By Libby Fairhurst Birds of a feather flock together, according to the adage, and adolescent males who possess a certain type of variation in a specific gene are more likely to flock to delinquent peers, according to a landmark study led by Florida State University criminologist Kevin M. Beaver. “This research is groundbreaking because it shows that the propensity in some adolescents to affiliate with delinquent peers is tied up in the genome,” said Beaver, an assistant professor in the FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Research by Gary Kleck, a professor at Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, played a key role in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Ph.D, Master’s, and even undergraduate students conduct research with faculty that leads to publications. Many of these papers are published in top criminology journals, making our graduates very attractive as professors and researchers at institutions across the country. Here’s a collection of publications that feature faculty collaborations with our current students and alumni: * Students, both current and alumni, are highlighted in bold.

http://www.asc41.com/obituaries/2007obits.html

Ted Chiricos, William Julius Wilson Professor of Criminology in the FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has been named the next editor of Social Problems.

For more than 20 years, the state of Florida has used radio frequency and global positioning systems as electronic monitoring devices to supervise felony offenders in the community as a method of diverting offenders from the significantly more costly alternative of imprisonment. In the wake of recent federal and state legislation, electronic monitoring will increasingly be used across the country on moderate-to high-risk offenders.

Associate Professor Dan Mears has been awarded tenure and Carter Hay has been promoted to associate professor with tenure in the FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Mears joined the faculty in 2005 from the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center. He received his Ph.D from the University of Texas. Mears’ main research interests are crime and delinquency theory, juvenile and criminal justice, and crime policy.

The overpopulation of prisons has endured extensive research for many years, and those that are the most responsible for funding them, the citizens, are the least informed about their effects. This is a point that Associate Professor William Bales and other researchers illustrate in the Pew Charitable Trusts study “Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America’s Prison Population 2007-2011.” This study is the first of its kind.

Eugene Howard Czajkoski, 78, died Friday, February 16, 2007, at the Margaret Dozier Hospice House. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Rosalind. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Eugene H. and Rosalind D. Czajkoski Scholarship Fund, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, attention Dean Blomberg, 634 W. Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306.

By Libby Fairhurst, February 2007 The juvenile justice system emerged a century ago out of the belief that young offenders were less culpable and more salvageable than their adult counterparts, but today, that system is under attack by get-tough policymakers claiming wide public support that Florida State University criminologists say simply doesn’t exist.