Hayley Cleary is a

criminologist 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 ...

and

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

known for her research on juveniles in the criminal justice system. She is an associate professor of

Criminal Justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

and

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

in the L. Douglass Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. Cleary's research mainly examines the behavior of adolescents in interrogation settings and strives to improve policy within the criminal justice system.

Education

Cleary earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and Russian studies from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

. She continued her education by earning a Master's of Public Policy and a

PhD 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 graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

developmental psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

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 ...

. She completed a

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

titled "High School Exit Exams and Adolescent Delinquency," which was published in 2007 to fulfill the requirements for her Master's degree. Cleary completed her dissertation in 2010 under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer L. Woolard. Her dissertation titled, "An Observational Study of Interview Characteristics and ''Miranda'' in Juvenile Interrogations," highlights the importance of

Miranda Rights In the United States, the ''Miranda'' warning is a type of notification customarily given by police to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) advising them of their right to silence and, in effect, protection ...

for juveniles in an interrogation setting.

Career

Cleary is currently employed at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in the L. Douglass Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, where she has taught criminal justice and public policy for the last 13 years. She started as an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

of psychology in May 2011, where she taught for a year, before becoming an assistant professor of criminal justice in June 2012. In 2019, she was promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

of criminal justice. In her years of work, Cleary has become an acclaimed researcher, receiving the Louise Kidder Early Career Award in 2018 for her research contributions to the

Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Founded in 1936, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) is a group of 3,000 scientists from psychology and related fields who share a common interest in research on the psychological aspects of important social and policy i ...

. Cleary has also received VCU's Presidential Research Quest Fund (PeRQ) for her research proposal concerning sex offender registry policies and adolescents. In addition to her accolades, Cleary has been sought as an expert witness in cases involving adolescents and provided supportive testimonies for evidence-based legislature. Cleary has been invited several times to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Academy and

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

to share her work with law enforcement. She has also appeared on several podcasts, including NPR's All Things Considered, to discuss her research on juvenile interrogations.

Research

In addition to teaching, Cleary conducts research and has over 30 published works. Her research is focused on juveniles in the

criminal justice system Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

, with her foundation in police interrogations involving adolescents. Cleary's research aims to advance the understanding of the cause and effects of police interrogations. Her main goal is to improve public policy and influence law enforcement to provide justice. Cleary uses developmental psychological theory in her research about police interrogations, in which she covers constructs such as race/ethnicity, age, and trauma. Some of her published works are focused on areas such as parents' knowledge about Miranda rights and how it could affect their children, the process of criminal investigation procedures and observation of police behavior, and observation of youths in correctional facilities from different perspectives. Cleary receives funding from the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF) as well as the Annie E. Casey Foundation to conduct her research. In 2020, she was awarded $235,253.00 from the NSF for a collaborative project with Dr. Cynthia Najdowski. Their work, "Relations between peer influence, perceived costs versus benefits, and sexual offending among adolescents aware of sex offender registration risk," was published in 2023. Cleary has had her work featured in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

and

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

. Her study on police interviewing techniques of juvenile suspects was featured in the New York Times article, "In Interrogations, Teenagers Are Too Young to Know Better," where she states, "if kids are making these poor decisions because their development is not complete, then to penalize them with long-term legal consequences is unfair".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Hayley Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American criminologists 21st-century American psychologists Virginia Commonwealth University faculty