SHSU College Of Criminal Justice

Real Talk w/CJ: Natalie Garza, U.S. Marshals Service

2012-03-29T14:52:00.000-05:00

Thu, March 29, 2012
3:00 to 4:00 PM
CJava
Criminal Justice Center

Deputy U.S. Marshal Natalie Garza, a SHSU graduate, will discuss her exciting career as a U.S. Marshal and ways to get a job with the agency.

Beto Chair Lecture: Dr. Tom Tyler

2012-03-29T13:06:00.002-05:00

Thu, March 29, 2012
9:30 - 11:00 A.M.
CJ Courtroom
Criminal Justice Center

Dr. Tom Tyler, a professor of Law at Yale Law School, will discuss "Legitimacy and policing: The benefits of self regulation" at the next Beto Lecture.

2012 Criminal Justice Career Fair

2012-03-07T14:59:00.001-06:00

Wed, March 7, 2012
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Ballroom
Lowman Student Center

The 2012 Criminal Justice Career Fair will feature numerous agencies from the field to discuss job and internship opportunities in law enforcement, corrections, courts, private security, victim services, forensics and related fields with current students, graduates and alumni.

Real Talk w/CJ: Interview and Resume Workshop

2012-02-27T14:44:00.000-06:00

Monday, Feb. 27, 2012
3:00 to 4:00 PM
CJava Cafe
Criminal Justice Center

The College of Criminal Justice will provide a workshop on resumes and interviewing skills.

Beto Chair Lecture: Dr. Jack Greene

2012-02-17T16:57:00.002-06:00

Fri Feb. 17, 2012
9:30 - 11:00 A.M.
CJ Courtroom
Criminal Justice Center

Dr. Jack Greene of Northeastern University will discuss "Policing for Human Rights: If not us, who? If not now, when?"

Real Talk w/CJ: Edward Gallagher, U.S. Attorney's Office

2012-02-17T14:34:00.002-06:00

Wed, Feb. 8, 2012
3:00 to 4:00 PM
CJava
Criminal Justice Center

Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward F. Gallagher III will discuss Human Trafficking as well as job opportunities available in the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Alpha Phi Sigma Meeting

2012-02-01T10:12:00.000-06:00

Wed Feb 1, 2012
5:30 P.M.
CJava Cafe
Criminal Justice Centre

Alpha Phi Sigma, the National Criminal Justice Honor Society, is holding an informational meeting so anyone who is interested in learning about the organization's requirements may attend.

Society of Forensic Science Meeting

2012-01-31T15:34:00.001-06:00

Tue Jan 31, 2012
5:30 P.M.
Chemistry and Forensic Science Building
Room 101

The Society of Forensic Science will have its first official meeting of the Spring Semester with a informational Meet and Greet to discuss the upcoming semester and announce guest speakers for presentations and demonstrations.

There will be food and drinks available, and we welcome any interested students who would like to attend.

Phi Alpha Delta Meeting

2012-01-30T10:05:00.000-06:00

Mon Jan 30, 2012
5:00 P.M.
Lowman Student Center
Room 304

Bring in the Spring 2012 with Phi Alpha Delta. Join "Your Future Lawyers in the Making" at their first meeting of 2012. We welcome everyone. It's Our Law.

CMIT and MINT Train Probation Officers on Motivating Change in Offenders

2012-01-27T12:21:00.015-06:00

Members of MINT that presented the training were (l to r) Mark Asteris, Susan Orendac and Greg Sumpter.

The Correctional Management Institute of Texas recently held part one of a three-phased training to teach juvenile and adult probation officers a new way of dealing with offenders to bring about long term changes in their lives and to reduce recidivism.

“Motivational interviewing will improve the outcomes of the kids we work with because it encourages them to take responsibility for making changes rather than placing the responsibility on the officer,” said Matt Smith of Williamson County Juvenile Services, which handles about 1,400 juvenile cases a year ranging from runaways to aggravated sexual assault.

For years, probation officers would advise and direct offenders, giving them information on what to do and how to do it. “We would attempt to fix, solve, or cure their problems for them,” said Susan Orendac, a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), a MITA trainer and probation officer with the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department. “Motivational interviewing seeks to illicit a plan for change by honoring choices and autonomy.”

Under Motivational Interviewing, the offender is put in the driver’s seat to develop a plan to change targeted issues or behaviors. Research has found it is the most effective method to bring about long term change and to reduce recidivism. “It is strengthening the personal motivation and commitment to special goals by listening and exploring a person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion,” said Mark Asteris, a member of MINT, a MITA Trainer and an Adult Probation Officer in Jefferson County.

Began in 1983 with substance abusing clients, the technique has been adopted in many disciplines, including the health care, mental health, AIDs and HIV, diabetic management and effective classroom management, to name a few. In criminal justice, it has been used for mental health medication management, sex offender compliance, intimate partner violence and adolescents and young adults, said Asteris.

There are four elements that comprise the “spirit” of Motivational Interviewing: collaboration, autonomy/support, evocation and compassion.

“In the past, we might not have always seen this as collaboration,” said Greg Sumpter, a MINT member and MITA trainer that works with Tarrant County Juvenile Services. “It is now our frame of reference going in. It’s a give and take, and not my agenda. We acknowledge there is a choice instead of putting on airs that I can make someone change. Compassion means that I am always looking for the best interest of my client.”

Partipants included juvenile and adult probation officers from Texas. In criminal justice, the collaboration is a partnership between the probation officer and offender to work together. With autonomy and support, it is the offender’s choice to make a change or not. Evocation is allowing the offender to bring out his or her own reason for change. Compassion involves aiding the offender along the way. Empathy, the ability to identify with the feelings, thoughts and attitudes of another, is also a key feature in the process.

“This doesn’t mean that you are soft or letting offenders get away with non-compliance,” said Orendac. “Instead of wrestling, you are dancing together toward a change. Motivational Interviewing uses strategies to produce an outcome for change. It is not laissez faire.”

The Motivational Interviewing Training Academy, hosted by CMIT, was developed by members of MINT. Over the next eight months, participants will attend three classroom sessions at CMIT and will receive remote skill coding and coaching between sessions. Participants reaching demonstrated proficiencies with a validated metric will have the opportunity to utilize their MI skills and resources within their own jurisdiction. The Motivational Interviewing Training Academy is designed to develop and build an agency’s internal capacity in the use, implementation and sustainment of Motivational Interviewing.

“The institute is excited to partner with MINT members to build the internal capacity for departments to train MI as another tool for strengthening community corrections outcomes in an efficient manner and we look forward to hosting additional academies in MI." said Doug Dretke, Executive Director of CMIT.

Prosecuting Major Offenders at the U.S. Attorneys Office

2012-01-27T07:48:00.009-06:00

As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Edward F. Gallagher oversees the investigation and prosecution of alien smugglers, human traffickers, civil rights cases and international organized crime gangs and groups.

Gallagher is the Deputy Chief of the Major Offenders Division for the Southern District of Texas at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He will discuss his career at Real Talk w/CJ on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. in CJava Café.

“The Southern District of Texas is a very active office and has one of the highest case loads in the country,” said Gallagher. “We are the sixth largest office in the country, with just under 200 prosecutors, almost half that number spread among our border offices in Laredo, McAllen, Brownsville, and Corpus Christi. We are one of four judicial districts in the state, and we cover 43 counties in Texas. A lot of our cases are drug and immigration related.”

The Major Offenders Division has three areas of responsibility: Human Trafficking and Civil Rights; Organized Crime and Gangs; and Immigration Crimes.

Human trafficking, often called modern day slavery, involves commercial sex or labor servitude induced by force, fraud or coercion. Victims come from within the U.S. or abroad. Traffickers prey on the poor and those with little or no access to social safety nets. Victims are often lured with false promises of good jobs and better lives and then forced to work under brutal and inhumane conditions.

Houston is a hub for human trafficking because of its proximity to the Mexican border, its international airports; its diverse labor force and lack of zoning, Gallagher said.

The Major Offenders Division also handles civil rights complaints, which focus on hate crimes, police brutality or election law. His office was recently involved in assisting the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice with a case involving an African American man who was allegedly assaulted by Skinheads at a Houston bus stop.

The unit also oversees prosecutions against organized crime and gangs. With a large international transient population, Gallagher has never seen a traditional Italian Mafia presence in Houston. Organized Crime in Houston is non-traditional and focused on Mexican immigrant gangs, like MS-13 and the Texas Syndicate; Asian American and Vietnamese gangs; West African groups; and Russia and Eastern European activities. These gangs are involved in everything from drugs, Internet and mail fraud, identity theft, and credit card fraud, to name a few.

Finally, Major Offenders also handles Immigration Crime, which includes smuggling, hostage taking, illegal reentry, immigration benefit and visa fraud, and worksite enforcement. It may include violent offenders who illegally reenter the U.S.; smuggling organizations; employment based crimes including companies that hired undocumented or fraudulently documented workers; and visa and document fraud.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office work with a wide variety of local, state and federal agencies to investigate and prosecute cases. Among the federal agencies are the Federal Bureau of Investigations; Homeland Security; the Internal Revenue Service; U.S. Postal Inspectors; the U.S. Secret Service; Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; The Drug Enforcement Agency and Diplomatic Security Services.

Gallagher began his criminal justice career as a seasonal police officer in Ocean City, Maryland. Upon graduating from law school, Gallagher worked for the FBI as a special agent and legal counsel for five years before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Gallagher received the Director’s Award from Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2002 for his successful prosecutions of three international human smuggling groups. In August 2004, Gallagher was named coordinator for the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA), a task force of federal and local law enforcement agencies working with non-governmental organizations to combat human trafficking. In December 2009, Gallagher received the Director’s Award from Attorney General Eric Holder for coordinating the HTRA in its training and prosecution efforts.

Gallagher has written papers and lectured to both local and federal prosecutors, investigators and private attorneys on such subjects as government procurement fraud, enterprise investigations using the RICO statute, use of undercover operations and electronic surveillance, human trafficking, labor prosecutions, and immigration attorney visa/labor certification fraud. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center where he teaches national security law.

National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice Meeting

2012-01-25T10:00:00.006-06:00

Wed Jan 25, 2012
5:00 P.M.
Lowman Student Center
Room 307

The National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice is a multi-ethnic, nonpartison, non-profit association of criminal justice professionals and community leaders dedicated to improving the administration of justice.

We participate in various community service and projects
Fundraisers
Events around campus and Huntsville
We are open to major and nationalities.

SHSU Offers Money Management Tips

2012-01-20T08:17:00.004-06:00

The Student Money Management Center at Sam Houston State University has tips for students and professionals for a good financial start to the New Year.

In a presentation called “New Year’s Resolution: Save More, Spend Less,” peer counselors from the program recently provided a seminar on personal budgeting for 2012. The Money Management Center also offers ongoing seminars, workshops, presentations and web resources to help with various aspects of financing for students, including “Saving for Spring Break” on Jan 24 at 3:30 p.m. at the Lowman Student Center and various activities for Financial Literacy Week during the week of Feb. 27.

To begin better budgeting, it’s important to keep track of what is going in and out of your accounts on a monthly basis. The center recommends keeping a basic income and expense record, which include salary/wages; financial aid; support from family; gifts; scholarships and grants; and other income as well payments for rent/mortgage, utilities, cable/Internet, cell phones, car note and gasoline.

There are many ways to keep these records, from the simple to the complex. A old-fashioned memo pad can be used to record spending or it can be put on an Excel spreadsheet. There also are many mobile applications available on SmartPhone or Tablets to track your expenses, such as iMint and iWallet. Just enter “budgeting” in the search engine of your electronic device.

he Center suggests several ways to trim your monthly expenses. These can include:

Cancel unused gym memberships
Stop subscribing to a few magazines
Cut down on cable TV channels
Pay yourself first by putting some of your earnings in a savings account
Pay down debt
Exercise to reduce prescriptions and medical care costs
Start couponing
Stick to cash to avoid impulse buying
Buy generic brands
Keep your hands off your 401(k) until you are 60 years old
Quit expensive habits, such as smoking, vending machine snacks, or Starbucks coffee
Turn off the lights and unplug unused appliances
Bring your lunch to work

“The key to sticking to a budget is to be realistic,” said Jacob Brock, a peer counselor at the center. “Set a budget and set goals.”

A major pitfall for many Americans is revolving credit. The average credit card balance in the U.S. is $8,329, which doesn’t include mortgages or car payments. Paying down your debt will also help raise your credit score, Brock said. Credit and debit cards also tend to lead to impulse buying, so use cash whenever possible. A monthly envelope system, putting cash aside for key expenses, also can be an effective way to stay on budget.

Expensive habits may also be draining your budget. For example, a daily trip to Starbucks on workdays can add up to $1,300 a year. Smokers spend an average of $1,800 to $3,600 on cigarettes annually, said Peer Counselor Eric Johnson.

Money also can be saved by couponing. In fact, an hour of couponing a week can save $100, and there are new applications from grocery stores to download coupons to your cell phone or store courtesy card. Generic brands may also save you money, but it is important to compare products to get the best deal. Bringing your lunch instead of buying your mid-day meal also saves dough and allows you to eat healthier.

“Do it in baby steps throughout the year,” said Kristy Vienne, Assistant Vice President of Student Services. “Here are things to remember: Keep track of your spending, look where you can save and pay one extra mortgage payment a year. It will cut your mortgage by seven years.”

For more information, visit the Student Money Management Center at www.shsu.edu/~smmc.

Beto Chair Speaker Advocates Self-Regulatory Policing

2012-01-18T14:36:00.013-06:00

Dr. Tom Tyler, a leading expert on the social psychology of law and advocate for procedural justice, will present the Beto Chair Lecture on “Legitimacy and policing: The benefits of self-regulation” on March 29 in the Criminal Justice. Courtroom

Dr. Tyler, a Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law School, joined the faculty in January as a Professor of Law. He is a former professor at New York University, where he chaired the Department of Psychology and taught at the law school since 1997.

Dr. Tyler’s research and teaching has focused on social psychology and the psychology of procedural justice—the fairness of group rules and processes, and the motivations that lead people to cooperate when they are within groups. Among his many publications are the books, Why People Cooperate (2011), Psychology and the Design of Legal Institutions (2007), Why People Obey the Law (2006), and Trust in the Law: Encouraging Public Cooperation with the Police and Courts (2002). He was awarded the Kalvin prize for “paradigm shifting scholarship in the study of law and society” by the Law and Society Association in 2000.

The Beto Lecture presentation will focus on policing and legitimacy. Dr. Tyler advocates the value of a self-regulatory approach to law and criminal justice. He argues that the dominant approach today of deterrence and punishment is costly and minimally effective, both in achieving compliance with the law and promoting the acceptance of legal authority. .

Instead, Dr. Tyler said that the way the police exercise authority and the procedures that they use are central to how people react to the police. If the police are perceived to be legitimate, the public will willingly and voluntarily cooperate with them.

In his research on profiling and community policing, Dr. Taylor found that citizens of all races show greater respect for law enforcement when they believe officers are treating them fairly. Even citizens who experienced a negative outcome, such as getting a traffic ticket, showed higher levels of respect for and cooperation with law enforcement as long as they believed they were not being singled out unfairly.
Unabomber Ted KaczynskiPrior to joining NYU in 1997, Dr. Tyler taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Northwestern University. While at Berkeley, Dr. Tyler corresponded with Unabomber Ted Kaczynski in a series of open letters in the San Francisco Chronicle in a debate over the serial terrorist’s contention that technology should be dismantled in the society. Dr. Tyler said while technology has taken its toll, he condemned the violence and said a peaceful revolution is underway.

In addition to his work with policing and the criminal justice system, Dr. Tyler’s research focuses on social justice; organizational/social psychology; and the psychology of authority.

Dr. Tyler holds a B.A. in psychology from Columbia and an M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Putting a Spotlight on Dating Violence, Stalking

2012-01-18T10:36:00.010-06:00

A Victimology class at Sam Houston State University developed brochures to help fellow students learn about stalking and dating violence. The brochures will be distributed through the University’s counseling center.

“College students are at a comparatively higher risk for being victims of stalking and intimate partner violence,” said Dr. Kate Fox, a professor in the College of Criminal Justice. “It can be difficult to recognize the signs of stalking and dating violence, and many students are unsure about what to do if they are victims. We hope these brochures will make it easier for students to learn about their options and get help if they or their friends become involved in an abusive relationship or stalked.”

The brochures were part of a Masters’ class project in “Controversies in Victimology” during the Fall semester. The eight students in the class wanted to raise public awareness among college students about these important issues and thought a brochure might help.

“We were grateful that Dr. Fox and her students were willing to help bring attention to such important issues,” said Dr. Andrew Miller, Executive Director of the Counseling and Health Services Area at Sam Houston State University. “Both dating violence and stalking can be so subtle in their earlier phases that many people don't realize they're in a difficult situation until it's too late. This is particularly true on college campuses where you have a large population of individuals who might not have a lot of dating and relationship experience to begin with. Any information to get them thinking about the health of their relationships is critical.”

