police shootings in urban America. Anyone concerned with racial equity, police training, the sociology or politics of policing, government transparency, or the health of American democracy should read this book.

    Frank R. Baumgartner, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill & author of Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us about Policing and Race

  3. Michael Leo Owens, Prisoners of Democracy: Dignity and the Abolition of Carceral Citizenship (in progress)

peer-reviewed articles

  1. Michael Leo Owens, “Police in the Urban World: A Primer,” Journal of Urban Affairs (2024)

  2. Michael Leo Owens, Arica Schuett, Nyron Crawford, & Andrea Benjamin, “Race and Perceptions of Revitalisation in the ‘District of Gentrification’,” Urban Studies (2024)

  3. Kaylyn Jackson, Tom S. Clark, Adam Glynn, Michael Leo Owens, Anna Gunderson, and Eric Dobbie, “Police Shootings Statistics and Public Support for Police Reforms,” Journal of Experimental Political Science (2023)

  4. Tom S. Clark, Elisha Cohen, Adam Glynn, Michael Leo Owens, Anna Gunderson, and Kaylyn Jackson, “Are Police Racially Biased in the Decision to Shoot?,” Journal of Politics (2023) — *2024 Joseph Bernd Award for Best Paper Published in the Journal of Politics in 2023, Southern Political Science Association

  5. Michael Leo Owens & Anna Gunderson, “Noncongruent Policymaking by Cities for Citizens with Criminal Records: Representation, Organizing, and “Ban the Box’”, Political Research Quarterly (2023)

  6. Michael Leo Owens, Akira Drake Rodriguez, & Robert A. Brown, “’Let’s Get Ready to Crumble’: Black Municipal Leadership and Public Housing Transformation in the United States,” Urban Affairs Review (2021)

  7. Elisha Cohen, Anna Gunderson, Kaylyn Jackson, Paul Zachary, Tom S. Clark, Adam Glynn, & Michael Leo Owens, “Counterevidence of Crime-Reduction Effects from Federal Grants ofMilitary Equipment to Local Police,” Nature Human Behaviour (2021)

  8. Michael Leo Owens, “The Urban World is a World of Police,” Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and the City (2020)

  9. Elisha Cohen, Anna Gunderson, Kaylyn Jackson, Paul Zachary, Tom S. Clark, Adam Glynn, & Michael Leo Owens, “Do Officer-Involved Shootings Reduce Citizen Contact with Government?,” Journal of Politics (2019)

  10. Michael Leo Owens & Hannah Walker, “The Civic Voluntarism of ‘Custodial Citizens’: Involuntary Criminal Justice Contact, Associational Life, and Political Participation,” Perspectives on Politics (2018)

  11. Michael Leo Owens & Jane Lawrence Sumner, “Regional or Parochial? Support for Cross-Community Sharing within City-Regions,” Journal of Urban Affairs (2018)

  12. David Wilson, Michael Leo Owens, & Darren Davis, “How Racial Attitudes and Ideology Affect Political Rights for Felons,” Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race (2015)

  13. Michael Leo Owens & Jacob Robert Brown, “Weakening Strong Black Political Empowerment: Implications from Atlanta’s 2009 Mayoral Election,” Journal of Urban Affairs (2014)

  14. Carrie Nordlund, Paul Djupe, & Michael Leo Owens, “Variation Within? Exploring Intra-Congregational Differences in a Black Political Church,” Journal of Political Science (2014)

  15. Michael Leo Owens, “Ex-Felon’s Organization-Based Political Work for Carceral Reforms,” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (2014)

  16. Adrienne Smith, Beth Reingold, & Michael Leo Owens, “The Political Determinants of Women’s Descriptive Representation in Cities,” Political Research Quarterly (2012)

  17. Michael Leo Owens & Amy Yuen, “The Distributive Politics of ‘Compassion in Action’: Federal Funding, Faith-Based Organizations, and Electoral Advantage,” Political Research Quarterly (2012)

  18. Michael Leo Owens & Adrienne Smith, “’Deviants’ and Democracy: Punitive Policy Designs and the Social Rights of Felons as Citizens,” American Politics Research (2012)

  19. Michael Leo Owens & Elizabeth Griffiths, “Uneven Reparations for Wrongful Convictions: Examining the State Politics of Statutory Compensation Legislation,” Albany Law Review (2011/2012 Special Issue on Miscarriages of Justice)

  20. Michael Leo Owens, “Public Support for the ‘Regional Perspective’: A Consideration of Religion,” Urban Affairs Review (2010)

  21. Michael Leo Owens, “Which Congregations Will Take Advantage of Charitable Choice? Explaining the Pursuit of Public Funding by Congregations,” Social Science Quarterly (2006)

  22. Michael Leo Owens & R. Drew Smith, “Congregations in Low-Income Neighborhoods and the Implications for Social Welfare Policy Research,” Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly (2005)

  23. Michael Leo Owens, “Citizen Participation and Strategic Planning for an Urban Enterprise Community,” New England Journal of Public Policy (1998)

  24. Michael Leo Owens, “Local Party Failure and Church-Based, Black Nonparty Organizations,” Western Journal of Black Studies (1997) Reprinted in Black Clergy and Local Politics: Clergy Influence, Organizational Partnership, and Civic Empowerment, eds. R. Drew Smith and Fredrick C. Harris, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005

  25. Michael Leo Owens, “Renewal in a Black Working-Class Neighborhood,” Journal of Urban Affairs (1997)

papers under review or in the works

  1. Zachary Peskowitz and Michael Leo Owens, “Cityhood By Secession: Estimating Neighborhood-Level Public Opinion on Buckhead Cityhood”

  2. Andra Gillespie and Michael Leo Owens, “Cityhood by Partition: Race and the Referendum on Eagles Landing”

  3. Michael Leo Owens and Zachary Peskowitz, “Who Supports ‘Cop City’? Neighborhood-Level Public Opinion about Crime & Safety”

  4. Jacob Brown, Ben Kinnard, and Michael Leo Owens, “Municipal Incorporation and Political Participation”