The Criminology Academy

This week, we spoke with Rod Brunson about one of the most urgent and challenging topics in criminology: race and policing. Rod K. Brunson is a professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland, College Park. His tackles issues on police including community relations, youth violence, and evidence-based criminal justice policy. He has consistently called for effective crime reduction strategies that do not result in racially disparate treatment of minority citizens and disadvantaged neighborhoods. Rod is a fellow of the American Society of Criminology.

In this episode, we are joined by Professor Chris Uggen to chat about his work on voting rights for people with criminal convictions. Chris Uggen is Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight Professor in Sociology, Law, and Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a fellow of the American Society of Criminology. He studies crime, law, and inequality, firm in the belief that sound research can help build a more justice and peaceful world. Chris received the 2023 American Sociological Association Public Understanding of Sociology award, in part for his work (with Doug Hartmann) as publisher and editor of TheSocietyPages.org, an online social science hub that has drawn more than 40 million visitors. He is a past Vice President of the American Sociological Association and Executive Secretary of the American Society of Criminology. 

In this episode, we are speaking with Professor Scott Duxbury about his work on group politics and the sociology of punishment.   Scott W. Duxbury is an Associate Professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research examines social networks, criminal law, mass incarceration, racism, public opinion, drug markets, and computational methods. His work has appeared in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, and Social Forces, among other outlets.

Ashley Muchow is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research considers the causes and consequences of social inequality, with a particular focus on policing, immigration, and racial/ethnic disparities.

Welcome to Episode 117 of The Criminology Academy podcast, where we are criminally academic. In this episode, we are speaking with Professor Benjamin Comer and his work around school shootings. Benjamin Comer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University. His research focuses on gun violence, school gun violence, and mass gun violence. His additional areas of research focus on data accuracy and comparability, as well as spatial criminology. Benjamin received his PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University.

In this episode, we are speaking with Professor Zach Hamilton about his work on risk-needs assessments.   Zachary Hamilton is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Associate Director of the Nebraska Center for Justice Research at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His research centers on innovation in risk and needs assessment development. Specifically, he works directly with adult corrections and juvenile justice agencies to create assessments that are optimized for their agency's needs. Zachary earned his PhD in Criminal Justice in 2010 from Rutgers University.

In this episode we speak with David Kirk about the gig economy (Uber; AirBnb) and how it relates to crime.  David Kirk is a professor in the Department of Criminology and Research Associate of the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago and previously served on the faculties at the University of Oxford, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Maryland. His research agenda is primarily organized around three interrelated themes: the causes and consequences of cynicism and distrust of the police and the law, solutions to criminal recidivism, and the causes and consequences of gun violence.

We spoke with Professor Megan Augustyn about public beliefs and rape, the Rochester Youth Development Study, and research on middle adulthood. Megan Augustyn is an associate professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University. She received her PhD in 2013 from the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on the study of the causes and consequences of crime, victimization, and other health-risk behaviors across the life course. Megan is the Principal Investigator of the Rochester Youth Development Study. 

This week we speak with Joseph Schwartz about the effect traumatic brain injuries can have on criminal behavior. We also discussed correctional officer mental health and its impact on thej ob.    Joseph A. Schwartz is an associate professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University. His current work focuses on the long-term physical and mental health implications of chronic stress exposure, as well as on the role of traumatic brain injury in the development of behavior problems and health outcomes.

Teresa Kulig is an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where she coordinates the Doctoral and Fast Track programs. Dr. Kulig is also co-director of the Victimology and Victim Studies Research Lab. She earned her PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 2018. Her research interests include studying the nature and control of sex and labor trafficking, the measurement and theories of victimization, public opinion on responses to victimization, and the social construction of crime.

In this episode we speak to Andy about the connection between social networks, neighborhoods, and crime.  Andrew V. Papachristos: John G. Searle Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University. He directs the Institute for Policy Research and the Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research & Science. His work applies network science to urban issues like gun violence, police misconduct, and street gangs.