Dating violence is physical, sexual and or emotional or verbal abuse by a partner in a dating relationship. It could include physical violence, such as punches, slaps, shoves, kicks or hits; sexual violence, such as forced sexual act; emotional/verbal abuse, such as name calling; accusations of lying; excessive texts/calls; or spreading rumors. It may cause short term or long term effects for the victims.

Some of the signs of dating violence include control, dependence, dishonesty, disrespect, hostility and intimidation. The brochures offer suggestion for victims, including contacting someone who can assist, creating a safety plan and preparing to leave an abuser. It also provides resources for victims to contact for assistance. “It may not seem serious until it happens to you,” the brochures stress.

Stalking is repetitive, unwanted, harassing, frightening or threatening behavior. It can include watching or following; sending unwanted gifts; showing up in places where the victim is; calling, texting or posting unwanted messages online; damaging property; or threatening the victim or their family. It also can include cyberstalking, which uses the internet, text messages Facebook or other electronic means to stalk or harass. It too can have short or long-term consequences.

According to “Stalking in Texas,” a report generated by the Crime Victims’ Institute at Sam Houston State University, it has been estimated that one in 12 women and one in 45 men in this country will be stalked at least once in their lifetimes. Based on a survey of Texas residents, more than 18 percent said they have experienced stalking behaviors over the last two years. Stalking is now a crime in every state in the country.

The brochures provides tips to protect yourself from stalkers, including staying alert, changing your routine, keeping your information safe, not sharing personnel information and not posting personal information online. For victims, it provides information on how to report and document harassment and resources on where to go for help.

According to the brochure, if you are being stalked, you should file a police report; keep letters, e-mails, texts, online posts, messages, call logs and gifts; write a diary with dates, times and methods of contacts; get a protective order and tell friends and family.

Choking Game Prevalent Among Teens in Texas

2012-01-18T10:23:00.007-06:00

Nearly one out of seven college students surveyed at a Texas university has participated in the Choking Game, a dangerous behavior where blood flow is deliberately cut off to the brain in order to achieve a high, according to a study by The Crime Victims’ Institute at Sam Houston State University.

The Choking Game, also known as the Fainting Game, Pass Out, or Space Monkey, is played individually or in groups and involves manually choking oneself or others, applying a ligature around the neck or a plastic bag over the head, placing heavy objects on the chest, or hyperventilating to attain a euphoric feeling. This practice has led to several suffocation deaths in Texas and across the country.

“This study was undertaken to determine who is playing the game, in what context, and how they learned about it,” said Dr. Glen Kercher, director of the Crime Victims’ Institute. “It is our hope that these findings will inform efforts by parents, schools, and community agencies to warn young people about the dangers of participating in the Choking Game.”

The study was based on a survey completed by 837 students at a Texas university. Among the findings were:

16% percent of students reported having played the game; 72% reportedly played the game more than once
Males were more likely to have played than females
The average age when students first played the game was 14
90% of those who played the game first heard about it from peers
Most students reported that others were present when they first played the game
Curiosity about the effects of the Choking Game was a primary motivation for playing the game
Learning about the potential dangers in engaging in this activity served as a deterrent for the majority of non-participants.

“Even though awareness of the Choking Game is growing, it should be noted that encouragement for parents to discuss this activity with their children should still be stressed,” said Brittany Longino Smith, who co-authored the study “The Choking Game” with Dr. Kercher and Dr. Leana Bouffard, an Associate Professor at SHSU.

A similar study on the Choking Game found that 90 percent of parents would support incorporating information on the behavior in health and drug prevention classes.

While preventative programs have increased to help warn adolescents of the use of illegal substances, the Choking Game is another method of achieving similar effects that has been introduced to this age group. “This ‘game,’ as it is often called, does not require obtaining any drugs or alcohol, is free, and can go undetected by many parents, teachers, physicians, and other authority figures. Most importantly, many of those who engage in this activity, do not understand that the practice can be just as deadly as the illegal substances youth have been warned against,” the study found.

Created by the Texas Legislature, the Crime Victims’ Institute has been charged with studying the impact of crime on victims, survivors, family members and the community in Texas.

Sugar Land Officer’s Legacy Lives on at SHSU

2012-01-06T15:35:00.012-06:00

Sugar Land Police Officer Marcus Lee Zabura.

Sugar Land Police Officer Marcus Lee Zaruba lost his battle with cancer in 2009 at the age of 29, but his pursuit of justice will continue to live on for years to come.

Zaruba, an 2003 alumnus from Sam Houston State University, is continuing his legacy through a non-profit foundation, which is dedicated to giving back to police departments and funding criminal justice scholarships. The Marcus Lee Zaruba Criminal Justice Foundation sponsors a half marathon and a school education and fundraising effort in his hometown of Baytown each year.

"He loved it," said his sister Mary Pinney. "Ever since he was born, there was no other thing he wanted to be but a police officer."

The Second Annual Jail Break Run will be held in Baytown on Feb. 11, beginning and ending at the Baytown Police Department after a vigorous stretch up the Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston Ship Channel. The inaugural event was held last year with about 150 participants and those numbers are expected to double in 2012, said Det. Aaron Crowell, President of the Baytown Police Association.

"The Marcus Lee Zaruba Foundation has been instrumental in the partnership to assist our officers in their time of need," said Crowell.

While half of the funds will go toward scholarships at Zaruba’s alma maters, including Sam Houston State University, Lee College and the University of Houston Police Academy, the other half will benefit the Baytown Police Department’s Helping a Hero Fund. That fund assists officers who may need financial help because of unforeseen illness, injury or circumstances, and to purchase needed equipment for the Baytown Police Department. The fund also is available to smaller departments in Harris, Liberty and Chambers Counties and was most recently used to help a civilian police department employee with cancer and victims of the Bastrop fires.

"We have been asked many times, "Why do you do all this?," Pinney said. "Yes, it was inspired by one of my heroes, my little brother, Officer Marcus Zaruba. But as a family we saw what peace he got when he found out that his medical and funeral costs were taken care of and we want to do the same for as many officers as we can. We also want to make sure that scholarships are set up to aid any criminal justice student that has a desire to get into law enforcement. You are all there when we need you, so we want to be ready when you need us."

Police officers pay tribute to Zaruba at his funeral. The fundraising efforts are a tribute to the men and women in Sugar Land who assisted Zaruba, his wife Jessica and his family in their time of need. During his short eight week battle with cancer, Zaruba’s colleagues in the department stayed by his side at home or in the hospital and raised funds to cover his medical care and living expenses.

"They would come by and make him laugh," said Pinney. "If he wanted water, they would show up with five cases of water. But it was really the laughter that made him forget what he was going through."

One of Zaruba’s favorite parts of his job was to visit children in school. He even had his own trading card, bearing his photo, badge and favorite quotation. He wanted kids to know that police were there to help and were approachable, Pinney said.

That is why the family established the Pennies for Justice program, an annual fundraising effort that brought students and police together every October. The program, which was held in 15 elementary and junior high school, allowed officers to showcase the K-9 unit, the SWAT vehicles and their services, and students to donate coins to help officers in need. Classrooms that raised the most money were taken on a field trip to the police station and treated to a pizza lunch.

In 2011, 463 Baytown classrooms participated, collecting more than a ton of coins worth more than $17,000.

As a patrol officer in Sugar Land, Zaruba excelled at helping the community and with keeping the community safe, said former Police Chief Steve Griffith, who now serves as Assistant City Manager.

"He particularly excelled at helping people, whether they had car problems or issues with a neighbor," said Griffith. "He would take the extra step to ensure that whoever needed help was satisfied. He also aggressively pursued crime. We have property crime issues and he would make lots of traffic stops. He also helped back up other officers when they needed him."

Zaruba at his graduation from Sam Houston State University in 2003. Zaruba also was an avid supporter of SHSU, requesting before his death that donations be made to the college in lieu of flowers.

"My Mom went to Sam Houston first," said Pinney. "Marcus was a SAM fan - the truck he had was even orange. He had some many good friends there. It was a big college, but it had that small town feel. He always talked about the criminal justice department and his professors."

Hannah Orosco is one of two students who have received the scholarship. "I think it is a wonderful thing for Mrs. Zaruba to do in memory of her husband for her to help students who aspire to achieve the same goals and standards in the field of law enforcement that he had,” said Orosco. “It was a real honor to be one of the first recipients selected to receive the scholarship. Receiving the Marcus Zaruba Scholarship has definitely influenced my drive to succeed, knowing the story behind the scholarship, and I think it is a great way to help students reach their potential."

For more information about the Marcus Lee Zaruba Foundation, visit www.mlzcjfoundation.org or call 832-767-8535.

CMIT Leads Corrections Tour and Visit for Dominican Republic Leaders

2012-01-05T09:15:00.015-06:00

CMIT and the College of Criminal Justice hosted a delegation from the Dominican Republic. Pictured (l to r) are: Fred Rangel, Rafael Monegro Betemit, Roberto Obando Prestol, Dr. Vincent Webb, Doug Dretke and Monique Keith.

The Dominican Republic is undergoing a reform of its national corrections system, and it turned to the Correctional Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State University for an opportunity to explore prison management and rehabilitation programs.

“In the last seven years, the Dominican Republic started a big reform to make sure that its prison and correction systems insure that inmates not only serve their time, but also provide programs that rehabilitate offenders and reduce recidivism rates,” said Roberto Obando Prestol, Director General of the Department of Corrections in the Caribbean nation.

During a whirlwind, five-day tour, Obando Prestol and Rafael Monegro Betemit, Director of General Services, were given an overview of the federal, state and county prison and jail systems as well as parole and training in Texas. They visited the Estelle and Hamilton units at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; the Windham School District; the Minnie R. Houston Training Academy; The Federal Bureau of Prisons Work Camp; the Brazos County Jail; and the Huntsville Parole Office.

The Dominican Republic delegation met with officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice “It was a tremendous honor for the Correctional Management Institute of Texas to host Director General Obando Prestol and Mr. Betemit with this opportunity to visit correctional facilities in our state and engage in very productive discussions with correction officials at every level of prison programs and management,” said Doug Dretke, Executive Director of CMIT. “We look forward to continuing our relationship to exchange ideas and meet challenges in the corrections field.”

As Director General, Obando Prestol oversees 40 prisons and 22,000 adult inmates incarcerated in the Dominican Republic from pre- to post sentencing. With the prison population growing, he plans to build 10 new prisons over the next seven years. He is particularly interested in the infrastructure and programming at Texas institutions.

“We want to explore a collaboration with Texas,” said Obando Prestol. “We are interested in every aspect of it.”

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice provided an overview of the state system, including correctional institutions and rehabilitation programs. The group also toured the Windham School District, which provides academic, vocational and technical training to incarcerated inmates, and received an overview of infectious disease protocols from the regional medical facility. Finally, they visited the Minnie R. Houston Training Academy, where correctional employees receive the information and skills to perform their duties safely and effectively.

Obando Prestol said he was impressed with the infrastructure of the state prison system, including the laundry and kitchen facilities as well as maximum security features and perimeter fencing. He also said he would like to replicate the efforts of the Windham School District, which handles a wide variety of programs for GEDs, inmates with disabilities and college courses. He also was interested in on-site medical facilities to help reduce the risk of escape by inmates going to local hospitals as well as the policies and procedures from the training academy.

The delegation toured two TDCJ prisons, the Estelle Unit outside Huntsville, a maximum security facility for 3,000 male inmates, and the Hamilton Unit in Bryan, a minimum security treatment facility with 1,000 prisoners. Obando Prestol said he was impressed with the programming at the facilities, which included work in agriculture and textile industries.

State and federal prison officials meet with the Dominican Republic leaders over lunch. In Bryan, the group also visited the Federal Prison Camp, one of eight minimum security institutions for females in the country. The facility, which includes a residential drug abuse treatment program, is work-oriented and program-oriented and is located close to larger institutions or military bases where inmates help serve the labor needs.

With a growing number of female offenders in his country, Obando Prestol said he was anxious to explore the federal program. He also was interested in the drug treatment component, since a majority of crime in his country is related to drugs.

“Twenty years ago, it was rare for a woman to go to prison,” said Obando Prestol. “Now female inmates are growing at a considerable rate.”

For an overview of the county jail system, the delegates toured the newly constructed Brazos County Detention Center, which was built with an architectural model that allows more direct supervision of offenders. They also received an overview of the parole system from the Huntsville Parole Office. Prestol wanted to see how Texas handles its pre-sentencing and short term offenders as well as its parole system.

In the Dominican Republic, parole is handled by the judiciary, which has challenges monitoring parolees. Obando Prestol was impressed with how the Parole Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice keeps track of thousands of offenders.

“From my experience, the public doesn’t appreciate enough what corrections does for them,” said Obando Prestol. “With the police, they see them every day. But they don’t see the importance of corrections. To ensure a safe society, you have to have strong corrections programs.”

LEMIT Delivers Model Eyewitness ID Policy for Texas

2011-12-22T10:07:00.004-06:00

A model policy that will serve as a resource for Texas law enforcement agencies on eyewitness identification procedures was delivered to departments across the state by the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State University.

The model policy was mandated by the Texas Legislature in the wake of several high profile criminal cases overturned by faulty eyewitness identification. The policy, which will serve as a sample to law enforcement agencies that routinely use photo or live lineups, is based on 35 years of scientific research in the field and collaboration with law enforcement officials, legal representatives and special interest groups in the state.

"Creating a justice system that we can all have faith in is a priority for all Texans,” said Rep. Pete P. Gallego, author of the bill. “This helps ensure that our system will work and that justice will actually prevail."

Among the key recommendations sent to police departments, Constables’ and Sheriffs’ Offices in the state are:

The person administering the lineup should not know who the suspect is.
Photo lineups should be done sequentially, with one photo shown at a time, to improve chances of accurate identification.
The filler photos used should be similar to the suspect and match the witnesses’ descriptions.
Witnesses should be provided with clear instructions, including a statement that the perpetrator may or may not be in the photo or live lineup. Precautions must be taken to ensure that witnesses don’t encounter other witnesses, suspects, or those used as fillers before or after the lineup procedure.
The use of showups, where suspects are presented to a witness shortly after the crime, should be avoided and should be used only under limited circumstances.
All eyewitness identification processes should be documented, preferably by audio or video recordings.
Interpreters should be used in eyewitness identification procedures when the witness doesn’t speak English.

Texas law enforcement agencies that regularly conduct such procedures are required to adopt an eyewitness identification policy by September 2012. In addition to the sample policy, LEMIT offered model procedures to serve as a step-by-step guide for use in the field. LEMIT also will offer “Train the Trainer” sessions in the spring and summer to instruct potential trainers on how to train others to conduct the procedures.

In addition to a statewide committee that participated in developing the policy, LEMIT accepted public comment for a month and held a public hearing in Austin to receive public feedback. The Institute received several e-mails and phone calls with suggested changes and heard from 22 speakers, representing law enforcement agencies, special interest groups and exonerated defendants, at the hearing in Austin.

"Texas has the unfortunate distinction of leading the nation in wrongful convictions resulting from faulty eyewitness identification procedures,” said Sen. Rodney Ellis, sponsor of H.B. 215. “It's time we earned the distinction of leading the way in meaningful reforms to ensure the innocent are protected, the guilty are brought to justice, and we have evidence we can trust."

New SHSU Graduate is Working on The Hill

2011-12-21T15:59:00.003-06:00

Justin Davidson served his time on “The Hill” as an intern for two Texas Representatives, Mac Thornberry and Kevin Brady. In December, he landed a job as a full-time staff member in Washington, D.C.

“It’s been a great experience,” said Davidson, who graduated from Sam Houston State University on Dec. 17. “I’ve gotten to see things most people don’t get to see. I worked in the Capitol Building. I learned a lot about government and how it works.”

Davidson is one of the cogs in the wheel that make government work. During the Fall 2011 semester, he was assigned to constituent services in the office of U.S. Congressman Thornberry of the 13th District of Texas, Vice Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Davidson answered 100 phone calls and reviewed up to 300 correspondence via e-mail, regular mail and faxes a day from the public.

“From a communications and administrative point of view, most interns are worth their weight in gold,” said Josh Martin, Chief of Staff for Rep. Thornberry, who serves the Amarillo area. “Justin comported himself in a very professional manner. He took on new challenges and he ran with them. He did a great job for us.”

Davidson also served for a semester as an intern with Rep. Brady of the 8th District of Texas, handling constituent services in his Conroe office. The last day of his internship with Rep. Thornberry was Dec. 9; he began a staff position with Congressman Randy Neugebauer of the 19th District near Abilene, Texas on Dec. 12, and he graduated from SHSU on Dec. 17.

