David J. Knight is Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University, where he is part of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School.

A political sociologist of the carceral state, he investigates how communities experience mass incarceration and mobilize in response to it. His research has appeared in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Criminology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences among other views. David currently directs the Movements Against Mass Incarceration Lab based at the Incite Institute. The Movements Lab uses archival and survey methods to explore the politically contested nature of the prison state.