Albert John Reiss Jr. (December 9, 1922 – April 27, 2006) was an American sociologist and criminologist.

Career

He served as the

William Graham Sumner William Graham Sumner (October 30, 1840 – April 12, 1910) was an American clergyman, social scientist, and neoclassical liberal. He taught social sciences at Yale University, where he held the nation's first professorship in sociology and bec ...

Professor of Sociology at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

from 1970 until his retirement in 1993. He is recognized for his contributions to

social control theory In criminology, social control theory proposes that exploiting the process of socialization and social learning builds self-control and reduces the inclination to indulge in behavior recognized as antisocial. It derived from functionalist theo ...

, as well as for his research on

police violence Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

. He has been credited with coining the term " proactive" while researching violent incidents between police and private citizens as a research director for

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice was a group of 19 people appointed by President Johnson in 1967 to study the American criminal justice system. Johnson assigned the group the task of fighting crime and r ...

. This research led Reiss to conclude that there was a greater risk of violence in reactive police encounters than in proactive ones, prompting innovation in policing practices in many American

police department The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citize ...

s. Reiss served as president of the

Society for the Study of Social Problems The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) is an organization founded in 1951 in counterpoint to the American Sociological Association. History The Society was founded in 1951 by Elizabeth Briant Lee and Alfred McClung Lee. Professo ...

in 1968–69. In 1983, he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. He was also a Fellow of the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

. He was elected president of the

American Society of Criminology The American Society of Criminology (ASC) is an international organization based on the campus of Ohio State University whose members focus on the study of crime and delinquency. It aims to grow and disseminate scholarly research, with members wo ...

in 1984, and of the International Society of Criminology in 1990, making him the first person to serve as president of both organizations. In 1996, the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

named its Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Crime, Law and Deviance after him.

References

1922 births 2006 deaths American criminologists People from Sheboygan County, Wisconsin Marquette University alumni University of Chicago alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Statistical Association Presidents of the American Society of Criminology University of Iowa faculty University of Michigan faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Vanderbilt University faculty Yale University faculty {{Criminologist-stub