News

Twenty-five years since Sep. 11, 2001, Professor Mark Desire - a full-time faculty member and Forensic Science Advisor of the Rutgers Criminal Justice Program (New Brunswick) - continues supporting 9/11 victims and their loved ones. Using forensic science and improvements in technology, Professor Desire has worked tirelessly with the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to identify over 1,651 victims. This work continues, and identification breakthroughs have occurred up through the...

This summer, Dr. Chukwuedo will join the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network (RDCJN) Summer Research Institute at the University of Maryland, where he will advance his book manuscript, Brick City Children: The Early Roots of Legal Estrangement. His research sits at the intersection of criminology, existentialist philosophy, and community ethics — exploring how preadolescent children in Newark, NJ confront questions of identity, alienation, and belonging as they navigate early...

Noura Erakat, Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice, has been bestowed the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Antwerp. This honorary doctorate, as described by Rector Herwig Leirs, reflects Professor Erakat’s “relentless commitment to advancing Palestinian rights, both through [her] outstanding scholarly work and [her] tireless engagement in the public and legal arenas.”  Professor Erakat’s voice has been “central in connecting rigorous legal and political analyses...

Dr. Lauren Krivo of the Program in Criminal Justice has been elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology. Alongside Dr. Krivo is a graduate student of Sociology at Rutgers University, Brooklynn Hitchens, who was presented with the Ruth D. Peterson Fellowship for Racial and Ethnic Diversity by the American Society of Criminology.

The Criminal Justice Org and the Criminal Justice Honor Society hosted Alumni Clark Abrams, the chief of the Money Laundering and Financial Investigations Unit for the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor of NYC on November 27th, 2018. Click the link below to find out what he said to our students. http://www.dailytargum.com/article/2018/12/prosecutor-for-nyc-financial-crimes-speaks-at-rutgers-gives-his-career-advice

 Dr. Amanda Agan's paper on economic effects of “Ban the Box” legislation was nominated as one of the top 12 papers published in 2018. https://qz.com/1508659/twelve-leading-economists-on-the-research-that-shaped-our-world-in-2018/ Her work was nominated by Claudia Goldin of Harvard. Claudia is widely considered a top candidate for the Nobel Prize in economics.

Mark Desire estimates that his team had tried to identify the bone half a dozen times over the past 17 years — ever since it was recovered amid the rubble of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Each time, they came up short. As part of New York City’s effort to identify the remains of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack, Mr. Desire, the assistant director of forensic biology for the city’s Medical Examiner’s office, and his colleagues had been unable to extract enough DNA...

Anne Piehl was involved with the Committee on Law and Justice: Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences Education, which released a report a few weeks ago on "The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences". "After decades of stability, the United States saw its incarceration rate more than quadruple in the past 40 years. Currently, nearly 1 out of 100 American adults is in prison or jail. What drove this increase, and how has it affected crime rates,...

Connor F. Montferrat (Class of 2013), a Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences student double-majoring in Criminal Justice and Political Science was published in the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review. “Repeal Rule 413 of the Federal Rules of Evidence: The Admissibility of Evidence of Prior Sex Offenses” was a paper Connor originally completed for Dr. Lennox Hinds’ Crimes Against Humanity course. His paper was published in Volume VII, Issue I, Fall 2012 edition of the Columbia Undergraduate Law...

Stephanie A. Rodriguez (Class of 2011), is a graduate of Rutgers College who majored in Biology and minored in Criminology. She was in the first group of Rutgers students who completed the first Forensics Science course offered through the Program in Criminal Justice in the fall of 2009. Stephanie also interned for Professor Mark Desire, Program in Criminal Justice, and was recently hired to work under Dr. Desire with the Department of Forensic Biology as part of the New York City Office of...

A two-year $500,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice will enable criminal justice professors at Rutgers Newark to deploy “risk terrain modeling” technology—a technology that predicts where crime will likely happen—in six police agencies nationwide. Professors Leslie Kennedy, Joel Caplan, and Eric Piza will be using this technology to assist police agencies in Texas, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, and Newark, New Jersey. To read the full article published in Rutgers Today,...

“A report issued today by a group of experts led by a Rutgers University corrections policy expert sets forth new best practice guidelines for how New Jersey’s agencies work with halfway houses, including the push for accountability and a rewards model based on performance. The report, “Halfway from Prison to the Community: From Current Practice to Best Practice,” includes 11 recommendations, the result of three roundtable discussions held at Rutgers by 19 educators, advocates, policymakers...

At this year’s commencement ceremony, 16 Criminal Justice graduates received the prestigious Albert Roberts Scholar Award. Each year this award is given to graduates who have demonstrated uncommon achievement in the Criminal Justice major. Students who receive this award must complete a minimum GPA of 3.8 in the major. This award remembers longtime faculty member Al Roberts, a scholar of victimology and social work, who had exemplary commitment to undergraduate education. This year’s...

Albert R. Roberts died on June 23, 2008. Dr. Roberts taught in the Program in Criminal Justice in the School of Arts and Sciences. Albert R. Roberts, Ph.D., Rutgers Professor and author was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and lived in Kendall Park for the past 19 years. He received his B.S. degree in sociology from C.W. Post College, his M.A. degree in sociology from Long Island University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, School of Social Work. Roberts was a college professor for 35...

At this year’s commencement ceremony, 37 Criminal Justice graduates received the prestigious Albert Roberts Scholar Award.  Each year this award is given to graduates who have demonstrated uncommon achievement in the Criminal Justice major.  Students who receive this award must complete a minimum GPA of 3.8 in the major.  This award remembers longtime faculty member Al Roberts, a scholar of victimology and social work, who had exemplary commitment to undergraduate education. This year’s recipients are:...

Michael Welch delivered a lecture on “Crimmigration in Australia: Loud and Quiet Panic Over Asylum Seekers” at the 2013 Colloquium Series in the Department of Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in April 2013.

Anne Morrison Piehl steps down officially on June 30, 2013 after serving as Program Director for the past few years.  Patrick Carr was appointed to Program Director and takes over the reigns officially on July 1, 2013; additionally, Alec Walen was appointed as Undergraduate Director to take over the newly vacated position by Patrick Carr.

“Solitary confinement for incarcerated juveniles has been condemned by psychologists, federal agencies and the United Nations for hindering rehabilitation efforts and damaging children’s mental health. Yet according to a Rutgers juvenile justice advocate, many of the 300 juveniles who are incarcerated daily in secure facilities in New Jersey have been punished with solitary confinement for several consecutive days. 'Adolescents' brains continue to develop well into their 20s. As a result, they...