Criminology & Criminal Justice Newsletter Fall 2010 The Special Opportunity of CCJ Majors Special points of interest: Undergraduate Research: The Jacksonville Journey Faculty Updates Alumni Updates Fall 2010 Course Schedule Inside this issue: Undergraduate Research: The Jacksonville Journey CCJ Internship Profile: Duval County State Attorney s Office 2 2 MSCJ Update 2 Faculty Profile: Dr Alicia Sitren Faculty Updates 3-4 Alumni Updates 5-6 What is Criminology and Criminal Justice? 3 8 The Social Science of Crime and Punishment Are you a CCJ major? Your degree is a front-row ticket for witnessing complexities of the world that are often denied, ignored, or otherwise swept under the rug The particular vantage point from which you will observe the world in your professional lives will also provide you opportunities to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals and the communities you serve But from the CCJ faculty, you will also learn that our challenges are often more deeply rooted, historical, and nuanced than is ever captured by headlines, let alone episodes of CSI Miami The city in which we work, for example, has led the state of Florida in homicides for 11 straight years What are the social patterns and challenges behind this particular legacy and what is being done about it? What larger patterns of economics, social exclusion, gender socialization, family breakdown and education trend closely with violence? Welcome to applied social science! Join us and learn more Criminologist Jock Young describes the social transformations and economic decline of the past several years as inducing a kind of vertigo sense of falling that has led initially to a perverse decline in crime rates, even as domestic violence, public school failure, child abuse, substance abuse and suicide are dramatically (and I do mean dramatically) increasing Meanwhile, broader historical patterns hold: Jacksonville still leads the state in both homicide and violent index crime, despite aggregate declines here and around the state Identity thwarted and denigrated is the cause of violence, in Young s view What do YOU think? What is your evidence? Where and how did you gather this evidence? Every day, the CCJ faculty is engaged with justice agencies, officials and stakeholders directly involved in policy decisions And we bring them directly to you We pride ourselves on providing scholarship with immersion, offering one of the largest justice internship programs for undergraduates in the Dr Hallett pictured with recent summer 2010 CCJ graduate Jean Polo Mr Polo is headed to law school United States Our mission is to give students the intellectual tools they need for understanding and articulating the world around us We are proud of your aspirations and we are proud to be working with you -Dr Mick Hallett The particular vantage point from which you will observe the world in your professional lives will also provide you opportunities to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals and the communities you serve
Page 2 CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE NEWSLETTER Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton with Dr Hallett s fall 2010 Politics of Justice and Criminal Justice Systems students Undergraduate Research: The Jacksonville Journey Working in collaboration with the faculty, CCJ students are currently engaged in a multi-year evaluation of The Jacksonville Journey a $31 million anti-crime initiative helping the City of Jacksonville effectively respond to the crisis in violence and crime that peaked in 2006 In this intensive community-based immersion project, students work directly with program managers and CCJ faculty, researching the most up-to-date best practices literature and then going into the field to complete original research, ultimately producing their own published report and presenting it directly to the Mayor and Jacksonville Journey Oversight Committee Said Mayor John Peyton: Now thanks to the dedicated efforts of the UNF criminology class, we can better gauge our progress thus far, and the Oversight Committee will have a tool for effectively measuring the successes and challenges associated with Journey programs in the future The project will continue under the leadership of Dr Dan Pontzer this Fall 2010 in the courses: Politics of Justice (CCJ 4935) and (CCJ 6053) Criminal Justice Systems Last year s report and course materials are published on Mayor John Peyton s website Check it out at: http://wwwcojnet/ Mayor/ Jacksonville+Journey/ UNF+Journey+Program+Ev aluationhtm John Atteo, CCJ Intern with the Duval County State Attorney s Office Duval County Courthouse Honorable Angela Corey and J Daniel McCarthy CCJ INTERNSHIP PROFILE: Duval County State Attorney s Office While the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice works hard to maintain relationships with nearly 100 agencies for our capstone internship program, the Department s relationship with the Duval County State Attorney s Office has really strengthened within the last year Under the leadership of Chief Assistant State Attorney Dan McCarthy, UNF CCJ students are proud to play a growing role in the daily operations of the SAO As one of the most criminally active jurisdictions in the United States, interns at the SAO gain a full range of exposure to the legal process on everything from municipal traffic to felony homicide Recent CCJ graduates have been hired fulltime by the SAO immediately upon graduation and some even have gone on to law school and then returned to the SAO as their preferred career choice--all as a result of their undergraduate education in CCJ at UNF! Some current and recently graduated CCJ students working in the SAO include: Fernando Gavilan, Kristin Schanze, John Atteo, Heather Wayson, Natalie Hall, and David Thompson Way to go SAO! Please see Professor Joy Feria, jferia@unfedu, regarding all internship