James Wo is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Iowa and a senior research fellow at the University of Iowa Public Policy Center. His research interests include neighborhoods and crime, spatial inequalities, local institutions and organizations, land uses, and quantitative research methods. He received his PhD in Criminology, Law, and Society from UC Irvine.

This week we speak with Colby Valentine about what it's like to be a Professor of Instruction at a major university.  Colby Valentine is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida. Dr. Valentine received her B.A. in Sociology with an emphasis in Criminal Justice from the University of Pacific (2005), her M.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from San Diego State University (2007) and her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Florida State University (2012). Her research focuses on correctional-based research (i.e., prison misconduct, jail visitation, solitary confinement), victimization (i.e., sex and labor trafficking, intimate partner violence) and criminology and criminal justice pedagogy. She teaches on various topics such as research methods, criminological theory, corrections, and victimization.

This week we spoke with Professor Tom Tyler. We reflected on his career and how he became interested in criminology. We also discuss his major contributions to the field: his work on police legitimacy and procedural justice. Finally, Tom gives us his thoughts on the field and advice for the future.    Tom Tyler is the Macklin Fleming Professor Emeritus of Law and Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School, as well as a Founding Director of The Justice Collaboratory. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his research on legitimacy and procedural justice. He holds a PhD in social psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles.

This week, we talked to Tim Barnum about his work on people's perceptions of risk and deterrence from crime.  Timothy Barnum is currently an assistant professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. Prior to Sam Houston, Dr. Barnum was a Senior Researcher at Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. He received his PhD from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2018. His recent works explore the individual and situational factors that shape criminal decisions, perceptions, and attitudes.

We talk to Professor Megan Denver about her work on labeling, stigma, and person-first language.   Megan Denver is an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice and the Director of the Corrections and Reentry Lab at Northeastern University. Megan's research interests include criminal record stigma, employment and recidivism, credentialing decisions for people with criminal records, and desistance. To investigate questions related to these interests, she uses a variety of methods and integrates criminological theory with policy. Megan holds a PhD in Criminal Justice from the University of Albany and a masters in Sociology from the University of Delaware.

Welcome to our new series: Early Career...like our grad life series, we will document our movement across this phase of our careers. Hopefully this will help other junior faculty as they set off in their careers as well. We kick it off by discussing the transition from student to TT faculty with podcast all-star Ashley Appleby.    Dr. Ashley Appleby is an assistant professor of criminal justice in the school of social sciences, communication, and humanities at Endicott College. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University, Newark - School of Criminal Justice, and her B.A. in Criminal Justice and Psychology from Quinnipiac University. Ashley's research broadly considers the intersection between contact with the criminal legal system and experience of education. She is a student alumnus and trained instructor with the International Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program and has previously worked with the NJ-Step and Petey Greene programs. Dr. Appleby is a first-generation college graduate, and she has extensive teaching and pedagogical training in the field.

Terrie E. Moffitt, Ph.D., is the Nannerl O. Keohane University Professor of Psychology at Duke University, and Professor of Social Development at King's College London. Her expertise is in the areas of longitudinal methods, developmental theory, clinical mental health research, neuropsychology, and genomics in behavioral science. Dr. Moffitt attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for her undergraduate degree in psychology. She continued her training in psychology at the University of Southern California, receiving an M.A. in experimental animal behavior, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She also completed postdoctoral training in geriatrics and neuropsychology at the University of California, Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute. Special topics highlighted in this episode include the beginning of Terrie's career, her contributions to criminology, and her thoughts on the discipline.

Brielle Bryan is an assistant professor of sociology at Rice University who studies the consequences of criminal justice system contact for both individuals who encounter the justice system and their extended family members. Her research examines how varying forms of justice system contact ranging from arrest to incarceration shape subsequent economic, social, and household wellbeing, with particular attention to racial disparities in both contact with the justice system and in the consequences of such contact. Dr. Bryan holds a PhD in Sociology and Social Policy from Harvard University and a Masters of Public Policy from Georgetown University.  In this episode, we are speaking with Professor Brielle Bryan about the usage of social safety net resources (e.g., public assistance programs) among formerly incarcerated individuals.

