Larson Publishes on Dual Debt

Ryan Larson, assistant professor in the criminology and forensic science department, is an author on a new research article entitled "’It’s Two Separate Systems That.. Keep You Under a Thumb’: Dual Debt in the Child Support and Criminal Legal Systems." in Law & Society Review. Dr. Larson and his colleagues analyze  semi-structured interviews of debtholders in Minnesota, finding that among individuals in states of dual debt (owing both child support and criminal legal debt simultaneously) legal anomie and system avoidance are mutually reinforcing processes, as debts in each of these systems triggered consequences that pushed people out of the formal labor market and heightened their distrust of legal institutions. The findings demonstrate how alienating and contradictory policy systems can foster both legal anomie and system avoidance, particularly in the context of economic and social precarity.