Gary LaFree
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Gary LaFree is a Professor and Chair of the Criminology and Criminal Justice department at the
University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...
, the Director of the Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center (MCRIC) and the Founding Director of the
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is an emeritus Homeland Security Centers of Excellence at the University of Maryland, College Park that researches terrorism in the United States and around the ...
(START). His main areas of expertise are
sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
,
criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...
,
race and crime Race is one of the correlates of crime receiving attention in academic studies, government surveys, media coverage, and public concern. Research into the relationship between race and crime has grown exponentially in recent years. More specifi ...
, cross-national comparative research and political violence and terrorism.


Education

LaFree received his
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
(1973), his
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
(1975) and his
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
(1979) from
Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...
.


Career

Before joining the faculty at Maryland, Dr. LaFree served as the Chair of the Sociology and Criminology Department at the University of New Mexico for six years and as the Director of the New Mexico Criminal Justice Statistics Analysis Center for 13 years (1988-2001). Dr. LaFree was appointed by the Governor of New Mexico to chair the State Crime and Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council—a position that he filled for four years. LaFree previously taught at
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
(1975-1976) and the
University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...
(1979-2000).


Memberships

LaFree is a member 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 ...
(ASC) and a past member of the National Consortium on Violence Research. He was president of the American Society of Criminology for the year 2005-2006 and became a Fellow of the ASC in 2007. LaFree has been or is currently on the editorial boards of several scientific journals including ''Criminology,'' the ''Journal of Quantitative Criminology,'' the ''Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency'', the ''International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice'', the ''Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology'' and the '' International Journal of Conflict and Violence''.


Works (selection)


On violent crime

*''Nature of Crime in America'' with R. Bursik, J. Short, and R. Taylor. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice (2000). *''Losing Legitimacy: Street Crime and the Decline of Institutions in America. Boulder, CO: Westview Perseus (1998).'' *''Rape and Criminal Justice: The Social Construction of Sexual Assault.'' Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (1989). *''Educational spending and imprisonment risk: The role of schools as prison gatekeepers'' with
Richard Arum Richard Arum (born 1963) is an American sociologist of education and stratification, best known for his research on student learning, school discipline, race, and inequality in K-12 and higher education. Arum has a B.A. in political science fro ...
(2009) * ''Developmental victimology and the homicide victimization of infants and young children'' with Gwen Hunnicut (2008) *''The situational analysis of crime and deviance'' with Christopher Birkbeck (1993)


On race and crime

*''Is the gap between black and white arrest rates narrowing? National trends for personal contact crimes, 1960 to 2002'' with Robert O'Brien and Erich Baumer (2006) *''The effect of racially segregated schools on African American and white incarceration rates, 1970 to 1990'' with Richard Arum (2006) *''Race and crime'' with Michelle Hussong (2000) *''African-American collective action and crime'' with Kriss Drass (1997) *''Race and crime trends in the United States, 1946‑1990'' (1994) *''The argument for studying race and crime'' with Katheryn K. Russell (1993)


On terrorism

*''Why democracy has failed to reduce terrorism in the Middle East and why protecting human rights might be more successful.'' With Nancy Morris and Eray Karlidag. (2020). *''Who is more violent in extremist groups? A comparison of leaders and followers. '' With Katarzyna Jasko (2020). *''Islamist Terrorism, Diaspora Links and Casualty Rates'' with James Piazza (2019). *''Religion and Support for Political Violence among Christians and Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa with Amy Adamczyk (2019).'' *''Using Google and Twitter to measure, validate and understand views about religion across Africa'' with Amy Adamczyk and Maria Barrera Vilert (2019). *''Prison and violent political extremism in the United States with Bo Jiang and Lauren Porter (2019).'' *''Is Antifa a terrorist group? (2018).'' *''Correlates of violent political extremism in the United States'' with Michael Jensen, Patrick James and Aaron Safer-Lichtenstein (2018). *''Cut from the same cloth? Comparing gangs and violent political extremists'' with David Pyrooz, Scott Decker and Patrick James (2017). *''Countering Terrorism'' with Martha Crenshaw.  Washington, DC: Brookings Institution (2017). *''Handbook of the Criminology of Terrorism.'' Edited with Joshua Freilich. New York: Wiley (2017). *''Applying Criminology Theories to Terrorism: New Applications and Approaches''. Edited with Josh Freilich. Milton Park, UK: Taylor and Francis (2015). *LaFree, Gary, Laura Dugan and Erin Miller. 2015. ''Putting Terrorism in Context: Insights from the Global Terrorism Database''. with Laura Dugan and Erin Miller. London: Routledge (2015). *''The impact of British counter terrorist strategies on political violence in Northern Ireland: Comparing deterrence and backlash models'' with Laura Dugan and Raven Korte (2009) *''Build a criminal justice policy for terrorism'' with James Hendrickson (2007) *''Global terrorism and failed states'' with Laura Dugan and Susan Fahey (2007)


See also

*
Race and crime in the United States In the United States, the relationship between race and crime has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century. Crime rates vary significantly between racial groups; however, academic research indicates that t ...


References


Sources

*''Gary LaFree'' at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice of the University of Maryland


External links

*
Gary LaFree
' at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice of the University of Maryland.
Gary LaFree's ''Curriculum Vitae''
hosted at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice of the University of Maryland. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafree, Gary Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American criminologists Indiana University Bloomington alumni University of New Mexico faculty Presidents of the American Society of Criminology University of Maryland, College Park faculty