This week, it's just Jenn and Jose. This will be the last episode of our Grad Life series. We talk about what we consider success to be and our advice to students currently undergoing the grueling ordeal that is grad school. 

Gary LaFree is a Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the Founding Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland. He is a past president of the American Society of Criminology and the 2024 recipient of the Stockholm Prize.  His research is on the causes and consequences of violent crime and terrorism.  His most recent books are The Handbook of the Criminology of Terrorism (with Josh Freilich), Countering Terrorism (with Martha Crenshaw), and Toward a Criminology of Terrorism. Special topics highlighted in this episode include the beginning of Gary's career, his contributions to criminology, and his thoughts on the discipline.

This week, as part of our grad life series, we spoke with Chloe Haimson and Stephen Oliphant about their experiences finding, applying, and interviewing for postdoc positions. Chloe Haimson is Director of Research of the Justice Policy Lab @the Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs at Brown University. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Prison Education Program at New York University where she taught ethnography at Wallkill Correctional Facility. Her current work investigates the decisions parole agents make during their everyday work routines, how these choices influence the trajectories of individuals on parole after prison, and their consequences for the expansion of punishment in the U.S. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022. Stephen Oliphant is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. He received his PhD in criminal justice from Michigan State University in 2023. His interdisciplinary background includes training in the fields of public policy, criminal justice, and injury prevention. His research is primarily focused on firearm policy and the evaluation of interventions that address firearm injury and violence more broadly.

Justin Pickett is a professor of criminal justice at the University at Albany, SUNY. He received his PhD in Criminology from Florida State University in 2011 and received the American Society of Criminology's Cavan Young Scholar Award in 2015. His research interests include public opinion, survey research methods, theories of punishment, and police–community relations.    Special topics highlighted in this episode include criminological research and public opinion and policing and diversity

Richard Wright retired from the University of Missouri-St. Louis' Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2014, having spent 30 very happy years there. He then joined the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University as chair, before retiring again in 2021. Wright has published widely in the area of offending decision making, with particular focus on urban street criminals. Richard speaks to us about his journey into criminology, his work on active offender research, and his thoughts on the field.

In this episode we speak with Dr. Brae Young. Brae is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University. Her research largely focuses on family and support among offending populations as well as broader issues within the juvenile justice system. Her recent work has appeared in Justice Quarterly, Journal of Developmental and Life Course Criminology, and Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.   We spoke to Brae about her work surrounding adolescents who have been incarcerated. Specifically we discuss the benefits of these teens getting visits and what may or may not prevent their loved ones from visiting them. Our discussion then moves to being a teen parent while incarcerated and the challenges that brings. 

In this episode we talk with Nathaniel Schutten a doctoral candidate in the School of Criminal Justice at SUNY Albany. Nathaniel talks to us about his work regarding attitudes towards gun ownership in the United States as well the intersection of gun ownership and racism.    You can find Nathaniel on X @NateSchutten. 

Prepare for an enlightening journey through episode 93 of the Criminology Academy podcast. Explore the dark side of the internet with cybercrime expert Dr. Eden Kamar, who delves into the disturbing trend of child online grooming. Through a detailed discussion about her groundbreaking research and studies, we also explore the role of parental guardianship in mitigating online grooming, the techniques employed by predators, and protective measures for children. Unveil the innovative use of chatbots and artificial intelligence for data collection and analysis of online sexual grooming techniques, highlighting the potential in safeguarding children and prosecuting offenders. Learn about the alarming findings, including the observed trend of more sexually knowledgeable children being specifically targeted for offline contact. Reflect on the importance of understanding the grooming process's non-linear nature, which can often be abrupt and direct. Dig deeper as the conversation explores the issue of webcam exploitation, particularly by online groomers. Recognize the deception within certain platforms that enable groomers to manipulate the victims' cameras without their awareness primarily through 'Whereby' as suggested by Dr. Kamar's study. Raise pressing questions on the safety design of such platforms and the role of software companies in securing user safety. Tune into this insightful conversation and empower yourself with knowledge against these cyber threats.

