It’s not often that an academic finds their area of expertise bound up inextricably with their personal life, affecting the people they love. But for Princeton University anthropology professor Laurence Ralph, a noted expert on the conditions and systems that perpetuate gangs and youth violence in the U.S., a phone call in the middle of the night in September 2019 did just that.

In his book SITO: An American Teenager and the City That Failed Him (Grand Central Publishing; on sale February 20, 2024; hardcover; $30.00), Ralph writes about the short life and tragic death of his wife’s 19-year-old family member, Luis Alberto Quiñonez, who was killed in broad daylight, in retaliation for a gang-related murder it was known he did not commit.

Ralph is a gifted writer, telling a singularly American tale: how a young man who tried to steer clear of gangs ended up loosely affiliated with the wrong people, was accused by the San Francisco police and city attorney of murder (while evidence proving Sito’s innocence was ignored for months), and how his struggle to move beyond this event—and to become a criminal justice reform activist—was cut short by another youth who couldn’t surrender the idea of Sito’s guilt. Ralph unflinchingly guides us through the aftermath of Sito’s death, showing how a personal connection to tragedy can upend everything you think you believe about fairness, compassion, and the rule of law.

“By the time Sito died, I had both studied and witnessed violence while working in Chicago as an ethnographer. In fact, I had grown accustomed to dissecting trauma from a distance. But ever since the night Nero called with the horrific news, I was finding it increasingly hard to be an objective third party to grief,” Laurence writes. “I felt like my professional accomplishments and expertise were mocking me. In seeking justice for Sito’s death, I didn’t have the answers I thought I should. I didn’t fully understand what justice for this murder could and should look like, especially because the perpetrator was only seventeen.”

Within the book is a parallel narrative: Ralph delivers a research-backed, clear-eyed assessment of the flawed way the American juvenile justice system operates. Even San Francisco—one of the most progressive cities in the nation—claims to give those accused of crime a fair trial, but from first contact with police through to the courtroom, the facts show otherwise. The media often piles on, sensationalizing cases involving juveniles, all but guaranteeing the accusations against them won’t be forgotten, even when their names are cleared. Children are imprisoned in facilities that would break the strongest adults, and while inside, their mental health and safety are diminished in countless ways. They are offered little to nothing in terms of support, rehabilitation, or learning. And upon their release, it’s difficult if not impossible for these young people to break the bonds that offered them safety and belonging both before and during their time in jail.

In the book, Ralph shows that alternatives to incarceration are proven to work far better in helping young people stay out of prison and change their lives. And he makes a powerful case for the federal government to step in and set new standards for the treatment of young people accused or convicted of crimes.

With SITO, Ralph has delivered a masterful book offering an intimate look at how a national tragedy unfolds for families across the nation.

Praise for Sito

“Ralph tells his story well. He avoids sentimentality. Nor does he pepper his prose with the kind of opaque language that so often dogs academic writing. … “Sito” is a readable, empathic portrayal of a Hispanic teenager whose promising life was cut short because of failures in the criminal justice system and violence in the streets.”

―New York Times

“[T]he story is at once…a sociological academia, an account of a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco, and an intimate look into generations of a close-knit family pushing against the stronghold of gang violence…The book, Ralph’s third, follows two other ambitious nonfiction works…but “Sito” is his most personal yet.”

―The San Francisco Chronicle

“With the gripping true story of Sito and Julius—two teenagers forever linked by trauma and an unjust system—this book gives voice to the stories that often go unheard.”

―In the Margins Book Awards

“[A] gut-punch personal narrative with broader societal implications.” 

―Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Sito is a harrowing, impactful account of a teenager caught in a cycle of violence and the juvenile justice system that failed him.”

―BookPage, starred review

“Ralph draws on family experiences and his research into justice-impacted youth to paint an honest, heartbreaking, and enraging picture of his 19-year-old family member Sito’s life and death.”

―Booklist

“Through a heart-wrenching study of a youth’s murder, Ralph reveals a larger picture of social decay, despair, and violence.”

―Kirkus Reviews

“For these young men, there are rarely second chances. This ultimately is the lesson Laurence Ralph takes from Sito’s short life…. Sito invites us to regard the Sitos of the world with a bit less judgment and a good deal more humility.”

―New York Review of Books

“Sito is Laurence Ralph’s most intimate, most searching, and most liberated work yet. Following the murder of a teenage family member, Ralph explores this gutting loss through the eyes of fathers and mothers, brothers and friends. Moving seamlessly from living rooms to court rooms, he forces us to recognize that there are no easy answers when it comes to vengeance, healing, and justice. With depths beyond depths, this profound book is a memoir and a sociological analysis; it is a critique, a confession, and a prayer.” 

―Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted

“Laurence Ralph ruminates on gang violence and our decadent criminal legal system through the life and tragic murder of his 19-year-old loved one, Sito. The blend of intimacy and authority, of self-and-structural reflection, of despair and expectation make for a profoundly affecting and edifying book. Sito is a triumph.” 

―Ibram X. Kendi, National Book award-winner and New York Times bestselling author

“With great care, skill, and nuance, acclaimed anthropologist Laurence Ralph tells the tragic story of nineteen-year-old Luis Alberto Quiñonez. Drawing on his pioneering research on race, policing, and violence, Ralph takes the reader on a powerful and moving journey that unveils the failures of the criminal justice system in the United States. While there is much to despair, Ralph leaves readers with a deep sense of hope—that the failures of the past can be corrected and that we can build a more just and equitable society where young people like Sito can survive and thrive.”

―Keisha N. Blain, coeditor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019

“Sito is an extraordinary story of murder, grief, revenge, and the possibility of healing.  With this beautifully written account, Laurence Ralph takes us to a place that is, at once, intimate and revealing.  He calls into question his own ideals and scholarly conclusions as he confronts his family’s loss and grief.  And, in the end with the Orishas guiding his tongue, he offers a prayer that we all need to hear.  Heartwrenchingly complex. Sito is a powerful and moving book.” 

―Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University

“SITO is both a deeply moving work of remembrance and a powerful indictment of our racist judicial system. Once again, Ralph proves that he is a brilliant ethnographer and expert storyteller. His sensitive prose gives us heart wrenching insight into a young life that ended too soon and a grieving family’s search for truth, justice, and forgiveness. This book sets a new standard for social science writing in the 21st century.”

―Jason De León, Author of Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

 Sito In the News