Francine Banner is Professor of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. After practicing corporate bankruptcy law for several years, she left the field to obtain a PhD in Justice Studies and Social Transformation. Francine's research explores the varied ways in which law interacts with everyday life, and she is especially interested in how law operates in institutional contexts like universities, prisons, and the military. Her latest book, Beyond Complicity: Why We Blame Each Other Instead of Systems (UC Press, 2024), explores how individual cycles of shame and blame detract from institutional accountability and provides suggestions for working toward positive, systemic social change.

Francine is a passionate teacher who teaches in Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program and has led workshops relating to veterans' issues, gender-based violence, and trauma-informed legal reform in the US and internationally. She is the recipient of numerous research grants, including two US State Department fellowships focusing on gender and conflict in post-Soviet geographies.

Francine serves on the board of Street Democracy, a non-profit legal services organization dedicated to social justice in Southeast Michigan, and is a member of the advisory board for the Center for Law & Military policy, a think tank dedicated to ending military sexual assault. 

Reach Francine at fmbanner@umich.edu.