“I am going to work up here and stay on as a staff member,” Davidson said. “It’s been a whirlwind. I interviewed and got the job in the same day. I wanted to say thanks to the staff members. They were extremely helpful. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am right now.”

As an intern, Davidson’s job was to help sort through the days messages so that the Congressman could reply to every communication. A lot of correspondence targeted the budget and its proposed cuts to military spending, Medicare and Social Security. Some were form letter that get relayed to Congressional offices.

“We strive to answer every constituent letter and phone call,” said Martin. “We want to make sure that he (Rep. Thornberry) knows what his constituents want. Interns play a critical role in sorting out the letters and in making sure Mac knows the issues.”

In addition to his work in constituent services, Davidson assisted in writing legislative memos to the Congressman, outlining proposed bills and why the Representative should or shouldn’t support it. The one page paper includes information about proposed legislation, an outline of key points and an opinion on the bill.

One of the bills Davidson worked on was just introduced, H.B. 1023, which would open the Artic Natural Preserve and the Gulf of Mexico for oil exploration. Davidson said he is grateful to Sam Houston State University for pushing him to write in his classes.

“I write every day,” Davidson said. “It was a huge help.” Davidson said he would like to work in Washington, D.C. for a few years and then go to law school. He wants to follow in the footsteps of his father, who works for Conoco Phillips in the energy industry.

In the meantime, Davidson said he would like to open doors for other SHSU students interested in internship in Washington. He was the first SHSU intern to serve in recent years with Rep. Thornberry, and Martin said the university prepared him well.

“I would like to see more students come up and have the opportunities like I did,” Davidson said.

College of Criminal Justice Fulfills Christmas Wishes

2011-12-21T10:39:00.006-06:00

Faculty and staff from the College of Criminal Justice helped two families from SAAFE House celebrate Christmas.

For the second year in a row, the College of Criminal Justice helped make Christmas extra special for deserving families in Huntsville.

As part of an initiative begun by former Provost David Payne in 2010, The College of Criminal Justice adopted two families this year for the holidays in lieu of buying presents for colleagues. A total of 45 faculty and staff members fulfilled the wish list of five people through SAAFE House, a domestic violence shelter for the surrounding four county area.

The SAAFE House currently has two shelters and four outreach locations in Walker, Polk, San Jacinto and Trinity counties. The offices are open five days a week and provide a full range of services, including crisis intervention; information and referral; emergency housing; basic living essentials; individual and group counseling; personal accompaniment for legal, medical and law enforcement appointments; transportation; skills assistance; emotional support services; and intervention programs for abusive individuals.

“We were able to fulfill the Christmas wish list for two families and five people in total,” said Amanda Burris, who organized the Criminal Justice Christmas Project. “We adopted a Mom and her 10-year old son and a Mom with two daughters, ages three and five.”

This year, the College helped fulfill Santa’s list for the children, which included clothing, toys, games, dolls, a play kitchen and accessories, puzzles and movies as well as clothing, jewelry, movies and books for the mothers. It also provided supplies for daily living, such as toiletries, household cleaners, paper goods, and non-perishable foods, as well as gift cards to a local grocer and retailer for holiday meals.

Last year, the College was able to make Christmas extra special for one local family.

The College of Criminal Justice offers bachelor, master and Ph.D. degrees in many diverse areas of criminal justice, including law enforcement and corrections, security studies and victims studies.

Online Masters Graduate Tosses Hat(s) into Criminal Justice

2011-12-19T13:14:00.007-06:00

Online Masters Graduate Ian "Buddy" Lovestock donated his collection of police hats to the Criminal Justice Center.

Ian “Buddy” Lovestock, who graduated in December from the Online Master in Leadership and Management program, is bringing his interest in policing across the globe to the Criminal Justice Center.

Lovestock, the only American peace officer to complete the standard, four-week training program at the British Home Office Crime Prevention Centre, donated his collection of police hats and plaques from training programs all over the world, including England, Israel, Holland, New Zealand, Kuwait, and Quebec, to Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice. The items will be displayed in the halls of the Criminal Justice Center.

“I am very interested in how police operate in different countries,” said Lovestock. “The helmets worn by Bobbies in England are based on the British military regalia, which was part of the dress uniform. The Israeli Border Police have a beret because they are a paramilitary organization.”

Lovestock has spent 35 years as a law enforcement professional, much of it in training and crime prevention. In addition to his four week training in Stafford, England with officers from throughout the United Kingdom, he spent seven years on a kibbutz in Israel. Along the way, he began collecting memorabilia from different agencies, including police flat caps, helmets, and berets as well as plaques representing training academies from all over the world.

“I like to study the similarities and differences in policing,” Lovestock said.

Lovestock participated in the Online Masters Program at SHSU.Lovestock just completed his Master’s degree at Sam Houston State University.
“The online program was ideal for me,” said Lovestock. “It was academically challenging and there is nothing that I missed by attending it this way. I communicated with fellow students online, and we had discussion boards. The professors were very responsive and fair. They went above and beyond for their students.”

Lovestock began his career as a police officer in Alamo Heights and Seguin. In Alamo Heights, he was the responding officer following the attempted assassination of James Kerr, a federal prosecutor, by hitman Charles Harrelson, father of actor Woody Harrelson. The case was tied to El Paso Drug King Jamiel Chagra, who was accused but never convicted of masterminding the assassination of U.S. District Judge John H. Wood in San Antonio in 1978.

“I never had anything like that case before or since,” Lovestock said. “I was four blocks away when that happened and when I drove up on the scene, there was still smoke in the air and there were spent shells all around. Two ladies were helping Jimmy Kerr at the curb. The shots were fired into the windshield and the hood. It was the firewall of the car that saved him.”

Lovestock served as a Regional Crime Prevention Specialist and Regional Police Training Manager for the Alamo Area Council of Governments, a voluntary association of organizations for planning, research, information distribution and coordination of activities for a 12 county region in Central Texas.

He also served as Deputy Chief in Bexar County and Assistant Chief in Seguin before being appointed Police Chief in Hondo.

In addition to his SHSU Master’s degree, Lovestock earned a Masters in Education from Texas State University. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Lovestock currently is an adjunct faculty member at the University of the Incarnate Word and he also served as head of the criminal justice program at Kaplan College for 18 months. He is running for Sheriff of Bexar County and launching Training Forensics, a company that provides expertise in training for policy reviews or court testimony.

“I’ve loved every minute of my career and there is not a single thing I would do differently,” said Lovestock.”

Lovestock said he has watched the evolution of police training programs. In the 1980s, the focus was on crime prevention and later it was replaced with an emphasis on community policing. Today, it is shifting to homeland security and terrorism. There are more officers taken off the street to go to schools for training and an increase in litigation.

Lovestock hopes to parlay his expertise in training into a business to help department develop policies and to assist officer caught up in lawsuits. He said most lawsuits against peace officers focus on the use of force and operation of police vehicles, and he can provide expertise testimony on policies address use of force issues.

“I want to help in the defense of police officers who may be accused based on failure to train issues,” said Lovestock.

Criminal Justice Holds Commencement for 247

2011-12-19T10:12:00.012-06:00

CJ Graduate Shanntel White (r) celebrates with her family at the Criminal Justice Reception.

Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice, graduated nearly 250 students in December, including five new Ph.D.s.

SHSU students sing the school song during the Commencement ceremony. A total of 247 students earned bachelor, master and Ph.D. degrees from the College during commencement ceremonies at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum on Dec. 17. Among them were 205 undergraduate and 42 graduate students.

“Whatever career path you choose or wherever your career leads you I hope you will always seek to gain knowledge, for as the “old adage” says – ‘knowledge is power,’” said Dr. Vincent Webb, Dean of College of Criminal Justice. “And, to quote Benjamin Franklin, ‘An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.’”

Ph.D. degrees were conferred to J. Michael Bozeman, Kyung Yon Jhi, Hee Joo Kim, Joe Serio and Sam Swindell.

Receiving Ph.D. degrees (l to r) were: Hee Joo Kim, Sam Swindell, Kyung Yon Jhi and Joshua Hill.Dr. Bozeman is a senior lecturer in Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at Tyler. His dissertation was on “The Language of Suicide Victims and Homicide Offenders in Houston, Texas, Examined through a Grounded Theory Analysis of their Statements: A Qualitative and Exploratory Study.” His dissertation committee included Chair Dr. Randall Garner and members Drs. Phillip M. Lyons and Jerry L. Dowling.

Dr. Jhi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska in Kearney. His dissertation explored “Texan Gangs in “Da Hood”: The Impact of Actual and Perceptual Neighborhood Contexts on Gang Membership.” His committee was chaired by Dr. Michael S. Vaughn and included Drs. Glen A. Kercher, Victoria B. Titterington and William Wells.

After serving as a project manager in the Correctional Management Institute of Texas, Dr. Serio will begin a career as a motivational speaker in Austin. His dissertation, “Law Enforcement Perceptions of the Russian Mafia in the United States and Canada,” was chaired by Dr. Willard M. Oliver and included Drs. Mitchel P. Roth and Vaughn.

Dr. Swindell, an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at West Virginia State University, wrote his dissertation on “The Instruction of Law in Criminal Justice: Purposes, Methods, Content, and Faculty.” His committee included Chairman Dr. Lyons and members Dr. Oliver and Roth.

Dr. Kim is working with the Korean Institute of Criminology. Her dissertation was on “Exploring the Effects of a Restorative Justice Program: Internal Processes and Factors that Lead to Reintegrative Shaming—Impacts on Drunk-Driving Offenders’ Perceptions.” Her dissertation committee including Chairman Dr. Jurg Gerber and Drs. Yan Zhang and Dennis Longmire.

Beto Lecture: Protecting Human Rights Through Good Policing Practices

2011-12-14T10:06:00.008-06:00

Dr. Jack Greene of Northeastern University will discuss "Policing for Human Rights: If not us, who? If not now, when?" as part of the Beto Chair Lecture Series on Feb 17 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Criminal Justice Center.

Dr. Greene is a Professor and former Dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University where he led academic and research programs focused on matters of criminology and justice policy. Recognized as one of the leading scholars on policing, Dr. Greene has written extensively on police service delivery, community approaches to policing, crime prevention and police management.

Dr. Greene has published five books, the two-volume Encyclopedia of Police Science, and more than 100 research articles, book chapters, research reports and policy papers on matters of policing in the US and internationally.

His most recent research focuses on the strategic and practical problems that police encounter in community building, preserving human rights and in taking on a new security role in an era of terrorism. He has just completed co-editing, Criminologists on Terrorism with Brian Forst and James Lynch.

His lecture will focus on how the use of police discretion intersects with human rights with particular interest in the range of what are considered “coercive” police actions that most affect human rights. His lecture is most particularly focused on democratic policing, as policing in totalitarian regimes is largely based on fear rather than social or community consensus.

Dr. Greene has consulted for various agencies and organizations, including the Philadelphia Police Department, the US Department of Justice, the National Institute of Justice, and the Rand Corporation, He currently serves on the research advisory committees of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Police Foundation. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and has been a consultant to major police and governmental agencies throughout his career. For nine years, he served a Commissioner on the Commission for the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies.

Dr. Greene received a Multi-Disciplinary Social Science Ph. D. (Sociology, Public Policy and Criminology) from Michigan State University in 1977 and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Michigan State in 1974. He was a cum laude graduate of Northeastern University with a BS in Criminal Justice in 1973.

Interns Put Violent Criminal Aliens on ICE

2011-12-14T08:43:00.005-06:00

SHSU Senior Esther Boyd did her internship with the Houston ICE office.

As interns with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Houston, Esther Boyd and Kristopher Sanchez helped keep illegal aliens who are repeat violent offenders off the streets.

Boyd and Sanchez were assigned to the ICE Violent Criminal Alien Section (VCAS) in Houston, which identifies, processes and removes criminal aliens incarcerated in federal, state and local prisons and jails throughout Texas. It is part of a nationwide program to prevent criminal aliens from being released into the general public.

As part of a specialized unit targeting violent felony offenders, the two interns helped screen for the most egregious alien offenders, such as home invaders, child molesters, and gang members, for prosecution on a wide variety of federal criminal charges related to re-entry after deportation for those aliens found within the U.S. after having been deported.

“By working with the ICE officers and agents, it gave me a whole different perspective than what I read in the newspaper, watched on television or studied in a book,” said Boyd. “Immigration is very political and controversial, but ICE really does work with the bad guys and is not trying to rip families apart. When you see some of the crimes people committed, it gave me a whole new perspective.”

During the 2011 fiscal year, the Houston Violent Crime Alien Section received a U.S. Attorney Award for successfully investigating and indicting 456 cases in the Southern District of Texas, representing a 53 percent increase in federal 8 USC §1326 re-entry prosecutions over the previous year. That code, the fastest growing crime prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, is a criminal offense of reentering the U.S. after deportation and carries general sentences of two to five years in the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Following his ICE internship, Kristopher Sanchez is in the process of getting a job with U.S. Border Patrol. "These cases do not represent those aliens who are within the United States illegally without any criminal convictions,” said the Supervisory Deportation Officer assigned to the VCAS Section of ICE. “These cases represent very dangerous criminal illegal aliens who have been previously convicted of very serious criminal activity by state and local law enforcement and then deported from the United States and subsequently arrested again within the U.S. after having been deported. These criminals are home invaders, child molesters, those who assault police officers and gang members for the Zetas, Houstones and MS-13.”

Each year, the Houston office reviews about 1,200 files of illegal aliens who are scheduled to be released from local and state prisons in Southeast Texas to find the worst offenders. The interns’ job was to wade through the inmate’s paperwork to help flag cases for the team. The interns would find the documentation needed for prosecution and build files for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the defense attorney and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Among the pertinent information required was warrants of deportation, legible fingerprints, criminal rap sheets, judgments and convictions. Based on the information, illegal aliens could be charged with reentry after deportation or other federal immigration offenses, including false claims of being a U.S. citizen, misuse of identification documents, and visa fraud. If convicted, the felons could remain behind bars before deportation.

“The interns were a force multiplier,” said the Supervising Deportation Officer, adding there are only five ICE agents in his office. “They did a lot of the review work that the officers don’t have time to do. They help triage the files that look good. It helps speed up the review of the file. They act like an officer-in-training.”

The Supervising Officer uses about two interns per semester, and he has always been impressed with the candidates from Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice.

“We are impressed with them,” said the Supervisory Officer. “We don’t have to train them and they have a lot of ambition.”

During her internship with ICE, Boyd also got to experience other aspects of the agency. In the Fugitive Operations Office, she accompanied agents and officers on surveillance and arrests. Sometimes they would go to the probation office to arrest illegal aliens; other times they would stake out a home or worksite in hopes of catching a glimpse of the suspect.

“It was more action packed than sitting behind a desk ,” said Boyd. “You get to see what they do out in the field. To me, it’s really criminal justice related. You are really dealing with criminals even through you don’t go to the sites and pick them up.”

Sanchez said they also went to federal court to witness criminal prosecution of the immigration cases, and received fireams training on a Glock .40 caliber as well as defensive tactics training at the ICE shooting range. By observing ICE agents on the stand, Sanchez said he can learn what to do in case he is called to testify in court.

Sanchez, who graduated from SHSU in December 2011, said the internship also gave him the flexibility to apply for federal positions. He is in the process of testing for a job as a Customs Officer in Brownsville, where he lives. He hopes to return to one day to the ICE offices.

“My long term goal it to go back to ICE,” said Davidson. “They were pretty cool. I thought it was a great experience. The people there were really humble and supportive in the process. They were lenient in understanding if we made a mistaken and helpful in teaching us to do the work.”

Research Team Studies Expedited DUI Courts

2011-12-12T12:04:00.008-06:00

Expedited court cases for DUI offenses reduced the numbers of cases filed, but it didn’t decrease the number of alcohol-rated collisions, two researchers at Sam Houston State University found.

In “What works (or doesn’t in a DUI court): An example of expedited case processing,” Drs. Jeffrey A. and Leana A. Bouffard studied the impact of expedited court processing in cases involving offenders charged with driving under the influence. The research also examined the link between sanctions swiftness, certainty and severity in those drunk driving cases. The study was published in the Journal of Criminal Justice.

Dr. Jeffrey Bouffard “Findings reveal that the program implementation corresponded with a lower rate of DUI case filings, but not with a general reduction in alcohol-involved collisions in the county,” said Dr. Jeff Bouffard. “Additionally, only sanction swiftness improved over time, while certainty remained stable and severity declined.”

Drunk driving continues to be a significant social problem in the United States. More than 30 percent of all fatal motor vehicles accidents in 2009 involved alcohol consumption, and 1.44 million people were arrested nationwide in 2009 for drunk driving.

To combat the issue, many states have adopted policy changes to deter drunken driving, including the use of fines, incarceration and license suspension. Some counties have adopted specialty courts to deal with DUI offenses and have combined it with expedited case management to address court efficiency and backlogs.

