[2] Uggen is best known for his work on public criminology,[3] desistance from crime and the life course, crime in the workplace, sexual harassment, and the effects of mass incarceration, including Felon disenfranchisement, reentry, recidivism, and inequality.
Uggen attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison for undergraduate and graduate school, earning his PhD in 1995.
He went on to author a 2003 American Sociological Review article with sociologist Jeff Manza, "Democratic Contraction: Political Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States," which gained significant attention after finding that the 2000 United States presidential election could have gone to Al Gore if felons were not disenfranchised.
[6] Uggen's research on workplace authority and sexual harassment, incarceration and health, race in the United States criminal justice system, employer discrimination against felons, and other collateral consequences of criminal conviction have been influential both in and out of the sociology discipline.
[7] Uggen was expected to assume the office of vice president of the American Sociological Association in August 2017,[8] and has received the 2016 SUNY Albany Hindelang Speaker Award for career contributions to criminology.