Jesus Orozco

Jesus Orozco (he/him) is a doctoral student in sociology at Arizona State University's School of Social and Family Dynamics. His research ethnographically investigates the mechanisms of linguistic and racial inequality within U.S. court systems. Specifically, he is examining how language fluency, citizenship status, race, and class intersect to produce disparate legal outcomes for Latin American immigrants in criminal and immigration courts in Maricopa County, Arizona. Through his research, he aims to advance equal justice for linguistically marginalized communities within these systems.

Jesus has taught undergraduate courses in Courts and Society and serves as a teaching assistant for introductory sociology and justice studies courses. In these classes, he challenges students to deconstruct the social construction of legality and to critically examine how institutions, like legal court systems, often reproduce the very inequalities they are tasked with resolving. 

Previously, his collaboration with Stanford's Court Listening Project led to a peer-reviewed co-authored publication in Social Service Review on the spatial burdens of criminal courthouses. He has also co-authored research on the 2023 Lukeville border closure published in Social Sciences, and on the experiences of Black caregivers of violently injured youth in the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. 

At ASU, Jesus has served as the President and Treasurer of the School of Social and Family Dynamics Graduate Student Association and is an active member of the American Sociological Association, the Law and Society Association, and the American Society of Criminology.

His dissertation project, involving extensive courtroom observation and interviews, explores how linguistic access shapes case outcomes. He is currently developing plans to expand this work across multiple counties and states, as well as partner with community-based legal aid organizations to create a legal navigator program. 

Outside academia, Jesus enjoys hiking and spending time with family and friends.