Dr. Leana BouffardThis study examines the impact of expedited court processing on the countywide rate of drunken driving based on DUI court cases in Spokane, Washington. The study found that while cases were being expedited more swiftly, there was no change in conviction rates and fines declined.

Dr. Jeff Bouffard said that the results may have been tied to sentencing guidelines in Washington state, which ties sentences to blood alcohol levels and bases fine of the sentences given. The standards also lead to more plea bargaining.

Dr. Jeff Bouffard also has studied the effectiveness of the use drug courts for DUI offenders. Based on a study of 66 offenders who completed one of two hybrid courts in North Dakota, the research found that while the drug court programs resulted in reduced recidivism rates for drug offenders, there was no significant decrease for defendants with DUI offenses.

Army Lt. Trains Close to Home in Florida Police Department

2011-12-09T10:47:00.021-06:00

SHSU Intern Leo Correa takes a bite from Mark of the K-9 Unit.

Leo Correa went to Florida for his criminal justice internship, serving in a suburban police department 20 miles outside Orlando.

This unique opportunity in the Winter Springs Police Department in Central Florida allowed Correa, a Lieutenant in the Early Commissioning Program of the U.S. Army, to get hands-on experience in law enforcement, to complete his bachelor’s degree at Sam Houston State University, and to work close to family before his next assignment. Correa plans a career in the Army, but said he is definitely interested in pursuing a criminal justice job upon his retirement from the military.

Correa did his intership with the Winter Springs Police Department in Florida.

“I’ve learned a lot by being here,” said Correa. “It’s not something you can teach in a classroom. At Sam Houston State University, we learned the technical terms, like the reports that have to be issued for the FBI and about seizures, rules, courts and law, but it is another thing to do something that actually has to stand up in a court of law or actually go through the steps of Miranda rights.”

Correa is one of about 125 students from the College of Criminal Justice who participate in internships annually in federal, state and local law enforcement, corrections and victim services agencies as well as private businesses. Internships generally are taken during the last semester before graduation and include a full-time, 40-hour a week assignment. Undergraduates earn nine semester hour credits and graduate students earn six.

Correa's training included simunitions. Internships often can be tailored to meet student’s specific needs, and opportunities are available in Texas, throughout the United States and even a few in other countries.

“We quite often place students out of state and internationally,” said Dr. Jim Dozier, Coordinator of the College of Criminal Justice Internship Program. “ Proper placement is very important. It helps assure success and increases the opportunity for employment. Leo has done very well at the Winter Springs, Florida Police Department and is an example of this success.”

Winter Springs is a suburban community of about 34,000, including retirees and professionals that work at the University of Central Florida. It has 68 sworn officers and 17 civilian employees and includes an Emergency Response Team, a K-9 Unit, Traffic Enforcement, Training Unit and Honor Guard. During his fall internship, Correa was assigned to Lt. Matt Tracht, head of the Internal Affairs Department and Team Leader for the Emergency Response Team in Winter Springs.

Correa learned water survival with the ERT. “My position is like night and day,” said Lt. Tracht. “Internal affairs is definitely a different kind of law enforcement. It is not driving around on the road; we do the checks and balance to ensure officers are doing their job in the right way. On the ERT team, we do call outs in SWAT situations.”

Correa said he had the opportunity to train with the SWAT team and K-9 units, including shooting simunitions and staging situations involving hostages, airplanes, building barricades, searches and missing people. He may be able to use many of these skills in his next assignment as an air defense artillery officer , where he was be in charge of guarding Patriot missiles and protecting the skies from enemy attack.

The Emergency Response Team simulate a raid on a plane. “It’s all been an eye-opener,” said Correa. “The ERT is more closely related to what I would do in the military.”

In addition to Internal Affairs and the ERT, Correa also participated in other areas of the department, including records, road patrol, investigations, evidence, booking and search warrants. He got to witness the largest marijuana seizure in the community’s history and watched the security around how the evidence was handled. He also observed the process involved in preparing a search warrant.

Lt. Tracht said that as budgets tighten and workloads increase, interns are a welcome addition to the police department, and criminal justice students are placed in areas of the department that need the most assistance. While most of his interns come from the University of Central Florida, he is happy to consider individuals from out of state campuses.

ERT officers are tasered during training. “He did a great job,” said Lt. Tracht. “He was definitely an asset during the time he was here. This opens a student’s eyes to what work is like. There are very busy days and very slow days.”

Correa grew up in Lake Mary, Florida, not far from Winter Springs. He graduated from the Marion Military Institute of Alabama, one of five Military Junior Colleges to offer the Early Commissioning Program. The program allows students to gain commission as a Second Lieutenant upon completion of the two year program and to complete their education at a four year institution while serving in the Army ROTC. Correa chose to pursue a degree in criminal justice at Sam Houston State University. He began as a traditional student in 2008 and wound up as an on-line student this semester from Florida to finish up his courses.

“I found that the program is well-known and it had a big interest for me because it was right down the street from the Walls Unit in Huntsville,” Correa said. After graduation in December, Correa will be assigned to Fort Sill, OK. He plans a 20-year career in the military, but hopes to continue in law enforcement.

“I have a big interest in going into law enforcement,” Correa said.

Analyzing the Biosocial Origins of Antisocial Behavior

2011-12-06T12:43:00.008-06:00

Dr. Brian Boutwell, an Assistant Professor in the College of Criminal Justice, is working to unlock the mysteries surrounding the role that genetics and environmental influences play on criminal and antisocial behavior.

“Biosocial research is a multi-disciplinary way of studying antisocial behavior,” said Dr. Boutwell. “It involves aspects of behavioral genetics, neuroscience, evolutionary biology and developmental psychology. Additionally, it incorporates different analytical techniques and research methods to examine criminal and antisocial behaviors.”

For centuries now, many scholars have pointed to the role that biological factors play in sculpting human behavior. The incorporation of biology, however, into the study of criminal behaviors remains in its infancy and on the fringes of criminology. Dr. Boutwell specializes in this emerging area of research and has used it in recent studies examining corporal punishment, rape, stalking and IQ.

“There is a host of evidence indicating that biology and genetic factors influence behavior,” said Dr. Boutwell. “It is not in debate that genes matter, we’ve simply moved beyond that issue – we’re to the point now of examining the specific pathways and mechanisms by which genes impact behavior.”

In an article recently published in the journal Aggressive Behavior, Dr. Boutwell examined the relationship between genetic risk factors for antisocial behavior and the use of corporal punishment in childhood. While prior research has linked the use of corporal punishment with aggression, psychopathology, and criminal involvement, Boutwell explores why not all children who are spanked develop such tendencies.

The study, co-authored by Drs. Courtney Franklin (SHSU), J.C. Barnes (The University of Texas at Dallas) and Kevin M. Beaver (Florida State University), suggested that genetic risk factors conditioned the effects of spanking on antisocial behavior. Specifically, children who possessed a genetic predisposition for antisocial behavior appeared to be most susceptible to the negative influences of spanking. Interestingly, this gene-environment interaction appeared to be especially important for male participants and not female children in the sample.

Dr. Boutwell’s research also examined a link between life course persistent offenders and rape. Based on the developmental theory proposed by Terrie Moffitt , the study found that the small segment of the population known to be chronically aggressive—termed life course persistent offenders—are significantly more likely to rape, and do so repeatedly over their lifetime. Based on these findings and prior research, the study suggests that the origins of rape, in part, may be genetic. More studies are ongoing to test this link.

In another ongoing study with SHSU colleagues Drs. Matt Nobles and Todd Armstrong, Dr. Boutwell is examining the genetic and environmental correlates of stalking. Data were gathered from a sample of students enrolled in criminal justice classes at Sam Houston State University, and featured survey questionnaires containing items on behavioral, environmental, and demographic factors, including scales of stalking behaviors, intimate partner violence, and relationship attachment. The study also collected DNA from the participants in the form of a cheek swab in order to examine measured genes that may be linked to stalking behavior.

Finally, Dr. Boutwell and his lab of graduate and undergraduate students are doing research on the link between genetics, antisocial behavior and intelligence. Their findings show a link between the genetic risk factors that corresponded to increased antisocial behavior and a decreased cognitive functioning.

Dye Living the Dream as Grand Prairie Police Chief

2011-12-06T11:23:00.023-06:00

Grand Prairie Police Chief Steve Dye believes in community policing and, in his short five months on the job, he is promoting programs that unite law enforcement and citizens.

“My focus is on community policing,” said Dye. “I want to reach out to every segment of the community. We’ve hit the ground running, and I’m really excited.”

Dye, an 1984 alumnus from Sam Houston State University, revived the city’s Citizens Police Academy and Citizens on Patrol, which educates residents about various aspect of policing and gives them an opportunity to volunteer to patrol their neighborhoods. He also implemented a take home vehicle program for officers who live in the city to increase visibility and introduced a lateral entry program to provide higher salaries for experienced officers transferring from other departments.

Next year, Grand Prairie will introduce its own Police Academy to better indoctrinate cadets on the practices and philosophy of the department. He also plans to start a chapter of Unidos, a resource center he founded in Garland to address quality of life issues for the Spanish-speaking community.

Dye founded Unidos, a resource center to address quality of life issues in the Hispanic community. “I felt like there was a lack of trust with some in the Hispanic community, which was sometimes due to a lack of proper dissemination of information,” said Dye, who became fluent in Spanish after meeting his wife, a native of Mexico. “We set up a resource center for the Spanish-speaking community and did the entire program in Spanish.”

Dye said he wanted to be a police officer his entire life, and he is still living his dream job. During his career, he has served in several Texas communities, including Houston, Arlington, Garland, and Colleyville. His duties have included Patrol, SWAT, Narcotics, Motorcycle Unit, Supervisor and Chief.

“My passion for law enforcement is the same as it was in 1984,” Dye said.

Dye credits Sam Houston State University with providing him with an excellent education and the perfect college atmosphere in which to accomplish his goals. In fact, his oldest daughter Gaby is following in his footsteps and is seeking an accounting degree with a minor in criminal justice at SHSU to join the FBI.

“Sam Houston was very beneficial to me in several ways,” Dye said. “Academically, it has some of the finest professors in criminal justice in the country and most qualified experts in the field of law enforcement. To me, the size and atmosphere of Sam Houston State offered the perfect college experience. I made lifelong friends at Sam that to this day I communicate with both on a personal and professional basis.”

After graduating from SHSU, Dye began his career at the Houston Police Department, where started in patrol and later worked in a street level narcotics unit. It was there he discovered that there are productive citizens at every level of society and that every community has the right to feel safe and live peacefully.

“There are just as many good people in the lower socioeconomic communities as there are in the affluent communities,” Dye said. “I have a soft spot in my heart for people who may not have a lot of resources, but are concerned about their neighborhoods. That’s why I am very committed to community policing. Every community should be able to live peacefully and feel safe.”

From his narcotics days, he learned the key to combating drugs is in youth advocacy. He also discovered the growing problem of prescription drugs. In Grand Prairie, he implemented a permanent drug disposal program, where residents can turn in unused prescriptions to keep drugs out of the hands of children and the drug trade.

At the Garland and Arlington Police Departments, Dye was a member of the SWAT team, where he enjoyed the “high risk, high paced environment.” He later joined the motorcycle unit at the Garland Police Department, where he also served as an advanced accident investigator.

Over the last 10 years, MotorCops for Kids has donated more than $255,000 to Shriners Hospital.

In 2002, he teamed up with the Harley Owners Group in Dallas and launched the MotorCops for Kids Toy Run, which has raised $255,000 for the Shriners Hospital for Children over its 10 year history. It is the same year he began the Unidos program, a model that has since spread to Dallas, Plano, Richardson and McKinney. He plans to introduce the program in Grand Prairie, where 45 percent of the population is Hispanic.

“It’s a resource center for the Spanish-speaking community,” Dye said. “It ‘s not only a place where they can enjoy food and activities with the police department, but it also serves as a resource center for daily quality of life issues. At the meetings, we might discuss how to get a driver’s license or insurance, how to pay for citations or how to get their utilities hooked up.”

Dye began his supervisory career in 2004, where he rose quickly through the ranks becoming an Assistant Chief in Garland. He later became Chief in Colleyville, before taking the post in Grand Prairie. He said his new job is a culmination of his varied background and experience.

In his short tenure on the job, Dye is solidifying his commitment to community policing. He recently introduced intelligence-led policing in Grand Prairie that focuses on real-time crime data to better respond to crime problems in the community. He also plans to introduce a Neighborhood Police Program, where officers will be assigned to a geographic area, and Crime Free Multi-Housing to better partner with community stakeholders toward long-term problem-solving of quality of life issues.
Dye is sworn in as Grand Prairie by Mayor Charles England in July 2011.

“I love it here,” said Dye. “It is a great city to be Chief in…One of the things I value is that I worked 20 years at the officer level before I was promoted to Chief. I believe that experience has provided me with a better understanding of the issues affecting our line level personnel.”

Forensic Research Extends Detection of Cyanide Poisoning

2011-12-05T16:21:00.003-06:00

Dr. Chi-Chung (Jorn) Yu is studying a new biomarker for cyanide poisoning, which may extend its detection window in death investigations by weeks if not months.

Unless cyanide is found at the time of death on the mouth or nose, elevated cyanide concentration can only be found for up to two days under current toxicological testing. Dr. Yu and his colleagues have found a substance that appears in the liver following cyanide poisoning that could serve as a stable biomarker for a longer period of time.

“We think this is proving to be a reasonable marker for cyanide poisoning,” Dr. Yu said. “We want to be able to extend the detection window up to weeks or even months.”

Cyanide exposures commonly originate from smoke inhalation or direct exposure to either cyanide salt or hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and occur in military, firefighting, industrial and forensic settings. In fact, the study is an byproduct of research by Dr. Ilona Petrikovics of SHSU’s Chemistry Department to find a antidote for those exposed to cyanide from a bioterrorism attack.

In the investigation of deaths, a bitter almond odor emanating from the victim and the presence of pink lividity during postmortem examination are two common indicators of acute cyanide poisoning. Alkali burns of the gastrointestinal tract often can be observed during autopsy in cases where cyanide salts have been ingested.

Since cyanide salts are solid crystalline, their presence in a crime scene or in the areas near victim’s nose or mouth can be easily discovered, collected and preserved for further forensic testing. In cases where no suspicious substances are observed in the scene of the death, the presence of cyanide in the victim’s body can be confirmed chemically using a colorimetric test, followed by a laboratory analysis using a gas chromatography– mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

Forensic evidence, such as stomach contents and whole blood of the victims, are usually collected and analyzed in order to confirm the cause of death. The toxicological detection of cyanide involves extraction and measurement of HCN from biological extracts. Blood or urine can be collected from the victim for laboratory analysis. Due to the relatively short half-life of cyanide (from minutes to hours depending on the matrix), toxicological detection of cyanide to confirm cyanide poisoning may only be feasible within the first few hours following exposure. Moreover, the volatility and reactivity of cyanide leaves direct measurements highly susceptible to errors introduced during the sample collection and separation step.

Cyanide levels in blood samples taken at autopsy the next day have been reported to decrease by approximately 79 percent. Postmortem formation of cyanide may also occur and complicate the interpretation of cyanide results. Therefore, the presence of cyanide becomes less feasible when the detection window is passed or the victims' body has been damaged by fire or advanced decomposition. The detection of stable biomarkers of cyanide is needed to extend the time in which cyanide exposure can be reliably assayed in a post mortem examination.

A recent study in Dr. Yu’s laboratory, found that a biomarker, ACTA (2-aminothiazoline-4-carboxylic acid), was found significantly increased in liver samples following a sub-lethal dose of cyanide. The research, by Dr. Ilona Petrikovics, David Thompson, Gary Rockwood, Brian Logue, Sarah Martin, Prashanth Jayanna, and Jorn Yu, was recently published in two journals, Biomarkers and Analytical Methods. Yu’s laboratory continues to work on ATCA’s in vivo behavior and stability in order to explore the potential of using ATCA as a biomarker for cyanide poisoning. Future research may include looking for the presence of ACTA in the bones of victims with cyanide poisoning to extend detection methods even further.

In addition to his work on cyanide poisoning, Dr. Yu is researching other issues in the areas of trace evidence in forensic science, including, fire debris, gunshot residue and a new micro extraction device for blood and urine.

“We are looking for new methods and advanced materials with forensic applications,” Dr. Yu said.

Dr. Armstrong Elected Fellow to the Academy of Experimental Criminology

2011-12-02T12:24:00.002-06:00

Dr. Todd Armstrong joined the Fellows of the Academy of Experimental Criminology (AEC). The AEC recognized distinguished scholars who have successful led randomized, controlled or field experiments in criminology.