placement deadlines and requirements Dr Kareem Jordan MSCJ Update: Dr Kareem Jordan, MSCJ Program Director The graduate program in CCJ, the MSCJ program, is thriving! The program has more than 40 active students, and it is continuing to grow, in terms of the number of students and program changes Dr Jennifer Wesely recently stepped down as MSCJ Director, and the program is now in the hands of Dr Kareem Jordan We thank and appreciate Dr Wesely for her service! One focus of the graduate program is to continue accepting quality students and graduating excellent criminal justice professionals We firmly believe we are accomplishing that goal We also look to continue providing opportunities for incoming and current MSCJ students, in terms of financial scholarships, graduate teaching assistant/graduate assistantship opportunities, research endeavors, teaching opportunities, theses, etc To this end, the MSCJ program is tremendous, unique, and full of opportunity
Page 3 Faculty Profile: Dr Alicia Sitren Alicia H Sitren earned her doctoral degree in Public Affairs with a Criminal Justice Specialization from the University of Central Florida in 2007 Dr Sitren's recently published works have been devoted to punishment philosophies and revisions of deterrence theory She recently completed work on multiple projects including a comparison of jails in rural and urban contexts, a survey of probationer experiences, and an examination of jail visitation policies With an undergraduate background in finance and additional training in security and fraud identification, she is enthusiastic about expanding her research and teaching agendas to include the study of econometric modeling and white-collar crime Dr Alicia Sitren Faculty Update: Dr Kareem Jordan Dr Kareem Jordan Dr Jordan s new manuscript has been accepted in a new Sage Publications journal: Race & Justice The title of the manuscript is A Multilevel Analysis of Race on the Decision to Petition a Case in the Juvenile Court In the article, Dr Jordan examines how differing social structures (eg, racial disparities, economic disparities) affects juvenile justice decision making The manuscript is consistent with his two main areas of research: juvenile justice and the role of race within criminal justice policy Dr Jordan also currently has a grant proposal under review with the United States Department of Justice, which (if funded) will focus on collecting data on a nationally representative sample of juvenile offenders who were transferred, certified and waived to the adult criminal justice system for criminal prosecution Dr Jordan s new manuscript examines how differing social structures (eg, racial disparities, economic disparities) affects juvenile justice decision making Faculty Update: Dr Daniel Pontzer Dr Dan Pontzer - Dr Pontzer has been studying the different rates at which criminal charges are filed by state prosecutors for felony arrest cases This project is an extension of a course that Dr Pontzer developed and taught last fall for the first time, entitled The Prosecutor In November, Dr Pontzer will attend the American Criminology Conference in San Francisco where he will deliver a presentation entitled: Summary of the Reid Technique of Criminal Interrogation He will also participate in a roundtable discussion about online learning in criminal justice and will chair three presentation sessions covering the topics of policy issues for legal drugs, gene and environment interactions in risk and protective factors, and police investigations and covert surveillance Dr Daniel Pontzer
Page 4 CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE NEWSLETTER Dr Vose examines the impact of change in offender risk scores in the likelihood of recidivism Faculty Update: Dr Brenda Vose Dr Brenda Vose Dr Vose is currently writing about the impact of change in offender risk scores in the likelihood of recidivism She is also working on pieces about the history of the Level of Service Inventory and the generations of risk assessment instruments Dr Vose is also starting a new project that will examine the degree to which identifying criminogenic factors through offender assessment and classification and then targeting those needs through treatment impacts an offender s likelihood of recidivism One impact of recidivism Dr Wesely s book: Hard Lives, Mean Streets focuses on the range of victimizations homeless women experienced during their childhoods and their connections among one another and to larger structures of inequality, power and feeling as the women grew up Faculty Update: Dr Jennifer Wesely Dr Jennifer Wesely In 2010, Dr Wesely published a co-authored book entitled Hard Lives, Mean Streets: Violence in the Lives of Homeless Women by Jana Jasinski, Jennifer K Wesely, Elizabeth Mustaine and James D Wright Boston: Northeastern University Press She also published a journal article with James D Wright, (2009) From the Inside Out: Efforts by Homeless Women to Disrupt Cycles of Crime and Violence in Women and Criminal Justice 19(3), 217-234 Congratulations on the book, Dr Wesely! The front cover of Dr Wesely s book: Hard Lives, Mean Streets Faculty Update: Dr Michael Hallett Dr Michael Hallett Dr Hallett just returned from the British Society of Criminology meetings in Leicester, England, where he chaired a panel session on Managerialism and Punishment and delivered a paper titled Actuarialism in Prisoner Reentry The paper continues his focus on pri- vatization in corrections and expands upon work he undertook in 2006 with Dr Alison Liebling, Director of the Prisons Research Centre at Cambridge University Dr Hallett s next book is entitled: Clean Break: Nonprofit Strategies for Helping Ex-offenders
