Rate My Professor Karin D. Martin

Karin D. Martin is an Associate Professor and MPA Program Director in Public Policy at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington. She is a crime policy specialist with expertise in monetary sanctions, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and decision-making in criminal justice contexts. Her research centers on the use of money in punishment, including fines, fees, and restitution. As co-PI on a five-year project, she examines monetary sanctions across eight states. She has provided testimony on criminal justice debt to the New York State Assembly and the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Martin's publications appear in leading journals such as Annual Review of Criminology, Sociological Perspectives, RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, Law & Policy, Stanford Law Review Online, Punishment & Society, Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and UCLA Criminal Justice Law Review. Notable works include "Monetary Sanctions: Legal Financial Obligations in US Systems of Justice" (2018), "Pay or Display: Monetary Sanctions and the Performance of Accountability and Procedural Integrity in New York and Illinois Courts" (2022), "What Is Wrong with Monetary Sanctions? Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research" (2022), "Fiscal Contrition: An Examination of Predatory Fine and Fee Revenue and Policy Change in Three US Counties" (2023), and "Monetary Sanctions Thwart Access to Justice" (2023).

Martin studied Psychology at Stanford University and earned an MPP, an MA in Political Science, and a PhD in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the Evans School, she served as Assistant Professor of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and The Graduate Center, City University of New York (2013-2017), and as Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy (2016). She was a post-doctoral scholar in UCLA's Psychology Department and a Fellow with the Center for Policing Equity. Her accolades include the 2020 University of Washington Distinguished Teaching Award for excellence in teaching, mentoring, and commitment to equity and inclusion; Fellowship at UC Berkeley's Center for Research on Social Change; Berkeley Empirical Legal Studies Fellowship; National Science Foundation IGERT Fellowship in Politics, Economics, Psychology, and Public Policy; and 2009 RAND Summer Associateship. Martin's scholarship influences policy reforms addressing financial burdens in criminal justice and promotes equitable decision-making processes.