Justin L. Sola

Justin Lucas Sola, PhD

Assistant Professor at UNC–Chapel Hill, jointly appointed in Sociology and the School of Data Science and Society.

I research how people experience neighborhoods, the criminal justice system, gun ownership, and inequality. I use experiments, machine learning, longitudinal designs, interviews, and observations.

Teaches: sociology · computational social science · criminology · ethics in machine learning
Peer-reviewed

Recent publications

  1. 2026
    Law & Society ReviewOnline First
    “Neoliberalism in Law and Society.”
    Justin L. Sola
  2. 2025
    Social Studies of ScienceOnline First
    “First Impressions Matter: Mundane Obstacles to a Forensic Device for Probabilistic Reporting in Fingerprint Analysis.”
    Simon A. Cole and Justin L. Sola
  3. 2024
    Science AdvancesVol 10, Issue 49 · Focus Article for Lanfear et al. 2024
    Invited“Pathways to concealed gun carrying.”
    Justin L. Sola
  4. 2024
    Social Science QuarterlyOnline First
    “Firearms, Families, and Financial Distress: Economic Instability and Increased Gun Desire.”
    Justin L. Sola and Tara D. Warner
  5. 2024
    SociusVolume 10: 1–5
    “Partisan Differences in Hiring and Social Discrimination against Nonbinary Americans.”
    Justin T. Pickett, Justin L. Sola, and Shawn D. Bushway
  6. 2024
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences121 (16) e2311825121
    “Widespread, bipartisan aversion exists to neighbors owning AR-15s or storing guns insecurely.”
    Justin L. Sola and Justin T. Pickett
  7. 2023
    Experimental CriminologyOnline First
    “Making the Call: How Does Perceived Race Affect Desire to Call the Police?”
    Justin L. Sola and Charis E. Kubrin
    2023 American Society of Criminology Experimental Division Student Paper Award
  8. 2022
    Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social ScienceVolume 701 Issue 1: 28–45
    “Barred: Labor Market Dynamics and Human Capital Development Among People on Probation and Parole.”
    Sykes et al. and Sola
  9. 2022
    RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social SciencesVolume 8 Issue 1: 148–178
    “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Public Assistance, Monetary Sanctions, and Financial Double-Dealing in America.”
    Sykes et al. and Sola
  10. 2021
    Sociological PerspectivesVolume 65 Issue 5: 939–969
    “Transmitting Desire: An Experiment on a Novel Measure of Gun Desirability in a Pandemic.”
    Justin L. Sola