Kitty Calavita

Kitty C. Calavita is an American criminologist, focusing on sociology of law, criminology, immigration, criminal justice and inequality. Her research has spanned five books, many articles focusing on national and international social reform and police reform for the city of Berkeley, California.

Published work Her first book, "Inside the State: The Bracero Program, Immigration and the INS." (1992) analyzed Mexican labor in the United States after World War II. The book explores the Bracero Program where Calavita identifies why it did not succeed. This book helped simplify what it means to be a criminologist and how law interacts with more than the judicial system and into the institutional structure of people's lives. It also dives into law's role in making social change in the United States.

The PAB held its first meeting in July 2021 and Calavita stayed on the board until January 2026, when Calavita and former board member Juliet Leftwich announced their resignation. Calavita and Leftwich said in their resignation that their work on police reform in the PRC was being reversed and their counsel on cautionary approval for a security system, which had leaked data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was disregarded. "Having served on both the PRC and the PAB, however, we have seen firsthand that the PAB has not been permitted to exercise its expanded oversight authority and is even less empowered than its predecessor," Calavita and Leftwich wrote.

"Inside the Pyramid of Disputes: Naming Problems and Filing Grievances in California Prisons," co-authored by Kitty Calavita and Valerie Jenness published in 2013 from the University of California Irvine.

"It Depends on the Outcome: Prisoners, Grievances, and Perceptions of Justice," was co-authored by Kitty Calavita and Valerie Jenness. It received a 2019 honorable mention for the article .