Prior to joining the faculty in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University in August of 2003, Bill Bales was the director of research with the Florida Department of Corrections since 1991 and has worked in various research capacities with the Florida Supreme Court, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and for private research organizations. Bill earned a Ph.D. in Criminology from Florida State University in 1987 and has presented research findings at numerous juvenile justice, criminology, corrections and statistics conferences over the past twenty-five years. He has published in the areas of longitudinal outcomes among incarcerated juvenile delinquents, adult correctional program evaluations, and sentencing and has published in Criminology, Criminology and Public Policy, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and Justice Quarterly, among other crime and policy journals.

William D. Bales, Ph.D., is a Professor at Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. He has published in Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and Justice Quarterly, among other crime and policy journals.

Research Interests

Sentencing | Assessing the effectiveness and consequences of punishment strategies | Evaluation of correctional practices and programs | Community Re-entry

Education

Ph.D. 1987, Florida State University; Criminology

M.S. 1977, Florida State University; Criminology

B.S. 1975, Florida State University; Sociology

Grants

Principal Investigator, “Building and Enhancing Criminal Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships,” a three year $495,329 project with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, January 1, 2014.

Principal Investigator, “Re-Validation of the Florida Department of Corrections’ Correctional Operations Trend Analysis System (COTAS),” a six month $23,244 project funded by the Florida Department of Corrections.

Co-Principal Investigator, “Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Program in Palm Beach County,” a $150,000 project funded by the National Institute of Justice, 2013.

Co-Principal Investigator, “Building and Enhancing Criminal Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships,” a three year $598,982 project with the Florida Department of Corrections and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, January 1, 2012.

Principal Investigator, “An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Electronic Monitoring for Medium and High Risk Offenders on Supervision and Post-Supervision Outcomes,” a $281,976 project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (September 2007 to December 2009).

Recent Publications

Peter S. Lehman, Ted Chiricos and William Bales. 2017. “Sentencing Transferred Juveniles in the Adult Criminal Court: The Direct and Interactive Effects of Race and Ethnicity” Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.

Thomas G. Blomberg, Julie Mestre Brancale, Kevin M. Beaver, William D. Bales. 2016. “Advancing Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy” Routledge.

Valentine, Colby L., Daniel P. Mears, and William D. Bales. 2015. “Unpacking the Relationship between Age and Prison Misconduct” Journal of Criminal Justice 43(5):418-427.

Lindsey, Andrea M., Daniel P. Mears, Joshua C. Cochran, William D. Bales and Brian J. Stults. 2015. “In Prison and Far From Home: Spatial Distance Effects on Inmate Misconduct” Crime & Delinquency. Online First.

Toman, Elisa L., Joshua C. Cochran, John K. Cochran and William D. Bales . 2015. “The Implications of Sentence Length for Inmate Adjustment to Prison Life.” Journal of Criminal Justice Open Access 43:6.

Selected Publications

Bales, William D. and Alex R. Piquero (2012). Racial/Ethnic Differentials in Sentencing to Incarceration. Justice Quarterly, 29:5, 742-773.

Bales, William D. and Courtenay H. Miller (2012). The Impact of Determinate Sentencing on Prisoner Misconduct. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40, 394-403.

Bales, William D. and Alex R. Piquero. (2012). Assessing the Impact of Imprisonment on Recidivism. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8:71–101.

Bales, William D., Gerry G. Gaes, Thomas G. Blomberg, and Kerensa N. Pate. (2010). An Assessment of the Development and Outcomes of Determinate Sentencing in Florida. Justice Research and Policy,12:1, 41-71.

Bales, William D., and Daniel P. Mears. (2008). Inmate Social Ties and the Transition to Society: Does Visitation Reduce Recidivism? Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 45:3, 287-321.