Jesus Orozco

Jesus Orozco (he/him) is a doctoral student in sociology in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. His research investigates the mechanisms of linguistic and racial inequality within the U.S. criminal legal system. Focusing on the experiences of Latin American immigrants in Maricopa County, Arizona, his work ethnographically examines how language fluency, citizenship status, and class intersect to produce disparate legal outcomes that criminalize linguistic difference and migrant identity. Through his research, Jesus works to make equal justice under law a reality for linguistically marginalized communities.

At ASU, Jesus has taught undergraduate courses in Courts and Society and serves as a teaching assistant for Introductory Sociology, Intro to Justice Studies, and others. In these classes, he challenges students to deconstruct the social construction of legality and to critically analyze how institutions, like the courts, often reproduce the very inequalities they are tasked with resolving. 

His scholarly foundation is built through active participation on interdisciplinary research teams, including his work as a Graduate Research Assistant on the Arizona Youth Identity Project and the Economic and Legal Dimensions of Repartnering Project. Previously, his collaboration on Stanford University’s Court Listening Project led to a peer-reviewed 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, published in the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. 

Beyond the classroom and research teams, Jesus provides leadership and service to his academic community. He served as the President and Treasurer of the School of Social and Family Dynamics Graduate Student Association. His commitment to the field is reflected in his active memberships in the American Sociological Association, the Law and Society Association, and the American Society of Criminology.

Jesus's developing dissertation project involves extensive courtroom observation and interviews to understand how linguistic access shapes case outcomes. He is currently developing plans to expand this work into a multi-county study and to partner with the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project to create a community-based legal navigator program.

Beyond academia, he enjoys exploring the Arizona desert through hiking and spending time with family and friends.