News
Dr. Anne M. Piehl, Winner of 2015 Presidential Public Service Award
Dr. Anne Morrison Piehl is the 2015 recipient of the Rutgers College Class of 1962 Presidential Public Service Award. The Rutgers College Class of 1962 Presidential Public Service Award honors members of the faculty, student body, or staff for volunteer service to government, professional and scholarly organizations, or the public.
Dr. Piehl was honored for her work on state commissions to improve the criminal justice system by reforming corrections policies and criminal sentencing, expanding special drug courts to increase treatment opportunities and reduce prison time, and for her national leadership on the pressing issue of increased incarceration in the United States. She was also recognized for her key role in the Boston “Operation Ceasefire” project, working closely with the police department to strategize how to reduce violent crime and provide needed data to help police departments make changes to improve residents’ lives in their communities.
The Passing of Dr. Patrick Carr
Dear CJ students,
I write this with a heavy heart. On April 16, a beloved and superb teacher, scholar, and friend, the former Director of the Program in Criminal Justice, Pat Carr, died from the cancer he had been battling for almost a decade.
Prof. Carr joined Rutgers, in Sociology and Criminal Justice, in 2005. He was well known for his outstanding work on young people and policing, youth violence and social control, and the transition to adulthood, including the books Clean Streets, Hollowing Out the Middle, Coming of Age in America, and Theories of Crime. But he always said that he was happiest in the classroom. His students meant the world to him. Even as he was back in treatment last spring, he didn’t miss a single class meeting, a testament to his dedication to his students.
I recall that I wanted to see him teach last year, so I sat in on a session of his Juvenile Justice class. He did a marvelous job of providing information and asking questions, giving students lots of time to talk, and yet keeping the class focused, and all with his normal sharp wit. I then found out that he hadn’t even planned to teach that day; he was supposed to have a guest lecturer, but the guest canceled at the last minute and Prof. Carr just stepped up without missing a beat. Only the best teachers can do that.
He was, to quote Julie Philips, the chair of the Department of Sociology, “a valued and beloved colleague – he gave honest and savvy advice, often with a dose of his wicked humor, and was extremely thoughtful, creative and resourceful in addressing problems. He was one of a kind.”
In the future, we as a Program will be devising other ways to honor him as well. We’ll keep you posted as those plans become concrete.
Meanwhile, if you'd like, you can make a donation to the Calliope Joy Foundation, established by Pat and his wife Maria Kefalas after their daughter was diagnosed with leukodystrophy. If you would like to send a note of condolence to Pat’s family, you can send to Maria Kefalas and his children (Camille (20), PJ (17) and Cal (10)), 420 Conshohocken State Road, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004.
You can find other remembrances of Pat Carr here:
Rutgers Today
Beacon Press
The Philadelphia InquirerYours,
Alec Walen
Director, Program in Criminal Justice
Dr. Noura Erakat Op-Ed
Please view this interesting op-ed piece that the Washington Post Published for our faculty member, Noura Erakat.
'Ban the Box Laws': Do they Help Job Applicants with Criminal Histories?
Amanda Agan, Assistant Professor with Criminal Justice and Economics, participated in an NPR podcast on July 19, 2016 with NPR host Shankar Vedantam. The audio of the podcast, as well as a corresponding article, can be found here: http://www.npr.org/2016/07/19/486571633/are-ban-the-box-laws-helping-job-applicants-with-criminal-histories
Black Activists Don't Ignore Crime
Lisa Miller, Professor with Criminal Justice and Political Science, published an Op-Ed article with The New York Times on August 5, 2016. The article can be found here