Dr. Armstrong, an Associate Professor at the College of Criminal Justice, was elected to the elite group of 30 scholars worldwide and was installed on Nov. 16 during the annual meeting of American Society of Criminology. The Fellows include representatives from colleges and professional organizations across the world.

“It was a great honor to be elected Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology in large part because of my regard for those that have been elected before me, but also because I believe in the mission of the Academy,” Dr. Armstrong said. “The Academy recognizes scholars that have conducted randomized, controlled trials in the evaluation of programs and policies related to criminal justice and criminology.”

The Academy of Experimental Criminology was founded in 1998 in order to advance the development of experimental criminology. It seeks to increase awareness of randomized experiments in crime and justice and to aid in the improvement of experimental methods in criminology. The Academy also supports the Journal of Experimental Criminology, which publishes major advances in criminology and its methods through field experimentation, as well as quasi-experiments and other forms of research involving systematic manipulation of social or other variables.

Dr. Armstrong joined the faculty of Sam Houston State University in the Fall 2007. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice and his B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He previously taught at Southern Illinois University and Arizona State University as an Assistant Professor.

In 2003, Dr. Armstrong was awarded the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Anderson Paper Award and the ASU West Partnership for Community Development Faculty Fellowship in 2001. He also received the Young Experimental Scholar Award from the Academy of Experimental Criminology in 2007. His work has appeared in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, and Journal of School Violence, among others.

Dr. Armstrong has conducted two randomized controlled trials. The first was an evaluation of the Moral Reconation Therapy Program. This program was implemented in a County Jail in Maryland as a part of a plan to segregate youthful offenders from the general population. For the evaluation, volunteers were randomized into the program or into the general population. Analyses found that the treatment and control groups were not different in terms of recidivism.

More recently, Dr. Armstrong was part of a team that used a randomized research design to study the impact of the Pre-Release initiative (PRI) in Texas State Jails. For this evaluation volunteers were randomized into either the PRI or a 'treatment as usual' condition. Results showed that there were substantial differences in program effects across the five sites. In some sites there were meaningful differences in recidivism between the treatment and control groups; in other sites these differences were negligible. This study underscores the need to study the organizations and individuals implementing a program or policy in order to better understand the conditions that are necessary for an effective program to be taken to scale.

Dr. Armstrong’s current research interests include criminal justice policy and program evaluation, criminological theory, and biosocial explanations of criminal behavior with an emphasis on genetic risk factors for crime and delinquency.

SHSU Ph.D. Grad Heads Training for NYPD

2011-12-02T11:28:00.010-06:00

SHSU Alumnus James O’Keefe (Ph.D. ) was recently tapped as a Deputy Commissioner of Training for the New York City Police Department, overseeing education and training for 35,000 sworn officers and 15,000 civilian personnel.

“Given the essential role of the Police Academy and in-service training in the formation of our police officers, we set the highest possible standards when looking for someone to lead these programs,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelley. “James O’Keefe meets every one of our standards and more.”

Dr. O’Keefe earned his Ph.D. degree from Sam Houston State University in 1989 while he was an officer with the Houston Police Department. He credits the College of Criminal Justice and its diverse faculty for changing his way of thinking and counts his Ph.D. degree among the top three milestones of his life, topped by his family and the New York City Police Department.

“The time I spent at Sam Houston State University was life altering,” said Dr. O’Keefe. “I went in as a knucklehead Houston police officer, and it changed the way I viewed the world…On one hand, you think of Huntsville as a small city, but the Criminal Justice Center opened up a global arena…I believe in my heart that it is one of the best, if not the best, Ph.D. programs in the country.”

During his career, Dr. O’Keefe has worked as a practitioner in Houston and New York and as an academician at St. John’s University in New York, but his heart always has been in law enforcement.

“I was always a policing guy,” said O’Keefe. “It was always my interest.”

Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly (l) appointed Dr. James O’Keefe as Deputy Commissioner of Training for the New York City Police Department.

So when Commissioner Kelley offered him the job as Deputy Commissioner, Dr. O’Keefe jumped at the chance.

It was a good time in my personal life and I was intrigued by the challenge,” Dr. O’Keefe said. “I always admired Commissioner Kelley and there were a couple of things going on. We’re in the process of building and opening a state of the art Police Academy. I also wanted to get back in the game in terms of all this terrorism stuff.”

Dr. O’Keefe will oversee all training for New York City police and civilian personnel, which includes citywide interagency counter terrorism training. He also will usher in a new Police Academy, a $2 billion campus that will include an academic building, an administration building, a state-of-the-art Tactical Training Village with a real subway line running underneath, a firearms training range, a driver’s training track and dormitories. The first phase of the project is expected to open in 2013.

Dr. O’Keefe began his law enforcement career in the Houston Police Department, where he served as a uniformed patrol officer, an undercover officer in the Vice Squad investigating narcotic and child pornography cases, and a special assistant to the Chief of Patrol. He was one of the initial recipients of the 100 Club of Houston Law Enforcement Scholarship and completed his Masters and Ph.D. degrees at SHSU.

“Since obtaining his Ph.D., Dr. O’Keefe has been especially successful at translating theory into real world police strategy,” said Dr. Hoover, one of his mentors at the College of Criminal Justice. “For example, we recently asked him to return to Texas to instruct in SHSU’s Major Cities Police Chiefs’ Seminar Series, providing valuable insight into New York City’s crime reduction programs. He is adept in both worlds.”

Dr. O’Keefe said his education at Sam Houston State University helped him throughout his diverse career.

“As a Deputy Commissioner, I have to think globally and look at the big picture,” Dr. O’Keefe said. “I have to deal with the complexity of the issues. In many ways, the way that you do conventional crime is the way you do it for counterterrorism. You have to understand how it all works.”

After spending 10 years with the Houston Police Department, Dr. O’Keefe returned to New York to become Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the New York City Transit Police. When the agency implemented its first Police Academy, he was promoted to Director of Training, eventually implemented several specialty recruit, in-service and tactical training courses that lead to a nearly 50 percent reduction in crime in the New York City subway system.

When the Transit Police merged with the NYPD and New York Housing Police, Dr. O’Keefe became Director of that consolidated Academy, which earned many honors and awards. He also is credited with establishing a Joint Tactical Training Village for the New York/New Jersey H.I.D.T.A for urban military warfare and NYPD counterterrorism training.

Dr. O’Keefe retired from the NYPD in 2001 to accept a position as associate professor at his alma mater, St. John’s University, where he served as Program Director for Criminal Justice and the Criminal Justice Leadership Program; chairman of the Social Sciences Division; and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. He continued to teach undergraduate and graduate seminars in police administration, public policy, law enforcement ethics and leadership and published many scholarly books and articles, including Protecting the Republic: The Education & Training of American Police Officers.

Dr. O’Keefe continues to be active at Sam Houston State University with the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, where he has provided lectures to Texas law enforcement leaders. Most recently, he spoke on the NYPD CompStat accountability process, which include a multilayered approach to crime reduction, quality of life, and personnel and resource management. He also provided seminars at the Illinois Law Enforcement Training & Standards Board, Executive Institute.

“It was a great conversation on how we implemented the system,” said O’Keefe. In 2000, Dr. O’Keefe received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from SHSU College of Criminal Justice.

“There will always be a special place in my heart for Sam Houston State University,” Dr. O’Keefe said, “It was an amazing experience. I learned so much from the faculty.”

Teaching the Next Generation of Law Enforcement

2011-11-28T14:22:00.020-06:00

SHSU Alumni Lloyd Dragoo is the new Director of the Law Enforcement Academy at Sul Ross State University.

Alumnus Lloyd Dragoo (MA 98) has combined his passion for law enforcement with his love of teaching in his job as Director of the Sul Ross State University Law Enforcement Academy in Alpine.

“I enjoyed law enforcement, but I enjoy teaching law enforcement more,” said Dragoo, who earned his Masters in Criminal Justice and Criminology from SHSU. “This is the pinnacle of years of education and work to run a police academy.”

Dragoo served in law enforcement as a patrol officer in such diverse agencies as the San Marcos and Dallas Police Departments. San Marcos taught him the basics of police work, and he got to work a triple homicide after several months on the job. As a police officer in South Dallas near the Cotton Bowl, he was working only 90 minutes when he caught his first shooting. In Dallas, he averaged two to three shootings or stabbings a month.
A graduating class from the Law Enforcement Academy at Sul Ross State University.

“I always worked patrol,” said Dragoo. “I like the idea of every day going in fresh, without a stack of papers on my desk. I liked being out on the beat, driving around and being the first on the scene. One of the things that attracted me to law enforcement is that I wouldn’t have to sit behind a desk.”

Dragoo attended Sam Houston State University with aspirations of teaching at the college level, and after earning his Master’s degree, he taught at the high school and junior college levels in the San Antonio area.

“It certainly provided the foundation for being an educator,” said Dragoo. “It helped provide a good foundation for the police academy. I still pull from the lessons I learned at SHSU to help me make a point.”

In between his police and educator careers, Dragoo fulfilled another lifelong dream to be an officer in the military. While a Dallas police officer, he signed up for the Army Reserve and was accepted into Officer Candidates School. Upon graduation, he was called to active duty with the transportation corps in Germany.

“It was a great experience, and I still get benefits from it, literally my VA benefits,” said Dragoo. “Certainly with being a director, the Officer Candidates School helped me be a leader.”
Cadets participate in PT as part of the program.

In 2002, he began teaching at the Police Academy at San Antonio College and in 2008 he was named coordinator of the Middle Rio Grande Law Enforcement Academy at Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde. At the time, the program had the highest failure rate in the state, with 56 of its 96 graduates failing the state peace officer exam. Under his leadership, the program turned around, with all 185 graduates passing the state exam on the first try in his first three years.

Dragoo hopes to do the same at Sul Ross State University. The Police Academy trains peace officers and correction officers for a 18 county region, which stretches from the Odessa-Midland area to El Paso. While the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education requires 618 hours for academy classes, Sul Ross offers 700 hours of training. It also offers continuing education for law enforcement and correction officers in the area.

Cadets train for correction and peace officer positions in 18 counties.

“When you are running an academy, you’re an educator,” Dragoo said. “It doesn’t do any good for me to go in and tell war stories. When you are in an academy, your role is an educator, not a police officer.”

Sul Ross concentrates on small-town and rural law enforcement. Its goal is to provide a quality education at the lowest possible cost. Professionalism and a community service philosophy are stressed in all training programs.

Most of the cadets that enroll in the academy want to work in law enforcement and a few are sponsored by local departments who want to hire them. The program includes instruction on the penal code and criminal procedures, firearms training, driving instruction and the mechanics of arrest, takedown procedures and self-defense. Dragoo teaches 90 percent of the courses.

“I like being the Director, but my favorite thing is to teach because they are hungry to learn and know this is the career they want,” Dragoo said. “I have been here for three weekends and most of the cadets comes in on Saturdays and Sundays for tutoring. They have a desire to learn and they are a real good bunch of cadets.”

Students Learn The Value of Good Detective Work

2011-11-23T08:40:00.003-06:00

Former Alvin Detective Sue Dietrich (r) talks to a student following her lecture.

A former Alvin detective who investigated the murder case of a two-year-old girl killed by her father urged criminal justice students to continue to ask questions and use common sense, even when it conflicts with expert opinions.

Sue Dietrich was one of three women, which included the child’s grandmother Sharon Couch and Prosecutor Jeri Yenne, who dogged pursued justice in the case of Renee Goode, who died in 1994 during a slumber party of her father’s house. The case was immortalized in To the Last Breath by Carlton Stowers and featured in a recent Child Abuse and Neglect Class at the College of Criminal Justice.

“I couldn’t understand how a healthy, happy child could drink Kool-Aid, eat pizza and go to bed and not wake up,” said Dietrich. “He is a monster and a baby killer.”

The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the child’s cause of death as undetermined. Couch, a part-time private investigator, hounded officials and pursued experts out of state to reopen the case. After performing a second autopsy, a pediatric forensic pathologist from Florida declared the death a homicide.

Dietrich, who had herself lost a child at 17 months old, investigated the case and discovered a $50,000 life insurance policy that the father had taken out on the child. Dietrich learned of the insurance policy after questioning the father, Shane Goode. She also found out there was another insurance policy out on Shane Goode’s second daughter Tiffany, and he planned to take the child skydiving.

Dietrich attended the second autopsy, where the Florida pathologist, Dr. William Anderson, discovered blood in the child’s back muscle, an indication of suffocation. Dietrich also said the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Officer missed the reticular hemorrhaging in the child’s eyes, also a indication of suffocation. The theory was that Renee was killed when her father squeezed her in a bear hug into his chest.

After a grand jury signed a capital murder indictment, Dietrich and her fellow officers went to arrest Shane Goode. “I don’t think I will ever forget the look on his face. It was almost relief,” Dietrich said.

After Goode’s conviction, Dietrich handed him a change-of-address form. She also made sure prison officials prominently displayed a copy of To the Last Breath when it was published, “to let his cellmates know who it is.” It was reposted in the prison library when the paperback edition was printed, which included Shane Goode’s confession letter.

Dietrich spent 30 years in law enforcement, serving as a K-9 officer, arson investigator and forensic hypnosis investigator. She ended her career as police chief in Tiki Island, near Galveston. Dietrich said the best part of her career was in investigations.

“The best time of my life was the time I spent in investigations,” Dietrich said.

SHSU Students Test Ethics in Espionage at CIA Seminar

2011-11-21T08:39:00.004-06:00

Professor Jim Olson from Texas A & M University surveyed SHSU students on the ethical issues of spying.

Professor Jim Olson, a senior lecturer at Texas A & M and a former CIA officer, polled Sam Houston State University students about ethical issues in espionage, using the same challenges the U.S. government is facing in gathering intelligence across the globe.

Olson, author of Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying, was the final speaker in the Ethics Speaker Series presented by SHSU Junior Fellows and the College of Business Administration. The series, which featured business and government leaders, is the brainchild of Dr. John Newbold and is designed to find innovative ways to motive students to think about ethical decision-making.

“We will be hit again,” said Olson, who teaches intelligence, national security and crisis management at Texas A & M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service. “We will be hit within our borders, it will be a mass destruction, and it will be horrific. This is a timely and very important topic, the Global War on Terrorism and the ethical issues of fighting that war. There is a national debate on the proper role of intelligence. We will win or lose based on how good our intelligence is.”

Olson asked the packed audience of 400 to weigh in on several scenarios on CIA operations that address terroristic threats against the U.S.

“Are these the kinds of actions I want my government to engage in to protect against a terrorist attack,” asked Olson. “These are all real situations, although the names and countries have been changed.” Among the results from the SHSU audience were:

98 percent support renditions, the CIA-backed global abduction and internment operation of suspected terrorists.
80 percent support targeted killing of suspected terrorists, even with collateral damage
100 percent support the use of drugs to interrogate suspected terrorists.
90 percent support waterboarding in the interrogation of suspected terrorists.
99 percent approve of CIA agents posing as academicians to collect intelligence. For other professions, the support was 90 percent for posing as journalists, 20 percent for humanitarian aid workers, and 5 percent for missionaries/clergy.
95 percent support the use of seduction to gain intelligence information.
60 percent support the use of blackmail against a foreign homosexual to gain information.
70 percent support the hiring of a prostitute for a foreign source to gain information.
3 percent approve of a foreign informant participating in a car bombing to pass a “loyalty test” to gain access to a terrorist organization.

Olson and his wife Meredith served in the CIA for 25 years, where he rose to the position of chief of counterintelligence. The couple worked in such countries as Russia, Mexico and Austria. He speaks four languages, French, Russian, German, and Spanish.

“We were spies for 25 years," Dr. Olson said. “I believe that our country must have the very best intelligence in the world to protect our interests and protect our citizens.”

After graduating from the University of Iowa and serving on guided missile destroyers and frigates in the U.S. Navy, Olson returned to his alma mater for his law degree with dreams of becoming an attorney in a county seat in the state. Instead, he was recruited by the CIA in his last year of law school in a clandestine meeting that began with a cryptic telephone call to set up a meeting in Des Moines for a career opportunity to serve his country “in a different way.” He later was flown to Washington under the guise of interviewing for an attorney position with the U.S. Department of Commerce. Instead, he was whisked away to a safe house in Virginia, where he was subject to a battery of tests that included aptitude, foreign language, psychological and polygraph exams.

After two years of paramilitary training at “The Farm” in Virginia, which included instructions in hand to hand combat, explosives, jumping out of an airplane and how to kill people with bare hands as well as the operation of ingenious weapons, he was sent on his first foreign assignment. He and his wife often performed different assignments and had dozens of false identification packages in their apartment hidden in furniture designed by the CIA.

They didn’t tell their children about their clandestine service until their eldest son was informed at 16 when the family received a credible death threat from an Iranian terrorist.

