Sofia Espinoza Alvarez
Sofía Stefani Espinoza Álvarez is an American author, researcher, and advocate. As a researcher and a criminologist, she has participated in an intensive program of research aimed at providing readers with evidence-based information and analysis of the issues of Latinos in the United States.
Education
She is a law graduate from Universidad de León, Mexico, and holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in criminal justice Texas, United States. Her areas of legal interest include Mexican and U.S. jurisprudence, philosophy of law, constitutional law, immigration law, law and society, and penology.
Academic career
Álvarez maintains an active professional career and an intense research and publication agenda, publishing various academic book chapters, journal articles, and books. Her research has been published in national as well as leading, international peer-reviewed journals, including “Capital Punishment on Trial: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides—A Question of Justice?” (Criminal Law Bulletin, 2014); and “Neoliberalism, Criminal Justice, and Latinos: The Contours of Neoliberal Economic Thought and Policy on Criminalization” (Latino Studies, 2016). Her books include, Immigration and the Law: Race, Citizenship, and Social Control Over Time (forthcoming); Hispanics and the American Criminal Justice System: A Critical Reader on the Latino Experience (in print); and Latino Police Officers in the United States: An Examination of Emerging Trends and Issues (2015).
Books
- Latino Access to Higher Education: Ethnic Realities and New Directions for the Twenty-First Century (2015). ISBN 978-0398090913
- Etnicity and Criminal Justice in the Era of Mass Incarceration: A Critical Reader on the Latino Experience (2016). ISBN 978-0-398-09153-8
Philanthropy
Vested in positive social transformation, since 2013, Álvarez has been working with migrant children, women, and men traveling to the U.S. through Mexico, seeing first-hand the global dynamics of immigration, and thus prompting her to start a non-profit organization—Empower México Foundation.
Activism
In addition to the work as a legal scholar and academic endeavors in research, publication, and social activism, Espinoza Álvarez is currently assisting people with immigration related issues, including visa requirements, judicial and legal translations, and procedures for obtaining different types of visas for legal residence.
Conjointly, Álvarez endeavors as a columnist at Univision and Huffington Post where she portrays her research on the ethnic realities of Latinos and the U.S. legal system, and illustrates the importance of key issues, such as representation.