The Criminology Academy

Dr. Tara Richards is the David Scott Diamond Alumni Professor of Public Affairs and Community Service and Co-Director of the Victimology and Victim Studies Research Lab in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her research and teaching focuses on prevention, intervention, and system responses to sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and child abuse and neglect.

This month, some of Jenn's graduate students take over the podcast and question Jenn and Jose about various topics!

In episode 126, we’re exploring the career and research of one of the leading scholars on gender, inequality, and crime, Professor Karen Heimer. Karen Heimer is Professor of Sociology & Criminology, Collegiate Fellow in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Public Policy Center at the University of Iowa. She also holds a courtesy appointment in the Boyd College of Law. Heimer researches and teaches in the areas of gender and violence, juvenile delinquency, criminal punishment, and causes of crime and violence. She became a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology in 2015 and served as President of the American Society of Criminology in 2018. She is a recipient of the 2018 Iowa Regents Award for Faculty Excellence and the 2019 UI’s Hancher-Finkbine Faculty Medallion.

This is Episode 124, and today we’re exploring how pretrial detention and going to trial can shape sentencing outcomes. To help us explore this topic, we’re excited to be joined by Professor Stacie St. Louis. Stacie St. Louis an Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University. Her research focuses on the administration of justice, including jails and pretrial detention, case processing and cumulative disadvantage, and public opinion and reform. Some of her ongoing projects include assessing the main, indirect, and interactive effects of pretrial detention on case outcomes and exploring public opinion surrounding pretrial justice and ongoing bail reforms. Her studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as Justice Quarterly, Journal of Criminal Justice, and Criminal Justice and Behavior. Dr. St. Louis received her PhD in Criminology and Justice Policy from Northeastern University and was previously an Assistant Professor at Georgia Southern University.

Shadd Maruna is Head of the Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology at the University of Liverpool. His research focuses on how individuals desist from crime and reintegrate into society, emphasizing the transformative power of identity and narrative. Shadd’s influential book, Making Good, introduced the concept of the “redemption script,” reshaping our understanding of desistance. He served as President of the American Society of Criminology in 2023.

In this episode, we are joined by Professor Chris Uggen to chat about his work on voting rights for people with criminal convictions. Chris Uggen is Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight Professor in Sociology, Law, and Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a fellow of the American Society of Criminology. He studies crime, law, and inequality, firm in the belief that sound research can help build a more justice and peaceful world. Chris received the 2023 American Sociological Association Public Understanding of Sociology award, in part for his work (with Doug Hartmann) as publisher and editor of TheSocietyPages.org, an online social science hub that has drawn more than 40 million visitors. He is a past Vice President of the American Sociological Association and Executive Secretary of the American Society of Criminology.

Ashley Muchow is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research considers the causes and consequences of social inequality, with a particular focus on policing, immigration, and racial/ethnic disparities.

In this episode, we are speaking with Professor Zach Hamilton about his work on risk-needs assessments. Zachary Hamilton is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Associate Director of the Nebraska Center for Justice Research at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His research centers on innovation in risk and needs assessment development. Specifically, he works directly with adult corrections and juvenile justice agencies to create assessments that are optimized for their agency’s needs. Zachary earned his PhD in Criminal Justice in 2010 from Rutgers University.

We spoke with Professor Megan Augustyn about public beliefs and rape, the Rochester Youth Development Study, and research on middle adulthood. Megan Augustyn is an associate professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University. She received her PhD in 2013 from the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on the study of the causes and consequences of crime, victimization, and other health-risk behaviors across the life course. Megan is the Principal Investigator of the Rochester Youth Development Study.

Teresa Kulig is an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where she coordinates the Doctoral and Fast Track programs. Dr. Kulig is also co-director of the Victimology and Victim Studies Research Lab. She earned her PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 2018. Her research interests include studying the nature and control of sex and labor trafficking, the measurement and theories of victimization, public opinion on responses to victimization, and the social construction of crime.

James Wo is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Iowa and a senior research fellow at the University of Iowa Public Policy Center. His research interests include neighborhoods and crime, spatial inequalities, local institutions and organizations, land uses, and quantitative research methods. He received his PhD in Criminology, Law, and Society from UC Irvine.

This week we spoke with Professor Tom Tyler. We reflected on his career and how he became interested in criminology. We also discuss his major contributions to the field: his work on police legitimacy and procedural justice. Finally, Tom gives us his thoughts on the field and advice for the future. Tom Tyler is the Macklin Fleming Professor Emeritus of Law and Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School, as well as a Founding Director of The Justice Collaboratory. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his research on legitimacy and procedural justice. He holds a PhD in social psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles.

This week we spoke with Laura DeMarco about cumulative disadvantage and contact with the criminal justice system. Laura DeMarco is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University. Her research asks questions about how the criminal justice system reflects, reproduces, and creates various inequalities, with attention to how the legal and economic context shape the stigma of a criminal record. Laura received her PhD from the Ohio State University in 2020. Before that she obtained a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University at Albany – State University of New York, and a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Sociology from SUNY Geneseo.