This summer, Dr. Chukwuedo will join the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network (RDCJN) Summer Research Institute at the University of Maryland, where he will advance his book manuscript, Brick City Children: The Early Roots of Legal Estrangement. His research sits at the intersection of criminology, existentialist philosophy, and community ethics — exploring how preadolescent children in Newark, NJ confront questions of identity, alienation, and belonging as they navigate early encounters with legal institutions. Drawing on qualitative interviews with children ages 9–11, his work examines how legal estrangement shapes a child's emerging sense of self while raising deeper ethical questions about the obligations communities and legal systems owe to their most vulnerable members.
