FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Professor Eric Baumer receives National Institute of Justice grant to study link between foreclosure and crime rates.

Eric Baumer, Allen E. Liska Professor of Criminology, received a National Institute of Justice Grant to conduct a research project titled “Assessing the Link between Foreclosure and Crime Rates: A Multi-level Analysis of Neighborhoods across Cities and Metropolitan Areas.”

Levels of foreclosure have increased substantially in many American communities during the past few years, leading to widespread speculation that they are or will soon yield higher rates of crime in their wake.  Headlines across the nation have pointed to a possible link between foreclosure and crime, including claims that “As Foreclosed Homes Empty, Crime Arrives” (Washington Post, 2008), “Vacant homes send crime rocketing” (CNNMoney.Com, 2007), and “Squalor [and] crime follow wave of foreclosures” (Associated Press, 2007). Increasingly, representatives of the media, local law enforcement agencies, and others have been suggesting, or in some instances warning, that the substantial rising tide of foreclosures witnessed in the past few years in America has or is about to spark crime waves in both familiar and unfamiliar places, including well-established central cities and relatively new suburbs.

Baumer’s two-year program of multilevel research is designed to address some of the most significant gaps in current scientific understanding about the potential link between rates of foreclosure and crime. He and graduate student Kevin Wolff, who has been a major force behind the work, will be working with a FSU geography graduate student and additional criminology graduate students to address five central questions related to the recent acceleration in foreclosure rates across American neighborhoods and its possible impact on crime rates:

(1) Are levels of foreclosure significantly associated with crime rates across neighborhoods?
(2) Does any observed significant association persist when other factors are controlled, including attributes that capture the possible endogeneity of foreclosure activity to crime?
(3) Is the overall effect of foreclosure rates on neighborhood crime levels contingent on (i.e., moderated by) the nature of foreclosure activity?
(4) Is the overall effect of foreclosure rates on neighborhood crime levels contingent on other neighborhood conditions?  
(5) Does the effect of foreclosure rates on neighborhood crime levels vary across cities and metropolitan areas in systematic ways?

Graduate student Kevin Wang receives National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellowship

Congratulations to graduate student Kevin Wang who received a National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellowship, a distinction granted to just six U.S. scholars this year. Kevin works with criminology professor Gary Kleck.

NIJ’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program is an annual program that provides dissertation research support to outstanding doctoral students undertaking independent research on issues related to crime and justice. NIJ encourages a variety of approaches and perspectives in its research programs. It awards these fellowships in an effort to encourage promising doctoral students in the application of critical and innovative thinking to pressing criminal justice problems. Learn more at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/funding/graduate-research-fellowship/welcome.htm

Professor Bill Doerner recognized by American Society of Victimology.

The American Society of Victimology selected FSU criminologist Bill Doerner as the recipient of this year’s John P.J. Dussich Award. This prestigious award acknowledges Doerner’s significant contributions to the field of victimology and victim services. The award was presented at the annual meeting of the World Society of Victimology in Milto, Japan. Read more on the American Society of Victimology Web site.

Professor Beaver receives prestigious national award

FSU criminologist Kevin Beaver received this year’s American Society of Criminology Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award. The award recognizes his outstanding contributions to the field in just the few years since he received his doctorate.

Beaver completed his Ph.D. in criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati in 2006. His research focuses on biosocial criminology, genetic/biological correlates of offending, life-course/developmental criminology, and stability of violent behaviors. He has published more than 50 articles and more than 15 book chapters and is the author/editor of seven books, including Biosocial Criminology: A Primer (Kendall/Huent, 2009). His research has appeared in journals as diverse as American Journal of Public Health, Criminology, Journal of Genetic Psychology, and Sexual Abuse.

FSU criminologists and recent PhD graduates honored with ASC award designating their research this year’s best in the country.

“The Labeling of Convicted Felons and Its Consequences for Recidivism,” published in Criminology (45: 547–582) and authored by professors Ted Chiricos and Bill Bales and recent Ph.D. graduates Kelle Barrick and Stephanie Bontrager was selected as the winner of the American Society of Criminology’s Outstanding Paper Award.

Their research showed that convicted felons in Florida who had the formal certification of guilt, “adjudication,” withheld by the sentencing judge, were significantly less likely to recidivate in a two-year follow-up period than those for whom the felony convict label was formally applied. These labeling effects were stronger for those who reached the age of 30 without a prior conviction.

Criminology professors ranked among best in country for level of grants.

In this era of increased accountability and tightened budgets within higher education, it is essential that programs and colleges demonstrate their quality and success. One indicator of the quality and success of a program is its faculty and their research, which can be measured through grant dollars received. In a recent study, “Rainmakers: The Most Successful Criminal Justice Scholars and Departments in Research Grant Acquisition” (Mustaine, Tewksbury, 2009) in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, three faculty from the FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice were ranked among the top 10 for being awarded grant funding.

The study looked at criminology and criminal justice faculty across the country and the amount and type of grants they received, focusing specifically on the dollar amount, number of grants, and type of grants. Among 147 faculty who received a minimum of $250,000 in grant funding and were the principal/co-principal investigator during 1997–2007, Dean and Sheldon L. Messinger Professor of Criminology Tom Blomberg ranked in the top 10 scholars with the highest dollar amount of grants, with his individual grants totaling $20, 331, 000. In the highest dollar amount in grant funding received at the state agency level, Blomberg heads the list and is joined by Professors Gordon Waldo and Dan Maier-Katkin. Blomberg is also at the top of the list in the highest dollar amount in local grants received.

FSU graduate elected president of Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences

Melissa Hickman Barlow, has been elected president of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. She is the third FSU graduate to receive the honor in the past five years.

Barlow is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and director of the Institute for Community Justice at Fayetteville State University. She has served as the College of Basic and Applied Sciences assistant dean (2005�2006) and the interim Criminal Justice Department chair (2006�2007).

The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences is an international association established in 1963 to foster professional and scholarly activities in the field of criminal justice. ACJS promotes criminal justice education, research, and policy analysis within the discipline of criminal justice for both educators and practitioners.

Professional development course gets to the nuts and bolts of being a successful scholar

CCJ 6065 Professional Development in Criminology provides Ph.D. students with the key skills for engaging in professional activities that lead to successful scholarly work. The primary focus of the class is on the strategies and proficiencies needed to translate students’ substantive research agenda into a successful career—one that advances both the students’ goals and the body of knowledge in their chosen area of study.

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Learn more about the PhD program.