Vahid Jadidi

Vahid Jadidi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. His research interests include political sociology, social movements, immigration and diaspora politics, gender, family and violence, social network analysis, and criminal justice system. His current research examines political mobilization and fragmentation among diaspora communities, with particular attention to transnational repression, political networks, coalition dynamics, and the ways political participation operates across national and digital contexts.

 

He also studies criminal justice, institutional decision making, and disparities in legal outcomes. He co-authored “From Jury to Judge: Effects of Changing the Default Sentencing Agent on Sentence Length in Virginia,” Journal of Criminal Justice. It looks at the impact of the change in the default sentencing authority in jury trials in Virginia from juries to judges on sentencing outcomes and racial disparities. His other work includes research on cybercrime and victimization during the COVID-19 pandemic, judicial decision-making, and the social and political contexts of crime and punishment. Across these projects, he is particularly interested in how institutional arrangements, legal processes, and emerging digital environments shape individual and group outcomes. In doing so, his research uses mixed-method approaches that combine statistical modeling, qualitative inquiry, and computational analysis.

 

Vahid holds an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Tehran and a B.A. in Social Science–Social Research from Allameh Tabataba’i University. His earlier research has examined gender, violence, and suicide in historical contexts as well. His work has been presented at major academic conferences, including the American Sociological Association and the American Society of Criminology. Furthermore, at the University of Notre Dame, he serves as the Sociology Department’s Graduate Student Government (GSG) Representative for the 2026–2027 academic year and as President of the Persian Association for Researchers and Students (PARS). He has also published two books of poetry and prose in Persian and has been involved in cultural organizing and community-based projects.