Department of
Criminology and Criminal Justice

*Dr. Bowman will join the Department of Criminal Justice in August 2025.

Dr. Rachel Bowman is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University – Bloomington. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University in 2024. Dr. Bowman’s research broadly examines court actor decision-making, with a specific focus on the role of legal, extralegal (e.g., race, ethnicity, and sex), personal, and organizational factors in shaping pretrial and sentencing decisions in criminal courts.

For the past several years, Dr. Bowman has partnered with prosecutors’ offices nationwide to investigate racial and ethnic disparities in case processing decisions. Her work has been published in various criminal justice and sociolegal journals, including Law & Society Review, Criminal Justice and Behavior, and Criminal Justice Policy Review. Currently, Dr. Bowman’s research explores the progressive prosecution movement as a potential avenue for criminal legal reform.