During his service, Dr. Olson gathered intelligence on many organizations, including the Soviet KGB, Chinese, Cubans and Iranians as well as narcotics rings and organized crime. In many countries, they faced years in prison, or even death, if caught in their task.

Olson urged students to be part of the debate on ethics in espionage.

“Good, sincere, educated and patriot Americans will disagree on these difficult issues,” Olson said. “We have an important decision to make. We have not created clear guideline. We need a good, thoughtful debate on the intelligence rules against terrorism and what kind of country are we are going to be.”

Public Hearing Set on Eyewitness ID Model Policy

2011-11-18T08:55:00.003-06:00

A public hearing will be held on Dec. 1 in Austin on a model policy and procedures that can be used by Texas law enforcement for eyewitness identification.

The Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, which was mandated by the Texas Legislature to develop a sample policy, will conduct a question and answer session from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at the State Capitol, House Hearing Room E2.030, located in the Capitol Extension. There will be time limits for each question.

All law enforcement agencies in Texas that conduct lineups in the routine performance of an officer’s duty are required to adopt a written policy and procedures on eyewitness identification by Sept. 1, 2012. The proposed model policy, which can be viewed at lemitonline.org or accessed via the Internet from public libraries across the state, was developed in collaboration with law enforcement agencies and special interest organizations across Texas.

In addition to the public hearing, comments can be submitted via e-mail to lemitresearch@shsu.edu or mailed to Dr. Rita Watkins, Executive Director, The Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, Sam Houston State University, 1600 Bobby K. Marks Boulevard, Huntsville, Texas 77341-2417 through Nov. 30, 2011.

A map of the Capital Complex and visitor parking is available at http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/SPB/Plan/FloorPlan/Complex.htm.

Special Presentation: Child Abuse & Neglect Class

2011-11-17T16:25:00.000-06:00

Thu., Nov. 17, 2011
2-3:20 P.M.
CJ Lower Auditorium

A special presentation in Dr. Raymond Teske's Child Abuse Class will explore the case of two-year-old Renee Goode of Alvin, who was murdered by her father. The basis for the book To the Last Breath, the program will features Renee's grandmother, Sharon Couch, who doggedly pursued justice for her granddaughter, and Alvin Police Detective Sue Dietrich, who investigated the case and discovered a $50,000 life insurance policy that the father took out on the child.

Interested faculty and students are welcome to attend.

Real Talk w/CJ: Huntsville K9 Officer Blane Rodgers

2011-11-15T14:40:00.000-06:00

Tue., Nov. 15, 2011
2-3 P.M.
CJava Cafe

Blane Rodgers, a SHSU alumnus, wears several hats at the Huntsville Police Department, including K9 Officer, Community Relations Officer and SWAT Team Leader.

Interns Stamp out Drugs and Fraud in the U.S. Mail

2011-11-14T14:22:00.007-06:00

Miguel Sanchez

Come rain, sleet, snow or hail, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service will be stamping out crime in the mail, assisted this fall by two Sam Houston State University students.

Lauren Moralez.Miguel Sanchez and Lauren Morales, both seniors in the College of Criminal Justice, are serving as interns this semester at two offices in Houston. They are rotating among squads that tackle external crimes; facility security; mail fraud; and the prohibited mailing of drugs, weapons and other contraband.

"If they were to become postal inspectors, they would have an idea of what the agency is about," said Inspector Sean Lynch. "The internship also provides hands-on experience with nearly all aspects of law enforcement."

The U.S. Postal Service is a federal agency charged with enforcing more than 200 federal laws covering crimes affecting the U.S. Mail and postal system. Like other law enforcement agents, postal inspectors can make arrests or serve warrants and subpoenas.

“Each team works differently,” said Morales. “It’s a very educational experience. It’s certainly different than learning in class. We use what we have learned…It’s also not like what you see on TV. Cases aren’t solved in an hour. You want to build your case and get a lot of information. It takes patience and research skills.”

At the mail fraud unit , inspectors investigate crimes that utilize the U.S. Postal Service to make money or defraud individuals, such as financial schemes and illegal use of postage and postal system. In fact, two recent, national, multi-million dollar cases -- the Stanford and Madoff Ponzi schemes -- were based on mail fraud charges.

Morales participated in a search warrant in a fraud case, which also involved the Texas Attorney General’s Office. She got to see the differences in the process between state and federal agencies and to witness interviewing techniques in an emotionally charged atmosphere. During her tenure, Morales also watched the sentencing phase of a court case and how the federal courts operate.

The drug unit at Postal Inspection intercepts drugs and weapons sent through the U.S. Mail. They also seize the money used in drug transactions. Gomez said marijuana and codeine in cough syrup are big items in the Houston market.

“They are keeping drugs off the streets, but for every parcel they catch, nine more get through,” Sanchez said. “We are going after the money now and hit them in their financial resources.”

Sanchez said he now knows the amount of work that goes into obtaining a subpoena or search warrant and the legwork required to make an arrest. He also got a behind-the-scenes look at a task force in action. During his assignment, Gomez helped seize two Cadillac Escalades and to process an arrest with fingerprints and DNA samples.

“I would like to be a federal agent,” said Sanchez. “I have no preference as to which agency.” In the external crimes unit, inspectors investigate general criminal offenses committed against the U.S. Postal Services by outside entities, such as theft, identity theft, robbery, burglary and assault. Inspectors also are involved in providing security for U.S. Postal Service buildings and vehicles. This includes post offices, processing centers, delivery stations, customer services windows, and maintenance facility.

“Anything that has the USPS name on it, we handle the security, ” said Lynch.

Morales recommends that all students at SHSU participate in an internship to get a leg-up on their career. About 125 students a year participate in internships offered by the College of Criminal Justice, which include federal, state, county and local law enforcement and correction agencies as well victims’ services and private security. Internships are offered in the senior year and require a full-time, 40 hour assignment for a semester. Undergraduates earn nine semester hour credits and graduate students earn six.

“I definitely think it’s important for students to take advantage of the Internship Office and get an internship before they graduate,” Morales said. “It is better to get experience as an undergraduate. You can get tips and a heads-up about what to say and what not to say.”

“I think I learned professionalism,” Morales added. “In the end, it’s going to give me an edge. I know how to carry myself; I know how to multi-task; and I know how to network.”

Lynch said he has been impressed with the interns from SHSU.

“We really like the program,” Lynch said. “We get good people from Sam Houston. They are very intelligent and very eager to learn. They are also very excited. They are willing to work the long hours. If we work late, they want to work late with us.”

Beto Lecture Explores New Theory of African American Offending

2011-11-14T11:25:00.004-06:00

Drs. Shaun L. Gabbidon (l) and James D. Unnever co-authored "A Theory on African-American Offending: Race, Racism, and Crime."

African American men, which represents about 6 percent of the American population, account for about 60 percent of the robbery arrests in the United States. Why?

Two leading scholars, Drs. James D. Unnever of the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, and Shaun L. Gabbidon of Penn State Harrisburg, set out to answer that question and published A Theory on African-American Offending: Race, Racism, and Crime. The researchers presented their ground-breaking theory that the glaring disparities in offending patterns are related to the unique history of African Americans and their present racial subordination at the Beto Chair Lecture Series at the College of Criminal Justice.

“There are excellent books on race and crime, but they talk about the system, not why people wind up in the system,” said Dr. Gabbidon.

The new theory expands on the work of the famous social scientist, W.E.B. Du Bois, who found that to understand African American offending, it was important to grasp what it means to be black living in a racially-divided society.

“This is a ground breaking book and this probably will be a definitive theory book for years to come,” Dr. Will Oliver of the College of Criminal Justice said.

While many theories exist on why African Americans are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system, Unnever and Gabbidon take an in-depth look at the African American’s unique world view that has led to the phenomenon. In a wide variety of public opinion polls, African Americans and whites vary widely on many issues, including the death penalty, police practices, courts, sentencing, educational opportunities, as well as discrimination in jobs, housing, dining and shopping.

“There are real differences in how people perceive the criminal justice system,” said Dr. Gabbidon. “It is based on history coupled with everyday experiences.”

Since the time of slavery and Jim Crow laws, the criminal justice system in America “has created a reservoir of bad will” because of past and present racist practices, said Unnever. Therefore, African Americans are less likely to believe in the legitimacy of laws and respond with feelings of injustice, which fuel anger and defiance.

“They perceive the criminal justice system as a racist institution,” said Unnever. “I compare it to someone who is abused being asked to bond with their abuser.”

While the vast majority of African Americans do not participate in crime, there is a common understanding among Blacks that race matters and that they will encounter racism and discrimination in their lives. The degree to which individuals experience racism and discrimination can be documented similar to child abuse, including the age of onset; the frequency, length and severity of the incidents; and the identification of those who perpetrated the injustice.

African American men also are burdened with the stereotype of being angry, hostile and hopeless. It contributes to offending because of their inability to bond with social institutions, such as schools and police.

“Blacks underperform when they believe the stereotypes against them,” said Unnever. “They respond with doubt and anxiety. They become emotionally withdrawn.”

In addition to racial stereotypes, the degree to which African Americans are racially socialized also has an impact on future offending. Racial socialization includes verbal and non-verbal attitudes and beliefs and how African American parents teach their children how to cope in a society where they are not valued. The neighborhood where African Americans reside also impacts their offending. In “ghettos,” where residents are overwhelmingly minorities, many individuals do not develop a trust of whites. And, there is an increased probability that individuals in the community will experience racial injustices. Because they are excluded from the broader society, many youth seek expensive items to wear as status symbols.

So why are offending patterns higher among African American men than women?

The stereotypes of African American men are not the same for women of color. Also, in the African American family, daughters are more positively racially socialized than sons and they more frequently attend church, a positive racial socialization experience. In addition, African American women tend to use a different coping strategy when confronted with a racial injustice. That is, they are more likely to seek support or confront others, while African American men avoid issues because they don’t want to perpetuate the stereotype of being angry and violent. Ethnicity also plays a role in African American offending. Foreign born blacks do not share the same world view as those born in the United States and are more successful and less likely to offend.

The African American community also suffers from colorism, in which people with lighter skin are more valued in society. Darker-skinned males are more likely to be stereotyped and less likely to get a job.

“Race and racism matters,” Unnever said.

Unnever and Gabbidon encouraged criminal justice graduate students to explore the new theory with empirical research in order to come up with policies to address this issue in American society.

Real Talk with Huntsville K-9 Officer

2011-11-11T16:35:00.007-06:00

Huntsville Officer Blane Rodgers and Quintus.

Huntsville Police Officer Blane Rodgers does more than just aid his own community. He also uses his well-trained drug dog to help decrease the transfer of drugs in town and down the IH 45 corridor.

Rodgers is the sole canine handler in Walker County. He and his K-9 Partner Quintus have found over 200 pounds of marijuana, 5,000 ecstasy tablets, half a kilogram of cocaine, and $240,000 in cash. Quintus specializes in detecting marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and MDMA (ecstasy) and also has successfully tracked three suspects.

Rodgers sees Quintus as a law enforcement tool, not something that is used on every traffic stop, but an essential tool for the detection of narcotics. Rodgers got his passion for tracking down drugs during his first day on the job.

“I was exposed to things on the narcotics side due to my training officers that I didn’t know was out there,” Rodgers stated. “My first night I was on foot pursuit after someone with crack. Your first week you are supposed to just sit and watch your training officer, not chase after people. The third night I was able to assist in the execution of a narcotics search warrant. Needless to say, I had a good first week.”

These experiences molded him into a strong narcotics officer. Rodgers’ first year and a half was without a canine.

Officer Rodgers serves as SWAT Team Leader.

Rodgers is also the Team Leader on the Huntsville’s SWAT unit. As the team leader, he sets up operation plans and oversees all SWAT deployments. SWAT officers go through extensive training in tactics and firearms and are utilized in any high risk operation.

On the community service side of his career, Rodgers oversees many Neighborhood Watch programs. The latest “National Night Out” was held on Oct. 4 in the Target store parking lot. This event was a centralized party which invited all citizens of Huntsville to come out and learn about crime prevention and safety. About 300 to 400 people attended. There were also games for the children as well as a helicopter and fire trucks. “It was a good turnout, there were lots of kids and smiling faces,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers was been recently assigned to work strictly street level narcotics and Criminal Interdiction on IH 45.

Rodgers loves his job, but growing up he had no idea that he would be where he is today. “I knew I wanted to go into public safety, just not sure which side. I have a brother who is a paramedic for Austin/Travis County and my father and grandfather were both firefighters. Helping others was instilled in me, and law enforcement has given me that opportunity.”

Rodgers grew up in a small Texas town, Lexington, where he concentrated on sports in high school. His interest in law enforcement began when he took a criminal justice class in high school. The Texas Police Corps program provided him with a full scholarship to Sam Houston State University. This program allowed students to attend a four year university, participate in police corps training, and then be guaranteed a job with specific Texas law enforcement agencies that needed help. The Texas Police Corps program no longer exists.

Rodgers believed that Sam Houston State University was just what he needed.

Rodgers began attending SHSU in the Fall of 1998. He played rugby throughout his college years, as well as intramural sports. Although sports were entertaining and kept him active, he realized during his junior year that he needed to buckle down to improve his GPA. After he graduated from SHSU in August of 2002, he was offered a job in College Station, but had to decline it because the job didn’t qualify under the Texas Police Corps program. If he would’ve accepted that job, he would’ve had to pay back $70,000 in tuition. Instead Rodgers spent two years working in the construction field before attending a police academy in Huntsville. It was here he landed his first job in law enforcement.

Since Rodgers attended SHSU, he has advice for the current students on living in the college atmosphere.

“Live college life to the fullest, but experience different things,” he said. “Meet different people, experience different cultures, and try to be exposed to everything. Experiencing different things does not include drugs, just ideas and ways of living.”

Since his job encompasses SHSU, he sees lots of students partying. Some of those behaviors, like a DWI or possession conviction, can haunt students, especially criminal justice students. A DWI conviction will prevent you from getting a job as a peace officer for 10 years.

“Keep your nose clean,” Rodgers said. “College is a time for fun, and a good life experience, but there are things that can affect the rest of your life and the ones around you.”

Special Presentation: Child Abuse & Neglect Class

2011-11-10T16:06:00.001-06:00

Thu., Nov. 10, 2011
2-3:20 P.M.
CJ Lower Auditorium

A special presentation in Dr. Raymond Teske's Child Abuse Class will include prosecutors in a Houston case involving the sexual mutilation of a five-week-old baby. Scheduled to appear are Assistant District Attorneys Debra and Denise Oncken and Tammy Thomas, who will take students through a step-by-step overview of the case, prosecution and sentencing.

Interested faculty and students are welcome to attend.

Recent Publications by Faculty, Graduate Students and Alumni of the College of Criminal Justice

2011-11-09T16:15:00.015-06:00

Here is a list of recent publications by faculty, graduate students and alumni of Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice.

Aitkenhead-Peterson, J.A., Owings, C.G., Alexander, M.B., Larison, N., & Bytheway, J.A. (2011). Mapping the lateral extent of human cadaver decomposition with soil chemistry. Forensic Science International.

Alvaro, M., Boone, T.B., Gangitano, D.A., Smith, C.P., & Somogyi, G.T. (2010). Removal of Urothelium affects bladder contractility and release of ATP but not release of NO in rat urinary bladder. BMC Uro 10(10).

Armstrong, G. (Forthcoming). Factors to consider for optimal span of control in community supervision evidence based practice environments. Criminal Justice Policy Review.

Armstrong, G., & Kim, B. (2011). Juvenile penalties for “lawyering up”: The role of counsel and extralegal case characteristics. Crime and Delinquency. 5(6), 827-848.

Armstrong, T.A., Katz, C., & Schnebly, S. (2010). The relationship between citizen perceptions of collective efficacy and neighborhood violent crime. Crime & Delinquency.

Akers, R.L. Fox, K.A., & Nobles, M.R. (2011). Is stalking a learned phenomenon? An empirical test of social learning theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39 (1), 39-47.

Atkin, C.A.*, & Armstrong, G., (Forthcoming). Does the concentration of parolees in a community impact employer attitudes toward the hiring of ex-offenders? Criminal Justice Policy Review.

Barnes, J.C., Beaver, K.M., & Boutwell, B.B.(Forthcoming). Examining the genetic underpinnings to Moffitt's developmental taxonomy: A behavioral genetic analysis. Criminology.

Barnes, J.C., Boutwell, B.B., & Beaver, K.M. (Forthcoming). Height in adolescence predicts polydrug use in adolescence and young adulthood. Physiology and Behavior.

Barnes¸ J.C., Boutwell, B.B., Morris, R.G.**, & Armstrong, T.A. (Forthcoming). Explaining differential patterns of self-reported delinquency: Evidence from latent class analysis of sibling pairs. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.