Join hosts Jose Sanchez and Jenn Tostlebe as they engage in a compelling conversation with Professor Jerry Ratcliffe, a seasoned professional in the field of criminal justice. They dive into the complexities of policing resources, the challenges of policy-making,  and the importance of evidence-based policing. Ratcliffe's rich experiences and deep insight derived from his career with London's Metropolitan Police and academic tenure at the Temple University set the backdrop for an enlightening discussion.

Stephanie Bonnes is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Assistant Dean of the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven. Her scholarship broadly focuses on victimization at the intersections of gender, inequality, identity, and organizations. We speak to Stephanie about harassment and sexual assault within the military.  Episode Note: Around minute 14, Stephanie wanted to clarify she meant that individual victims are helped, however,  no one is helping much to change the culture. Something she expands on throughout the episode.  Get Stephanie's book "Hardship Duty" with 30% off (use the code) here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/hardship-duty-9780197636244 Code: ASFLYQ6 for 30% off 

David Weisburd is Distinguished Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University and the Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His current research interests are focused on the criminology of place, policing, and research methods. He has received several awards such as the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, the American Society of Criminology's Sutherland Award, the (ASC) August Vollmer Award, and the Israel Prize, among many others. We discuss the origins of the criminology of place and some of David's work on crime concentrating in certain micro geographic locations. 

Richard Rosenfeld is the Curators' Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is a Fellow and Past President of the American Society of Criminology. We talk to Rick about his beginning as a criminologist. Then we discuss some of Rick's contributions to the field surrounding his work on crime forecasting. Finally, Rick gives us his thoughts on the field. 

Robert Agnew is Professor of Sociology, Emeritus at Emory University. We talk to Robert about his beginnings in sociology and criminology. We also get into Robert's General Strain Theory and it's development over time. Finally, Robert gives us his thoughts on the field of criminology and where he hopes it will go in the future. 

Alix Winter is the Chief Data Scientist for the Racial Profiling and Biased-Based Policing Investigations Unit at New York City's Civilian Complaint Review Board. She is also an Affiliated Research Scholar at Columbia University's Incite. We discuss how court actors justify bail decisions and the outcomes of these decisions. 

For this episode we don't have a guest. We just spend time talking about the timeline of the academic job market, some initial interviews dos and don'ts, and then we get into our experiences doing campus visit interviews. They are exhausting but critical to landing a job. 

This week we spoke with Jennifer O'Neill who is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Indiana University. We talk about symbolic interactionism, role identities, and delinquency.   

This week we speak with Pamela Buckley who is an associate research professor in the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the Principal Investigator of the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development (Blueprints), a globally- recognized registry of experimentally proven interventions promoting rigorous scientific standards for certification. We talk to Pam about evidence-based programming, the Blueprints registry, and programs tailored to ethnoracial minorities.    You can find Blueprints on X @Blueprints4HYD or https://www.blueprintsprograms.org/

This week we spoke with Ilana Friedman (Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky's School of Law) and Amber Krushas (Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas' Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice). They talk about their experiences going through their own PhD programs and give advice to students at the beginning, middle, and end of their programs!    You can find Ilana and Amber on X @ifriedman01 and @amber_krusahs

This week we spoke with Ben Crewe who is a professor of penology and criminal justice at the University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology. We talk about what prisons are like in England, Wales, and Norway. The discussion centers around the idea of Nordic exceptionalism when it comes to imprisonment and whether it's just a myth.    Ben has published in journals such as Criminology, British Journal of Criminology, and Punishment & Society. You can find on X @crewebencrewe.

