FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Professional development course gets to the nuts and bolts of being a successful scholar

CCJ 6065 Professional Development in Criminology provides Ph.D. students with the key skills for engaging in professional activities that lead to successful scholarly work. The primary focus of the class is on the strategies and proficiencies needed to translate students’ substantive research agenda into a successful career—one that advances both the students’ goals and the body of knowledge in their chosen area of study.

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Professor Ted Chiricos named new editor of Social Problems

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.

The journal is one of the most respected and widely read professional journals in the social sciences and is published for The Society for the Study of Social Problems. It publishes accessible, relevant, and innovative articles that present influential sociological findings and theories that have the ability to help us better understand our complex social environment.

“Ted is an excellent fit as editor of Social Problems given his sociological background and associated theoretical and research interests and expertise,” says Tom Blomberg, dean of the College. “Having the editorship in the College provides many learning experiences for our graduate students. With three different journals—Social Problems, Criminology and Public Policy, and the Journal of Drug Issues—being housed in the College, graduate students get hands-on experience with the peer-review publications process. This experience gives them additional insight into how scientifically rigorous research is constructed and developed for publication.”

Chiricos will assume the editorship in June 2008.

Professor Bill Bales Receives Prestigious NIJ Grant

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. Bill Bales has been awarded an eighteen-month grant by the National Institute of Justice to assess the effectiveness of electronic monitoring on offenders in the community. The study will evaluate Florida’s current policies and practices related to electronic monitoring and determine whether it reduces the likelihood of re-offending both during and after electronic supervision. Bales’ aim is to provide empirical evidence whether electronic monitoring is successful in reducing recidivism and absconding and if it is found to be effective, to provide a more concrete explanation of how and why electronic monitoring works.

FSU offers new major in Computer Criminology

FSU's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Department of Computer Science have teamed up to offer a new Computer Criminology Degree. Computer criminology includes both how to use computers to facilitate the study of crime and the study of how crimes are accomplished through the use of computers.

Information-related crime, cyber-forensics, and computer/network security are significant issues that affect all levels of business, government, and academia and have grown in importance as most organizations link their networked computer environments to the Internet. Students graduating with this major will have the education necessary to fill the pressing need for information technology specialists who can address these issues.

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