David McDowall (born 1949) is an American criminologist and distinguished teaching professor in the School of Criminal Justice at

University at Albany, SUNY The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

, where he is also co-director of the Violence Research Group. Educated at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...

and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, he taught at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

from 1990 until joining the University at Albany in 1996. He has published a number of studies pertaining to

gun violence in the United States Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually, and was the leading cause of death for children 19 and younger in 2020. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available as of 2021, th ...

Education

David McDowall was born in 1949. He received his B.A. from Portland State University in 1973 and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1975 and 1980, respectively. All three of his degrees are in sociology. After graduating from Northwestern, he did postdoctoral work at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Career

McDowall joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, College Park in 1990 as an associate professor in their Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and became a full professor there in 1992. In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University at Albany's School of Criminal Justice, where he was appointed a distinguished teaching professor in 2013. Prior to being appointed a distinguished professor, he had served on over 25 dissertation committees. At the University at Albany, he is also the co-director of the Violence Research Group, along with Colin Loftin.

Research

McDowall is a criminologist whose research focuses on "the social distribution of crime and criminal victimization." He has also researched

gun violence Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, and ...

and the effects of certain gun laws, such as the

Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 The Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 was passed by the District of Columbia city council on June 29, 1976, and went into effect September 24, 1976. The law banned residents from owning handguns, automatic firearms, or high-capacity semi-a ...

, which, in a 1991 study, he and his co-authors found was followed by "a prompt decline in homicides and suicides by firearms in the District of Columbia". He has also researched the frequency of

defensive gun use Defensive gun use (DGU) is the use or presentation of a firearm for self-defense, defense of others or, in some cases, protecting property. The frequency of incidents involving DGU, and their effectiveness in providing safety and reducing crime ...

, and has criticized the research of

Gary Kleck Gary Kleck (born March 2, 1951) is a criminologist and the David J. Bordua Professor Emeritus of Criminology at Florida State University. Early life and education Kleck was born in Lombard, Illinois, to William and Joyce Kleck. He attended Gle ...

with respect to this issue, saying, "Kleck is a really smart guy. That's why his work is as prominent as it is. . . (But) I think he starts with conclusions, then works backward to support them." He has also criticized Kleck's 1995 study estimating 2.5 million DGU incidents per year for including not just situations in which guns were used by crime victims, but also those when people thought the presence of a gun protected them from threats. In 2012, he said that "Given that half of the U.S. households own a gun, armed self-defense is extremely uncommon." In 1995, McDowall and two of his colleagues published a study evaluating the effect of passing more lenient

concealed carry Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pr ...

laws on homicide rates in three states, and found that these laws did not reduce homicide rates and, in fact, may have even increased them in two of the states studied. The same study found that one of the states that relaxed their concealed carry laws, Oregon, saw a decrease in homicide rates in its largest city, Portland. McDowall told ''

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' that this may have happened because Oregon passed stricter laws regulating the purchase of guns around the time they also relaxed their concealed carry laws, "and that might have overwhelmed the effect of the relaxation."

Honors and awards

In 2005, McDowall received two awards for Excellence in Teaching: one from the State University of New York System's Chancellor, and the other from the President of the University at Albany. In 2009, he was named a fellow of the American Society of Criminology (ASC); in 2011, he received a Criminology Teaching Award from the ASC in recognition of his entire teaching career.

Editorial activities

McDowall was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the '' Journal of Quantitative Criminology'' from 2001 to 2008. He became the

of '' Criminology'' starting in the fall of 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDowall, David American criminologists Living people 1949 births University at Albany, SUNY faculty Portland State University alumni Northwestern University alumni University of Maryland, College Park faculty Academic journal editors Place of birth missing (living people) Gun violence researchers