Beaver, K.M., Vaughn, M.G., DeLisi, M., Barnes, J.C., & Boutwell, B.B. (Forthcoming). The neuropsychological underpinnings to psychopathy in a nationally representative and longitudinal sample. Psychiatric Quarterly.

Beaver, K.M., Flores, T., Boutwell, B.B., & Gibson, C.L. (Forthcoming). Genetic influences on adolescent eating habits. Health Education and Behavior.

Blackburn, A.G.**, Fowler, S.K.**, Marquart, J.W. & Mullings, J.L. (2010). Inmates cultural beliefs about sexual violence and their relationship to definitions of sexual assault. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 49 (3), 180-199.

Boklewski, J., Bytheway, J.A., Cameron, J.L., Greenough, W.T., Kohler, S.J., Lange, H., Lee, K.J., McCormick, K., Rhyu, I.J., Stanton, G.B., & Williams, N.I. (2010). Effects of aerobic exercise training on cognitive function and cortical vascularity in monkeys. Neuroscience, 167(4), 1239-1248.

Bouffard, J.A., Cavanaugh, M.R.*, Wells, W., & Nobles, M.R. (Forthcoming). Student attitudes toward concealed handguns on campus at two universities. American Journal of Public Health.

Bouffard, J.A., Nobles, M., & Wells, W. (Forthcoming). Differences across majors in the desire to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun on campus: Implications for criminal justice education. Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

Bouffard, J.A., Nobles, M., Wells, W., & Cavanaugh, M.* (Forthcoming). How many more guns? Estimating the effect of allowing concealed handgun licenses on college campuses. Journal of Interpersonal Violence .

Boutwell, B.B., Beaver, K.M., Gibson, C.L., & Ward, J.T. (Forthcoming). Prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke and childhood externalizing behavioral problems: A propensity score matching approach. International Journal of Environmental Heath Research.

Boutwell, B.B., & Beaver, K.M. (2010). The role of broken homes in the development of self-control: A propensity score matching approach. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 489-495.

Boutwell, B.B., & Beaver K.M. (2010). Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and offspring externalizing behavioral problems: A propensity score matching analysis. International Journal of Environmental and Public Heath Research, 7, 146-163.

Bytheway, J.A. et al. (2010). Scavenging behavior of lynx refus on human remains during the winter months of southeast Texas. Forensic Science.

Chang, K., Cuvelier, S., Kuo, S.**, & Longmire, D. (2010). Prosecutorial decision-making in Taiwan-A partial test of Black’s behavior of law. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 54(6), 1023-1046.

Cordner, G.S. & Scarborough, K.E. **(2011). Police administration. San Diego, CA: Anderson Publishing.

Cuvelier, S., Lim, L. (2010). The impact of police levels on crime rates: A systematic analysis of methods and statistics in existing studies. Asia Pacific Journal of Police and Criminal Justice, 8 (1), 49-82.

Farrell, A.L., Keppel, R.D., & Titterington, V.B. (2011). Lethal ladies: Revisiting what we know about female serial murderers.” Homicide Studies, 15 (3): 228-252.

Fox, K.A., Zambrana, K., & Lane, J. (2011). Getting in (and staying in) when everyone else wants to get out: Ten lessons learned from conducting research with inmates. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 22, 304-327.

Fox, K.A., Nobles, M.R., & Fisher, B.S. (2011). Method to the madness: An examination of stalking measurements. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16, 74-84.

Fox, K.A., Nobles, M.R., & Akers, R.L. (2011). Is stalking a learned phenomenon? An empirical test of social learning theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 39-47.

Franklin, C.A. (2010). The effect of victim attitudes and behaviors on sexual assault victimization severity: An examination of university women. Women and Criminal Justice, 20, 239-262.

Franklin, T.W. (2011) Sentencing Native Americans in U.S. Federal Courts: An examination of Disparity. Justice Quarterly.

Franklin, T.W. (2010). Social context and prosecutorial charging decisions: A multilevel analysis of case-and country-level factors. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 693-701.

Gaines, L.K.** & Keppeler, V.E.** (2011) Policing in America (7th ed.). San Diego, CA: Anderson Publishing.

Jo, Y.*, Zhang, Y. (Forthcoming). The stability of self-control: A group-based approach. Asian Journal of Criminology .

Henderson, H. & Miller, H.A. (Forthcoming). The (twice) failure of the Wisconsin risk needs assessment instrument. Criminal Justice Policy Review.

Katz, C.M., Webb, V.J., Fox, K.A., & Shaffer, J.N. (2011). Understanding the relationship between violent victimization and gang membership. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 48-59.

King, W.R. (2010). Organizational failure and the disbanding of local police agencies. Crime & Delinquency.

Lane, J. & Fox, K.A. (2011) Fear of crime among gang and non-gang offenders: Comparing the effects of perpetration, victimization and neighborhood factors. Justice Quarterly.

Lee, J*, Jang, H.** & Bouffard, L. (Forthcoming) Maternal employment and juvenile delinquency: A longitudinal study of Korean adolescents. Crime & Delinquency.

Maguire, E.R.,King, W.R., Johnson, D., & Katz, C. (2010). Why homicide clearance rates decrease: Evidence from the Caribbean. Policing and Society, 20(4), 373-400.

Menaker,* T.A., & Franklin, C.A. (Forthcoming) Juvenile female prostitutes and subject perceptions of blameworthiness: Examining the effects of victimization history disclosure and prostitute race. Journal of Criminal Justice.

Menard, S. (Forthcoming). Peer influence, social bonding, physical and relational aggression: Perpetration and victimization in an elementary school sample. Victims and Offenders.

Menard, S. (Forthcoming). Standards for standardized logistic regression coefficients. Social Forces.

Menard, S., Morris, R.G.**, Gerber J., & Covey, H.C.(Forthcoming). Distribution and correlates of self-reported crimes of trust. Deviant Behavior.

Miller, H.A. & Kim, B. (Forthcoming). Curriculum implications of anti-gay attitudes among undergraduate criminal justice majors. Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

Morris, R.G.**, Longmire, D., Buffington-Vollum, J., & Vollum, S.** (2010). Institutional misconduct and differential parole eligibility among capital inmates. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34(4), 417-438.

Nobles, M.R., Fox, K.A., Khey, D.N., & Lizotte, A.J.(Forthcoming). Community and campus crime: A geospatial examination of the Clery Act. Crime & Delinquency .

Nolasco, C.**, Vaughn, M.S., & del Carmen, R.V. (2011). What Herring hath wrought: An analysis of post-Herring cases in the federal courts. American Journal of Criminal Law.

Oliver, W.M. (2011). Crime, history and Hollywood: Learning criminal justice history through major motion pictures. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 22(3), 420-439.

Patton, C., Nobles, M.R., & Fox, K.A. (2010). Look who’s stalking: Stalking perpetration and attachment theory. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 282-290.

Ren, L., Zhang, Y., & Zhao, J.S. (Forthcoming). The deterrent effect of the castle doctrine law on burglary in Texas: A tale of outcomes in Houston and Dallas. Crime & Delinquency.

Sarver, R.A. III**, Lyons, P.M. (2010). Representativeness of petit juries. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice, 6(2), 30-42.

Souryal, S. (2010). Demythologizing personal loyalty to superiors. Critical Criminology, 19(2).

Zhang, Y., Zhang, L.,& Vaughn, M.S. (Forthcoming). Indeterminate and determinate models: A state-specific analysis of their effects on recidivism. Crime & Delinquency.

Ward, J.T., Nobles, M.R., Yostin, T.J., & Cook, C.L. (Forthcoming). Placing the neighborhood accessibility-burglary link in social-structural context. Crime & Delinquency.

Webb, V.J., Ren, L., Zhao J.S., He, N., & Marshall, I.H. (Forthcoming). A comparative study on youth gangs in China and the United States: Definition, offending and victimization. International Criminal Justice Review.

Wells, W. & Chermak, S. Forthcoming). Risk factors for gun victimization in a sample of probationers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Wells, W., Katz, C.M., & Kim, J. (2010). Illegal gun possession among a sample of arrestees in Trinidad and Tobago. Injury Prevention, 16, 337-342.

Wells, W., Zhang, Y. & Zhao, J.S. (Forthcoming). The effects of gun possession arrests made by a proactive police patrol unit. Policing: an International Journal of Police Strategies & Management.

Worley, R.**,Worley, V.B, & Mullings, J.L. (2010). Rape lore in correctional settings: Assessing inmates’ perceptions of sexual coercion in prisons. Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice, 7(1).

Zhang, Y., Day, G.**, & Cao, L. (Forthcoming). A partial test of Agnew’s general theory of crime and delinquency. Crime & Delinquency.

Zhao, J.S.,Lai, Y.**, Ren, L., & Lawton, B.(Forthcoming). The impact of race/ethnicity and quality-of-life policing on public attitudes toward racially biased policing and traffic stops. Crime & Delinquency.

Zhao, J.S., Ren, L., & Lovrich, N. (2010). Police organizational structures during the 1990s: An application of contingency theory. Police Quarterly, 13, 209-232.

Zhao, J.S., Ren, L., & Lovrich, N. (Forthcoming). Political culture vs. socioeconomic approaches to predicting police strength in U.S. police agencies: Results of a longitudinal study, 1993-2003. Crime & Delinquency.

Zhao, J.S., Ren, L., & Lovrich, N.(2010). Wilson’s theory of local political culture revisited in today’s police organizations: A longitudinal study. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 33, 287-304.

Zhao, J.S., Zhang, Y., & Thurman, Q. (2011). Can additional resources lead to higher levels of productivity (arrests) in police agencies? Criminal Justice Review, 36,165-182. Bold: Faculty *: Graduate Student **: Alumni

Beto Chair Lecture: Drs. James Unnever and Shaun L. Gabbidon

2011-11-04T16:34:00.004-05:00

Fri Nov 4, 2011
9:30 - 11:00 A.M.
CJ Courtroom
Criminal Justice Center

Dr. James D. Unnever, Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, and Dr. Shaun L. Gabbidon, Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice at Penn State University, Harrisburg, will present "A Theory of African American Offending."

Dr. Unnever's research generally examines the relationships among race, racism, and crime. His latest research focuses on whether racial and ethnic intolerance predicts punitive attitudes cross-nationally, factors related to whether the public wants to "get tough" on corporate crime, and the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and delinquency.

His most recent publications investigate the racial divide in support for capital punishment, progressive religious beliefs and support for the death penalty, the relationship between religious affiliation and punitiveness, Colvin’s differential theory, the relationships among ADHD, low self-control, and bullying and criminal behavior.

Dr. Gabbidon has served as a fellow at Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research, and has taught at the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. The author of more than 100 scholarly publications including more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and 11 books, his most recent books include Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Justice: An International Dilemma (2009; SAGE), Criminological Perspectives on Race and Crime (2nd edition) (2010; Routledge), and the co-authored book, A Theory of African American Offending (2011; Routledge).

Professor Gabbidon currently serves as the editor of the new SAGE journal, Race and Justice: An International Journal. The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Gabbidon was most recently awarded the 2009 W.E.B. Du Bois Award from the Western Society of Criminology and the 2011 Outstanding Mentor Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

LEMIT Seeks Comment on Eyewitness ID Model Policy

2011-11-01T10:16:00.004-05:00

The Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas is seeking public comment on a model policy on the use of eyewitness identification procedures by law enforcement in Texas.

LEMIT was mandated by the Texas Legislature to develop a model policy and training that could serve as a sample for law enforcement agencies in the state in the wake of several high profile criminal cases that have been overturned by faulty eyewitness identification. All law enforcement agencies in Texas that conduct lineups in the routine performance of an officer’s duty are required to adopt a written policy and procedures on eyewitness identification by Sept. 1, 2012.

"LEMIT has been entrusted with the development of the model eyewitness identification policy and that development includes getting comment from the public,” said Dr. Rita Watkins, executive director of LEMIT. “It is important the citizens of Texas be afforded the opportunity to review and provide feedback on this important policy."

The proposed policy is based on scientific research in the field and was developed in collaboration with law enforcement agencies and special interest organizations across Texas. Among some of the key elements in the model policy are:

Witnesses should be provided with clear instructions, including a statement to indicate that the perpetrator may or may not be in the photo or live lineup.
The person administering the lineup should not know who the suspect is or should use a procedure that ensures the administrator can not give subtle cues to the witness.
Lineup administrators should thoroughly document the lineup procedures used and the outcomes.

“We have over three decades of scientific research on this issue,” said Dr. William Wells, research director at LEMIT. “Through our discussions with leading researchers and many practitioners, we are able to understand the lab research, the field research and the everyday practices in the field.”

“Eyewitness evidence is a critical part of a thorough investigation that can and should be further enhanced by the pursuit of other corroborative evidence,” said Cary Young, Constables education program coordinator at LEMIT.

The full draft of the policy and procedures is available on the LEMIT website at www.lemitonline.org, which can be accessed at public libraries. Comments can be made via e-mail to lemitresearch@shsu.edu. A printed copy of the draft policy and procedures is available by sending a letter along with a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Dr. Rita Watkins, Executive Director, The Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, Sam Houston State University, 1600 Bobby K. Marks Boulevard, Huntsville, Texas 77341-2417. The comment period will remain open through Nov. 30, 2011.

Once the comments are reviewed and the draft is finalized, the model policy will be presented to law enforcement agencies in Texas for their consideration. Training for peace officers on the policy is expected to be held in the Spring and early Summer of 2012.

Scholarship Turns Tragedy into Hope

2011-10-31T08:43:00.004-05:00

Joy Triplett (l) presents the Sarah Janine Cleary and Michael Griffin Cleary Scholarship to Katrina Caldwell-Russell.

When Jim and Joy Triplett lost their daughter, Sarah Janine Cleary, in a double homicide in Montgomery County in 1997, they established an endowment in her memory at Sam Houston State University College of Criminal Justice and in honor of their son, Michael Griffin Cleary, then a senior criminal justice major at the College.

The family’s intention was to help prevent a similar tragedy from happening to another family by supporting the education of a criminal justice professional.

“We want to prevent something like this from happening to a family like ours,” Joy Triplett said in a recent interview.

After graduation, Michael Cleary worked initially in risk management and insurance for several different companies before landing a job with the Hilti Corporation. In addition, Michael is the proud father of three boys.

“We are very proud of Michael,” said Joy Triplett. “During the most difficult time in his life, he faced this and completed his education. He had the support of the administration and professors during the hardest time of his life, and they provided tremendous support.”

Since 1997, the Cleary endowment has financially assisted 47 scholarships for those in criminal justice, including at least one Ph.D. graduate in the field. For the Tripletts, the scholarships have put a positive spin on a dark chapter in their lives.

“It’s always a very positive, hopeful time for us,” said Joy Triplett of the two annual ceremonies that unite donors and recipients. “Even though Sarah is not with us, her memory lives on in the students who will go on to careers in law enforcement. We always hoped that because of something tragic, something positive came out of it.”

Joy Triplett enjoys following the students as they progress through their college careers, and several students have been awarded the scholarship over consecutive years. Joy Triplett gets to meet students during the Scholarship Luncheon in the fall and College of Criminal Justice Honors Convocation in the Spring. One of the scholarship recipients, Cody Dixon, received the scholarship for several years and became close friends to the Tripletts. As a SHSU baseball player, Dixon invited the family to his baseball game, where they were able to meet the Cody’s parents.

“It is a personal touch to know the family,” Joy Triplett said. In the Spring of 2011, the endowment awarded four scholarships, including one to Katrina Caldwell-Russell. The student’s parents are both disabled and were unable to help her with college costs. Now a senior, Russell could not attend school if it had not been for scholarships. She expects to graduate in May debt-free.

“I think it gives them the opportunity to attend college to get a degree without accumulating a substantial debt,” Triplett said.

Before her death, Sarah Janine Cleary was a 1997 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Westfield High School and the recipient of a scholastic scholarship to the Louisiana State University Honors Program. In a statement that accompanies each application form, the Tripletts keep Sarah’s memory alive. It reads:

“Sarah was a very kind, loving, free-spirited, Christian who was excited about her life and future. She was an exceptionally bright, multi-talented individual, who craved learning and academic achievement and recognition as an intelligent, versatile individual. Sarah was very strong-minded and very committed to the principles she believed in. She was the love and joy of our lives.

"This scholarship was established to keep Sarah's memory alive. We are also hopeful that each recipient will take her/his education as seriously as Sarah did and will dedicate her/his life to making this world a safer place in which to live.

"We hope that our efforts in establishing this scholarship will not only keep Sarah's memory alive but will also prevent others from experiencing the painful loss we feel for our loving daughter Sarah."

Real Talk w/CJ: Paul Davies, Diplomatic Security Service

2011-10-25T15:15:00.001-05:00

Tue., Oct. 25, 2011
2-3 P.M.
CJava Cafe

NCIS Agent is Jack-of-All Trades

2011-10-24T11:09:00.004-05:00

NCIS Special Agent Chad Willie, a 1995 SHSU alumnus, covers felony investigations in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps over an eight-state area.

