Hello everyone. We are hopeful that all of you enjoyed your spring break. As this newsletter will document, we have a lot of news to share with you.
The year 2015 was one that gave us both great joy and also great sadness. We were thrilled when our very own Professor Emeritus, Ruth Peterson, was elected president of the American Society of Criminology. Be sure to look for an expanded profile and interview with Peterson in the next edition of the newsletter.
Likewise, we are very happy with the excellent success of our IEJ, Reckless-Dinitz presentation and the several talks that were sponsored by the CJRC last year. Brenda Smith, Professor of Law, American University Law School, kicked off our fall speaker series with an evocative discussion on the sexual victimization of male youth in juvenile facilities, by female staff in these institutions. Smith emphasized the need to bring attention to and address the sexual victimization of males by female offenders. The presentation was well attended especially by professionals from the juvenile justice community. It was wonderful to see former ODRC Director Reginald Wilkinson attend and contribute to the discussion. In a talk, co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, Alexes Harris,Professor of Sociology, University of Washington, detailed the various criminal monetary sanctions regularly imposed on people convicted of crimes across the United States and their disproportionate impact on the most impoverished in our society. This past November, CJRC also held its 3rd annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, where four graduate and one undergraduate student presented their empirical research on topics in crime, law and deviance.
During the past year, we dramatically expanded our CJRC internship program and created numerous new partnerships and affiliations with state and community agencies that are involved in criminal justice research and practice. Please see the related article in this newsletter that details the expansion areas and includes an interview with a student and field supervisor.
Sadly, the CJRC lost two very respected and important friends last year. Walter W. Reckless, who has been a tireless supporter and great friend of the CJRC passed away on Oct. 4, 2015. Dr. Rick Lundman, a trusted and respected colleague, passed away in June of 2015. Please see the In Memorial dedications for each in this newsletter. Both will be sadly missed.
For spring semester,, our first talk was presented by Dr. Jamie Yoder (OSU, Social Work) on Jan. 28, 2016. She discussed the role of family dynamics in better understanding youth who perpetuate sexual violence. On Feb 19, the CJRC hosted its Institute for Excellence in Justice Lecture featuring Professor Barry Feld (University of Minnesota). Professor Feld is one of the nation’s leading scholars in juvenile justice (recently having received the American Bar Association’s Livingston Hall award) and he focused his talk on his research on police interrogation of youth to ask whether procedural safeguards for youths are being met during the interrogation process. Following his presentation, brief comments on the talk were provided by Ryan King, associate Professor of Sociology at Ohio State and Linda Janes, assistant director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
On March 10, 2016 the CJRC hosted a practitioner presentation of research from one of our community partners, the Office of Criminal Justice Services. Kristina Nicholson, Research Specialist at the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, provided an update on human trafficking data that is being collected for the state Ohio. Her discussion included how the data is collected and disseminated to impact the formulation of public policy. She also introduced the new human trafficking statewide data collection initiative. Finally, on April 22, 2016, we are especially pleased to announce that the CJRC will host the 27th Annual Walter C. Reckless- Simon Dinitz Lecture. This year’s lecture will feature Dr. Nancy Rodriquez, current director of the National Institute of Justice, appointed by President Obama in 2015. Rodriquez’s talk will discuss the importance of scientific research for strengthening justice in the United States. We especially hope to see you at one or all of our events. Enjoy the newsletter!