This week we spoke with Mateus Santos (Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida), Chae Jaynes (Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida) and Danielle Thomas (Doctoral student in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida) about the challenges of finding a job with a criminal record and what can be done to overcome these challenges. We discuss their recent paper published in Criminology titled "How to overcome the cost of a criminal record for getting hired".   You can find Chae, Mateus, and Danielle on X (formerly Twitter) @ChaeJaynes, @MatSantos7, and @justifyjusticee.

This week we spoke with Volkan Topalli who is a professor of criminology at Georgia State University and co-editor of the journal Criminology. We talked to Volkan about his active offender approach to research going back to where it really gained popularity: the University of St. Louis-Missouri.    Volkan has published in journals such as Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and Criminal Justice and Behavior. You can find Volkan on Twitter/X @VolkanTopalli. 

This week we talked to Selena Munoz-Jones who is a doctoral student in the sociology department at the University of Colorado Boulder. We set the table by talking about the housing issue in the United States and then we discuss a piece that Selena wrote about Public Housing Authorities.    You can find Selena on Twitter (or X, we guess?) @SMunozJones

This week we (or really, just Jose) spoke with Charles Lanfear who is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Criminology in the University of Cambridge. We open the discussion with theory. Broken windows, social disorganization, and collective efficacy. Then we move into violence within communities and discuss a paper written by Charles. We close out with a discussion on reproducibility and open science.    Charles has been published in journals such as JAMA Network Open, Criminology, and Annual Review of Criminology. You can follow Charles on Twitter @cclanfear or visit his website https://clanfear.github.io/

This week we spoke with Erin Tinney, a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. We start with a general discussion on labeling theory, then we move into talking about stigma and adolescent arrests. Finally, Erin talks to us about her recent paper on the stigma associated with adolescent arrest.    You can find Erin on Twitter @Tinney_Erin. She has been published in Criminology. 

This week we speak with Sandra Bucerius is a professor in the sociology department at the University of Alberta. We kick off the discussion by talking about incarceration in Canada and compare it a little to incarceration in the United States. We also discuss subcultures and radicalization. Finally, we bring it all together by discussing a paper co-authored by Sandra discussing radicalization within prisons in Canada.    Sandra has been published in journals such as Journal of Drug Issues, Criminology, and City and Community

This week we talk with Janet Lauritsen who is Curators' Distinguished Professor Emerita in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri -St. Louis. We walk through the journey to her becoming a criminologist and studying victimization. We then discuss a piece she wrote on victimization for the Annual Review of Criminology. Finally, Janet gives us her thoughts on the field of criminology.    Janet has been published in journals such as Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Social Forces. 

Elephants, Tigers, and Penguins! We love them and care about them. Therefore, this week we took a dive into the world of illegal trafficking that impacts both flora (plants) and fauna (animals) by speaking with William Moreto, a professor criminal justice at the University of Central Florida. We ask him all sorts of questions related broadly to wildlife crime. We've all heard of money laundering, but what about fish laundering? Then we discuss two papers co-authored by Will on the topics of (1) the convergence between wildlife trafficking and organized crime and (2) rangers' perspectives of policing protected areas. Illegal wildlife trafficking (for example, ivory, penguin scales, caviar, and cacti) is either the third or fifth largest black market in the world (depending on the metric being used). As such, wildlife crime is a serious concern that we should all learn more about!    William Moreto has been published in Justice Quarterly, The British Journal of Criminology, Conservation Criminology, and Deviant Behavior, among other journals. You can find him on "the twitter" @MoreToPhD.

This week we spoke with C. Jordan Howell, a professor of criminology at the University of South Florida. We discuss what cybercrime and cybersecurity is. Then we discuss a serious of projects that Jordan has worked on exploring the dark web and ransomware. Don't worry, Jose's 100s of dollars are safe! And no, Jenn didn't hack into Jose's accounts and buy pizza... although, that's not a bad idea.   C. Jordan Howell has been published in Crime & Delinquency, The British Journal of Criminology, and Deviant Behavior. You can find him on Twitter @Dr_Cybercrime and see his research lab on sarasotacyber.com