About Professor Ingram

Matthew C. Ingram's research examines justice sector reforms, judicial behavior, and violence in Latin America.

Holding a law degree (2006) and a PhD in political science (2009) from the University of New Mexico, Ingram studies the political origins of institutional change and judicial behavior in the region's justice systems, focusing on sub-national courts in Brazil and Mexico. He draws also on a family history in Mexico (dual citizen, U.S. and Mexico), extensive fieldwork in Latin America, and seven years of professional experience in law enforcement in California. Ingram's academic work has appeared in several peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. His book, Crafting Courts in New Democracies: The Politics of Subnational Judicial Reform in Brazil and Mexico (Cambridge University Press, 2016), examines the causal role of ideas in shaping local court reforms in Latin America's two largest democracies and markets. The book combines statistical analysis and in-depth qualitative work, drawing on two years of fieldwork and more than 100 interviews with judges and other legal professionals.

Ingram's research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Fulbright Commission.

Prior to arriving at Rockefeller, Ingram held post-doctoral fellowships at the UC San Diego's Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies (2009-2010) and Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute (2011-2012). He was also an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (2010-2011). In 2012-2013, Ingram will offer courses in Comparative Judicial Politics, Comparative Criminal Procedure, and Latin American Politics. Prof. Ingram, born and raised in Mexico, speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Selected Publications

Book

Refereed Articles

• Harbers, Imke, and Matthew C. Ingram. 2017. “Incorporating Space in Multimethod Research: Combining Spatial Analysis with Case Study Research.” PS: Political Science & Politics 50(4) (October).
• Harbers, Imke, and Matthew C. Ingram. 2017. “Geo-Nested Analysis: Mixed-Methods Research with Spatially Dependent Data.” Political Analysis 25(3): 289–307.
• Ingram, Matthew C., and Marcelo Marchesini da Costa. 2017. “A Spatial Analysis of Homicide across Brazil’s Municipalities.” Homicide Studies 21(2): 87–110.
• Burghardt, Keith, Christopher Verzijl, Junming Huang, Matthew C. Ingram, Binyang Song, and Marie Pierre Hasne. 2016. “Testing Modeling Assumptions in the West Africa Ebola Outbreak”. Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 34598
• Ingram, Matthew C. 2016. “Networked Justice: Judges, the Diffusion of Ideas, and Legal Reform Movements in Mexico” Journal of Latin American Studies 48(4): 739-768.
• Ingram, Matthew C. 2016. “Mandates, Geography, and Networks: Diffusion of Criminal Procedure Reform in Mexico.” Latin American Politics & Society 58(1): 121–145.
• Desposato, Scott, Matthew C. Ingram, and Osmar P. Lannes, Jr. 2015 "Power, Composition, and Decision Making: The Behavioral Consequences of Institutional Reform on Brazil'sSupremo Tribunal Federal." Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 31 (accepted Aug. 2014).
• Harbers, Imke, and Matthew C. Ingram. 2014. "Democratic Institutions Beyond the Nation-State: Measuring Institutional Dissimilarity in Federal Countries." Government and Opposition 49(1): 24-46.

• Ingram, Matthew C. 2013. "Elections, Ideology, or Opposition? Assessing Competing Explanations of Judicial Spending in the Mexican States." Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 29(1): 178-209.

• Ingram, Matthew C. 2012. “Crafting Courts in New Democracies: Ideology and Judicial Council Reforms in Three Mexican States.” Comparative Politics 44(4) (July): 439-458.

Book Chapters

• Ingram, Matthew C., and Karise M. Curtis. 2015. "Violence in Central America: A Spatial View of the Region, Northern Triangle, and El Salvador." In Crime and Violence in Central America's Northern Triangle: How U.S. Policy Responses are Helping, Hurting, and Can Be Improved. Eric Olson, ed. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center.
• Harbers, Imke, and Matthew C. Ingram. 2015. "On the Engineerability of Institutions: Mexico in Comparative Perspective." In Ingrid van Biezen and Hans-Martien ten Napel, eds. Regulating Political Parties: European Democracies in Comparative Perspective. Leiden, Netherlands: Leiden University Press.
• Ingram, Matthew C. 2014. "Community Resilience to Violence: Local Schools, Regional Economies, and Homicide in Mexico's Municipalities." In David A. Shirk, Duncan Wood, and Eric L. Olson, eds. Building Resilient Communities in Mexico: Civic Responses to Crime and Violence. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center and Justice in Mexico Project.

Policy and Research Reports

• Ingram, Matthew C., and Karise M. Curtis. 2014. "Homicide in El Salvador's Municipalities: Spatial Clusters and the Causal Role of Neighborhood Effects, Population Pressures, Poverty, and Education." Working Paper (July). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Latin American Program. Washington, D.C. 
• Ingram, Matthew C., and Marcelo Marchesini da Costa. 2014. "Targeting Violence Reduction in Brazil: Policy Implications from a Spatial Analysis of Homicide." Brookings Institution, Latin America Initiative Policy Brief (Oct. 3). Washington, D.C.
• Ingram, Matthew C. 2014 [forthcoming]. "Regional Economic and Local Educational Foundations of Violence: A Subnational, Spatial Analysis of Homicide in Mexico." Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute, Working Paper Series (Feb). Washington, D.C.
• Ingram, Matthew C. 2012. "Criminal Procedure Reform in Mexico: Where Things Stand Now." Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Mexico Institute, Washington, D.C.
• Ingram, Matthew C., Octavio Rodriguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk. 2011. "Assessing Mexico's Judicial Reform: Views of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders." Special Report (June). Justice in Mexico Project, Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego.
• Ingram, Matthew C., Octavio Rodriguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk. 2011. "Justiciabarometro: Survey of Judges, Prosecutors, and Public Defenders in Nine Mexican States." Final Report (May). Justice in Mexico Project, Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego.
• Ingram, Matthew C., and David A. Shirk. 2010. “Judicial Reform in Mexico: Toward a New Criminal Justice System.” Special Report (May). Justice in Mexico Project, Trans-Border Institute, University of San Diego.