Page 5 Alumni Update Stephen Tillotson (BA 2004) went directly from the UNF undergraduate degree program here in CCJ to the doctoral program in Criminology & Criminal Justice at Indiana University, Bloomington Stephen has been admitted to candidacy and is currently working on his PhD dissertation research, which he is conducting at the Duval County Jail Stephen s dissertation project draws directly from experiences he had during his undergraduate internship here at UNF Dr Hallett is a member of Stephen s dissertation committee and is himself an alumnus of the criminology program at Indiana University, Bloomington Stephen Tillotson, UNF alumnus, BA, CCJ, 2004 Alumni Update Heather Wayson and John Atteo were recently hired full-time as Paralegal Specialists for the Duval County State Attorney s Office jobs they received directly as a result of their internships at SAO Great job, Heather and John! Duval County Courthouse Alumni Update Ray Belz (BA Criminal Justice 2003) is now a Lieutenant with Jacksonville Sheriff s Office In December 2004 he received Zone 2 s Finest for apprehending a murder suspect, an auto theft suspect, a robbery suspect, two burglary suspects, and two rapists in a matter of a few months He has had many awards since then, including for seizure of over $50,000 in illicit assets In Ray s 10 year career with JSO, he has been the recipient of 18 letters of commendation He also received his MBA from UNF in 2006 and is an emerging leader at JSO Congratulations, Ray on these outstanding accomplishments! Lt Ray Belz, UNF alumnus, MBA, 2006 and BA (CCJ,) 2003
Page 6 CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE NEWSLETTER Celbrica Tenah, UNF alumna, MSCJ 2008 Alumni Update Celbrica Tenah (MSCJ, 2008) is a Public Safety Analyst in the Crime Analysis unit of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, assigned to Patrol and Corrections She has nearly 10 years of progressively responsible experience within various agencies of the criminal justice system Celbrica has previously held positions with the Alachua County Sheriff s Office and the State Attorney s Offices in both the 4 th and 8 th Judicial Circuits She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Florida and a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of North Florida Celbrica is a member of the International Association of Crime Analyst and an active community volunteer Fall 2010 Schedule: Online Innovation As the CCJ program grows and innovates, we strive to offer students multiple options for course delivery This fall 2010, the Department is offering a record seven (7) fully online courses Dr Hallett will offer two more hybrid courses this spring and the Department will continue to develop its online agenda to serve you better See the Fall 2010 CCJ course schedule below: Fall 2010 Online Courses: CCJ 3023-82743: Introduction to Criminal Justice CCJ 3700-81025 Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice CCJ 4938-82739: Violent Crime in America CJC4015-80458:Correctional Systems/Process CJE 3232-82738: Drugs and Crime CJJ 3010-81656: Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice CJL 4510-80462: Court Systems and Processes
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Criminology & Criminal Justice 1 UNF Drive Jacksonville, Florida 32224-7699 Phone: 9046201724 Fax: 9046201718 The Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice seeks to provide its students with the theoretical, practical and ethical foundations for understanding crime and the criminal justice system in its social context The faculty is committed to excellence through development of focused and relevant scholarship Through excellence in research and teaching in the areas of law creation, crime and deviance, and societal response to law violation, students develop a greater understanding of social control and its dynamic processes Participation in research and internships assures relevance to current practice and further prepares students to apply their knowledge in the field, to conduct critical analyses of the system, and to undertake policy development and implementation Students at the graduate level receive advanced instruction in research design and theory, helping students focus their skills for direct employment or more advanced studies Rigorous commitment to peer-review and collegiality help assure that an ethic of continuous-improvement and self-reflection govern all departmental processes WWWUNFEDU/COAS/ CCJ/INDEXHTML What is Criminology & Criminal Justice? Why is it so popular? ships with nearly 100 governmental, non-profit, and private organizations in the justice, legal and social service communities CCJ majors gain hands-on experience in organizations as diverse as the FBI, the US Marshals Service, Jacksonville Sheriff s Office, daniel Memorial, Inc, Duval County Medical Examiner s Office, Operation New Hope, the Jacksonville Mayor s Office, Jacksonville s Office of General Council, the Duval County State Attorney s Office, and many others Check out the Department s Internship web- Did you know that the UNF Criminology & Criminal Justice Department offers one of the largest social science internship programs in the United States? CCJ prides itself on the belief that social science requires both seeing and doing as a method of analysis and learning CCJ faculty are productive researchers heavily involved in the community and beyond They bring this engagement directly into the classroom The Department maintains relationsite for a full listing of placement sites: http:// wwwunfedu/coas/ccj/ internhtml Recent graduates of CCJ have been hired by these and many other organizations directly upon graduation Other CCJ graduates have gone on to law school and some are even working on PhD degrees Using research skills to inform policy is our key goal Read more here about the successes of your fellow students and why UNF s CCJ program is larger than it has ever been CCJ Faculty and guest left to right: Drs Beth Bailey, Jennifer Wesely, Michael Hallett, homicide investigator Jim Parker, Alicia Sitren,, Professor Rick Parker and Dan Pontzer