Dr. Aaron Bielejewski is interested in the social, interactive and cultural aspects of the justice system. In his research, he examines the lived reality and experience of people working within the justice system and those directly affected by it. In addition, he explores the growing influence of crime and crime policy in media culture, particularly in TV and podcasts of the “true-crime” genre.
Raised in Trenton, NJ, USA, he studied Criminology & Criminal Justice at The College of New Jersey and Rutgers University. He received his doctorate from the University of Kassel, based on an ethnographic study of the police department in Brandenburg, which he successfully completed in 2021. He was a research assistant at the Institute for Media Research at Chemnitz University of Technology from 2020 to October 2021. Previously, he taught criminology, police science, interactive and cultural sociology and qualitative research methods at the University of Kassel, the Hessian University of Applied Sciences for Police and Administration and Rutgers University. He is an Associate Editor of the journal “Symbolic Interaction”.
Current publications (selection):
Bielejewski, A. (2023). Holding Down the Fort: Policing Communities and Community-oriented Policing in Rural Germany (p. 418). Springer Nature.
Bielejewski, A. (2024). Corrections, media, and institutional logic: A practical report. Journal of Criminology, 56(3), 233-243.
Bielejewski, A. (2024). Words for a closed society. The role of prison newspapers using the example of HaftLeben. Indes – Journal for Politics and Society, 11(4), 27- 41.
Bielejewski, A. (2023). In forced society: Media, cohesion and identity in correctional facilities. In T. Bliesner, L. Deyerling, A. Dreißigacker, I. Henningsmeier, M. Neumann, J. Schemmel, C.P. Schröder & L. Treskow (Eds.) Kriminalität und Kriminologie im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung, Mönchengladbach: Forum Verlag Godesberg.
