Colin Loftin is an American criminologist and Distinguished Professor at the

University at Albany The State University of New York at Albany (University at Albany, UAlbany, or SUNY Albany) is a Public university, public research university in Albany, New York, United States. Founded in 1844, it is one of four "university centers" of the St ...

School of Criminal Justice. At the University at Albany, he is also the co-director of the Violence Research Group, along with David McDowall.

Education and career

Loftin received his Ph.D. from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1971. He was an assistant professor of sociology at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

from 1969 to 1976, after which he joined the faculty of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. In 1983, he became an associate professor at the

University of Maryland at 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, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Universi ...

, where he was promoted to full professor in 1985. In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University at Albany, where he was named a Distinguished Professor in 2014.

Research

Loftin's research focuses on the application of statistics to the study of violence. This includes a 1991 study he authored with McDowall which found that rates of gun homicide and gun suicide in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

declined shortly after their handgun ban took effect. He has also studied public support for

mandatory sentencing Mandatory sentencing requires that people convicted of certain crimes serve a predefined term of imprisonment, removing the discretion of judges to take issues such as extenuating circumstances and a person's likelihood of rehabilitation into co ...

laws, finding that 90% of citizens surveyed in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

supported such laws, and that 65% said they would support them even if they did not deter crime.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loftin, Colin Living people University at Albany, SUNY faculty American criminologists University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Brown University faculty University of Michigan faculty University of Maryland, College Park faculty Year of birth missing (living people)