The Criminology Academy

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.

Michael Gottfredson is Chancellor’s Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, Sociology, and Law at the University of California, Irvine. From 2012 to 2014, he was President of the University of Oregon. He has written about the causes of crime, delinquency, and victimization, and about decision making in the criminal justice process. His work is focused on the implications of general theory about crime for research design and public policies and crime. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and the Western Society of Criminology.

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