Jose Atiles is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and College of Law (by courtesy) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Law from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and an M.A. in Sociology of Law from the International Institute for the Sociology of Law (Oñati). Dr. Atiles currently serves as the Book Review Editor for the Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crimes and is a member of various other editorial boards.

His sociolegal and criminological research focuses on the colonial context of Puerto Rico, aiming to elucidate the role of law and emergency powers during periods of crisis. He is the author of Crisis by Design: Emergency Powers and Colonial Legality in Puerto Rico (Stanford University Press, 2024), an interdisciplinary examination of law, emergency powers, and anticorruption mobilizations in Puerto Rico. The book explores the island’s recent history—from the 2006 public debt crisis and the 2016 government bankruptcy to the devastating hurricanes Irma and María, anticorruption protests, earthquakes, and the COVID-19 pandemic—arguing that these crises are intrinsic to the colonial structure rather than isolated events. This work contributes to critical sociolegal and criminological scholarship on emergency powers and disaster demonstrating that colonialism is the primary force driving Puerto Rico’s crises.

Dr. Atiles’ next book, titled Paradise Performs: Law, Tax Haven, and Resistance in Puerto Rico, intersects law and society, political economy studies of tax havens, and critical criminology. It explores the legal transformation of Puerto Rico into a tax haven and the mobilizations aimed at “Abolishing the Paradise.” This project examines the sociolegal impacts of Puerto Rican legislation and policies designed to attract foreign investments, international banks, financial institutions, corporations, and crypto entrepreneurs to the archipelago.

Dr. Atiles has co-organized the Law and Society Association’s IRC 43: Law, Political Economy, and Crises and actively contributed to CRN 23: International Law and Politics, and CRN 55: Law and Political Economy.