As a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) in Memphis covering eight states, Chad Willie has to develop an expertise in a lot of different specialties.

“This is the only agency that can charge people under the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), all 50 state laws and in federal court,” said Willie, a 1995 Sam Houston State University Alumnus. “You are a jack-of-all trades.”

After spending 10 years in the Arlington Police Department, Willie joined NCIS, which is responsible for all felony criminal investigations for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and their dependents, in 2005. Among the cases he tackles are rapes, death investigations, murders, computer crimes, child pornography, and fraud. His office covers Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas.

“We deal with everything from computer crimes to rape and murder,” said Willie.

In 2008, Willie was given the "Law Enforcement Public Service Award" from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia for case work on a narcotics and fugitive investigation.

In addition to criminal investigations, NCIS is assigned to protection duty for U.S. officials and foreign dignitaries, and well as counterterrorism and counter intelligence.

As if learning these diverse tasks were not enough, Willie recently returned from a three-year assignment in Japan, where he was the sole NCIS criminal investigator for the island of Kyushu. In addition to the language, Willie had to learn the customs and traditions of the Japanese culture.

“It is very interesting when you have to liaison with a foreign government,” said Willie. “You have to learn their customs and ways of doing business. Like in Japan, they would never do anything directly. You had to have a meeting first; you had to have tea. They also don’t ask a lot of direct questions.”

While in Japan, Willie investigated the case of a Master Chief in the Navy who tried to murder his entire family. He was the lead investigator on the case.

As a civilian employee at NCIS, Willie began his career in Norfolk, VA., which is home to a fleet of 150 ships and a hotbed of activities for dignitaries. During his tour there, he helped with the protection details for then Vice President Dick Cheney and the Queen of England. During his current assignment, he serves on the protection detail for the Secretary of the Navy.

“When the Queen was here, I carried the crown jewels – or what she had of the crown jewels at the time – on the plane,” Willie said.

After graduating from Sam Houston State in 1995, Willie landed a job with the Arlington Police Department, serving in many different capacities over his decade-long service. He was a patrol officer, school resource officer and field training officer.

“It taught me the basics of investigations before I got to the federal level,” Willie said. “I got hands-on education in law enforcement. I recommend that students get out there on the street and apply what they learned before investigating a federal job. I learned defense tactics, arrest tactics and a basic level of investigation. I made arrests every day.”

Willie said he had always wanted to be a federal special agent after completing his internship with U.S. Customs at Bush International Airport in Houston. During his internship, the agency landed a $9 million heroin seizure case, and he helped transport evidence and manually count the money.

“I was part of the broad picture of how things worked,” Willie said. “It gave me an opportunity to watch trained investigators coordinate a multi-agency task force.”

Willie said he chose SHSU because of its reputation in criminal justice and its small, hometown atmosphere. He remembers his classes with Dr. Glen Kercher, who taught him the psychological aspects of criminal justice.

“It was a good foundations and I felt at home here,” said Willie. “It was a small hometown atmosphere with fantastic faculty.”

Willie has advice for current students.

“You have to work as hard as you can and, if you apply yourself, you can be anything you want to be,” said Willie. “I tried to achieve at the highest level.”

Vietnamese Police Get Professional Training at LEMIT

2011-10-20T16:37:00.004-05:00

A delegation of 20 Corporals from Vietnam met with police officials in Huntsville.

The Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas hosted its first professional development program for high-ranking police officials from the Ministry of Public Security in Vietnam.

Twenty Colonels, representing regional commanders in Vietnam, attended “Leadership and Management Skills Inventory” during a 13-day visit from Oct. 2-13. The program was designed to provide an overview of the roles and responsibilities of organizational leaders through interactive seminars and site visits to criminal justice agencies in Texas.

“This is the first of several professional development courses for Vietnam and hopefully the start of an enduring relationship,” said Dr. David Webb, Assistant Director of LEMIT.

During their stay, the delegation visited several law enforcement and corrections agencies in Texas, including the Fort Bend Independent School District Police, the Huntsville Police Department , Woodlands area patrols and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. They also toured specialized facilities, including the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science Facility, the Sam Houston State University Regional Crime Lab and the Office of Emergency Management for the city of Houston.

Dr. Webb said the Vietnamese officials were impressed with school-based policing and hope to bring the concept back to their country.

“They certainly enjoyed the field trips because it gave them the opportunity to compare how things operate in Vietnam compared to working in an individualized society instead of a socialist society,” Dr. Webb said.

The delegation learned about the American criminal justice system, including police, courts, probation and prison as well as the policing options at the local, state and federal levels. They also explored the dynamics of leadership in the American system, with a focus on community policing, as well as the different components of the penal system, including prison, probation and parole.

Sessions reviewed different models of contemporary police leadership as well as the ethical issues in operating modern day police agencies. The group also discussed the value of criminal justice research in suggesting what works in policing and what can be used to improve police performance. They also learned key decision-making skills, whether in critical incident management or in a “group think” atmosphere.

Several SHSU faculty as well as staff from LEMIT and the Correctional Management of Texas helped present the program, including Drs. David Webb, Willard Oliver, Philip Lyons, Joan Bytheway, Sarah Kerrigan, Bill Wells, Randy Garner as well as Magdalena Denham and Doug Dretke.

The program is part of the International Police Program at LEMIT, which provides opportunities for Texas law enforcement officers to interact professionally with their counterparts from other countries. A series of professional visits and officer exchanges have occurred with China, Korea, Thailand, Italy, Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Alumnus Creates “Truancy Guys” to Close Gateway to Delinquency

2011-10-20T16:23:00.004-05:00

The "Truancy Guys" from the Fort Bend Sheriff's Office include (l to r) Deputy Jerome Ellis, Juvenile Outreach Coordinator Dennis McAfee and Corporal Roger Barton.

They’re called the “Truancy Guys.”

The brainchild of Dennis McAfee, the Juvenile Outreach Coordinator for the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, the Truancy Abatement Program began 13 years ago with a mission to keep kids in school. The program, which reached 24,000 students in the 2010-2011 school year, includes an education component for students, teachers and administrators; home visits; curfew checks; and truancy sweeps.

“Truancy is the gateway to delinquency,” said McAfee, who earned Bachelor and Master’s Degrees from Sam Houston State University. “That’s the battle.”

The program, one of the few operated by a Sheriff’s Office in Texas, is a collaborative effort among the Sheriff, the Fort Bend Partnership for Youth, Fort Bend County Juvenile Probation, and other local law enforcement agencies. The Truancy Guys work with Fort Bend ISD, Lamar CISD, Needville ISD, Stafford MSD, Brazos ISD, Katy ISD and the St. Laurence Catholic School system.

“I recognized the need many years ago when we noticed the number of daytime burglaries and criminal mischief cases involved so many juveniles,” said Fort Bend County Sheriff Milton Wright. “Our initial goal was to reduce the number of kids without supervision on the street, which is now shown by the dramatic reduction in daytime burglaries and criminal mischief cases.”

Wright recalls the first time a multi-agency truancy sweep was conducted.

“The first year, Dennis did it by himself,” Wright said. “The next year, we made 130 contacts in one day with numerous agencies involved. The next time we made a sweep that number was cut in half, and the third time, it was down to three contacts. It was at that point we expanded the program to work with juveniles in the school systems to make it a more full-time effort,” he said.

During the 2010-2011, Fort Bend County juvenile outreach officers made 321 presentations in 94 area schools from elementary to high school. They assisted Juvenile Probation in 1,255 daytime school and night-time home curfew checks, contacting 924 juveniles on probation. They also made 64 home contacts for Lamar CISD and Stafford MSD and assisted in 41 Directives to Apprehend, the equivalent of warrants for juvenile offenders.

Corporal Roger Barton and Deputy Jerome Ellis are the current “Truancy Guys.” They want children to remain in school and they want students to stay out of trouble by attending class.

“We have to make our presentations age-appropriate,” said Ellis. “If they’re 10years old, they’ll get one message. When they get older, the message has to change because we face different questions. But we’re bringing the truth to them in a style that fits their age. Sixth graders and above are into relationships; they face drugs or other issues, so our message has to fit the age. We have to stay current with the law and also on what these kids are doing.”

The team of juvenile officers also organized eight truancy sweeps during the school year, using police officers, school personnel, constables and others to search neighborhoods, storage facilities and restaurants for kids who should be in school. The sweeps resulted in 167 juveniles being investigated for truancy.

“When school officials are having trouble with kids, an ‘official presence’ – someone who has a badge – can make a difference,” Barton said. “We give students resource manuals to get them help. If they need clothes, let’s go to Second Mile Mission or some of the other clothes outlets. Pregnant? Lamar CISD has a great program for students who are pregnant. They may not know about these resources.”

To help drive the message home, the Fort Bend Partnership for Youth produced two booklets “Now That You’re Ten,” and “Before It’s Too Late,” illustrating the consequences students may face in the juvenile justice system. These booklets are part of the Truancy Guys’ presentations to fourth- and fifth-graders.

“Today, I am here to teach you, but if you choose to break the law I may be back to arrest you,” said Barton. “We tell them what will happen to them if they break the law. On the other hand, we want them to know that we care for them and we will do anything to protect them.”

The Truancy Guys make house calls, too. At the parents’ request in LCISD and Stafford MSD, they’ll visit a home, talk to students and parents, identify problems, offer advice, and make referrals to resources within the county.

“When you see those kids, you realize you may be the only positive influence they face in their lives,” Ellis said. “Everyone can remember the last exchange they had with a police officer. We have to give them a positive outlook, something that breathes hope and structure.”

McAfee is proud of the program and the deputies selected for the job. “Can you tell we’ve got the right guys for the job?”

For more information about this program visit www.co.fort-bend.tx.us : go to Sheriff’s Office/Community Services Division/ Truancy Abatement Program or call 281-341-4681.

Students Witness Innocence in Death Row Cases

2011-10-20T09:50:00.004-05:00

Five exonerated Death Row inmates recently visited the College of Criminal Justice.

Five former Death Row inmates, who were exonerated from their crimes, visited Sam Houston State University to provide insight on the criminal justice system to future law enforcement, corrections and legal professionals.

“It’s archaic, it’s barbaric, and it’s morally wrong, especially for a country that holds itself out as a standard bearer for humanitarian interests all over the world,” Ron Keine, who was wrongly convicted in the kidnapping and murder of a University of New Mexico student in 1974. ”We send wheat, we send food, we send money, we send help all over the world, yet at home we kill our own people. We are one of the few nations that do it.”

The five men, including Keine, Clarence Brandley, Albert Burrell, Gary Drinkard and Jeremy Sheets, are members of Witness to Innocence, a group representing 138 Death Row inmates from seven states who were exonerated from their crimes. The organization is in Texas for the annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty in Austin on Oct. 22. The National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice hosted their visit to the College of Criminal Justice to educate students about the flaws in the system.

“You need to look at yourselves and look at your souls,” said Jeremy Sheets, who was on Death Row in Nebraska for the rape and murder of a 17-year woman based on a bad confession. “You have to make sure you are doing the right thing. It’s people like us, people just like us. It’s a racist system, and there is injustice for poor people and people of color.”

Since 1973, 138 people in 26 states have been released from Death Row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Among the reasons their cases were overturned were poor legal representation, racial prejudice, prosecutorial misconduct, erroneous evidence, false confessions, scientific evidence and eyewitness error, Witness to Innocence said.

Brandley said he spent nine years, nine months and 23 days on Death Row in Texas for the murder of a 16-year old Conroe cheerleader. His first trial ended in a hung jury, but he was convicted during the second trial by what he said was an ambitious prosecutor.

“They only used capital punishment for one reason – to enhance his political career.” Brandley said. “We want to educate and enlighten people that there are flaws in the system.”

Keine said there is a lot of racial disparity in Death Penalty cases and that many occur in the Bible belt of the South.

“How can a Christian person like the death penalty,” Keine asked. “If you look at the Death Penalty and slavery, the states with the highest numbers of slaves also have the highest number of death penalty cases.

Drinkard said his Alabama capital case was overturned based on prosecutorial misconduct.

“It’s the same song that the attorneys don’t care,” said Drinkard, who was convicted of murdering a junk yard dealer based on the testimony of his half-sister and her husband. “They don’t want to investigate. A decent attorney should be taking a little bit of interest in the case….You should be good at what you do.”

Delia Perez-Meyer’s brother, Louis Castro Perez, still sits on Death Row in Texas, charged with the murder of three people. She said her brother found the victims and tried to help the nine-year old girl, who scratched him in the process. Perez-Meyers said she believes the Railroad Killer, Angel Maturino Resendiz, was responsible for the murders.

“Almost one-third of the people who were executed were innocent,” Perez-Meyer said.

Dr. Howard Henderson of the College of Criminal Justice hosted the group during his class. The presentation was arranged with the assistance of Dr. Dennis Longmire.

“I try to make sure that in class, my students get exposed to as many different dynamics as possible,” said Dr. Henderson. “It is one thing to read it in a book and another to see it in real life. I want them to meet individuals from all walks of life. You want students to recognize that although you have a policy, sometimes they just didn’t do it.”

Exploring Careers in Diplomatic Security

2011-10-19T08:09:00.003-05:00

Special Agent Paul Davis (r) poses with Israeli Defense Minister Ehub Barak (center) and an Israeli Shin Bet officer.

When Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad recently met Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in New York to discuss issues surrounding a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, Paul Davies was at the center of it all.

Davies, a Supervisory Special Agent with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS), was in charge of providing security for the Defense Minister, which included 35 special agents as well as coordination with the New York City Police Department. The meeting went off without a hitch.

Such is the life of a Special Agent in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. One day, Davies may be guarding the Dalai Lama during a visit to Houston, and the next day he could be breaking down doors to arrest suspects for visa or passport fraud. Davies will be the featured speaker at Real Talk w/ CJ on Oct. 25 from 2 to 3 p.m. in CJava Café.

“The great thing about this job is it is interesting because it changes every day,” said Davies. “You get to spend a lot of time overseas and, because it is a smaller agency, you get more responsibility and experience early on in your career.”

As a Supervisory Agent with Diplomatic Security in the Department of State, Davies leads a team of 11 special agents in Houston, a city with the third largest number of consulates (80) in the U.S. The office, which covers Texas and Oklahoma, is responsible for maintaining the integrity of U.S. passports and visas; investigating human trafficking networks; providing support for Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso; conducting personnel security investigations of prospective candidates for employment with the Department of State and other foreign affairs agencies; and protecting high-level foreign dignitaries during visits to the U.S. and foreign missions and consulates on U.S. soil.

During his career, Davies has protected many U.S. and foreign dignitaries, including former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. His Houston agents frequently travel overseas on foreign missions. His team is also responsible for investigating 250 cases of passport or visa fraud for the Department of State or those referred by other federal or local agencies. Those cases include human trafficking and smuggling, identity fraud or sham companies set up to bring in foreign workers. The Houston office is particularly busy because of its proximity to the Mexican border.

Davies began his career with Diplomatic Security in 1998 after graduating from The Citadel and serving eight years as an Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1993 while in Somalia, he met a DS Special Agent, who sparked his interest. After applying to the major federal agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI and DEA, Davies opted for Diplomatic Security because it gave him the opportunity to spend time overseas. He has worked in Pakistan, Indonesia and Iraq. In fact, during an early assignment, he was in East Timor off Australia, where he had to evacuate the U.S. Embassy during a coupe e’tat.

“You have to be willing to travel,” Davies said. “Ninety percent of the agents will spend one-third to one-half of their time abroad.”

Davies has some tips for those interested in getting in his line of work. In addition to earning a college degree and getting good grades, Davies said legitimate, real life experience helps. At least 50 percent of Diplomatic Security agents come from either a law enforcement agency or the military.

Language skills are also a real plus, especially those in high demand, such as Arabic, Chinese, or Urdu, which is spoken in Pakistan.

Davies also recommends that students seek a leadership position in a club.

“Finding a leadership position in a club helps to beef up your application,” Davies said.

High School Teachers Get Lessons in Forensics

2011-10-18T13:47:00.006-05:00

Dr. Chi-Chung (Jorn) Yu demonstrates how to make a trajectory kit for ballistics.

High school teachers from across the state gathered at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) to learn about the latest tools for teaching forensic science in the classroom.

A total of 63 teachers attended the annual High School Criminal Justice Instructor Training at the College of Criminal Justice on Oct. 13 and 14. They learned about the latest practices and research in ballistics and bloodstain patterns, toxicology, arson investigation, drug impairment, digital forensics and forensic psychology from professors at SHSU and practitioners in the field.

“I’ve gotten several new lesson plans to incorporate into the curriculum or to enhance what I already have,” said Tom Cave of Lanier High School.

Teachers had the opportunity to visit the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science (STAFS)Facility and the Walls Unit at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as well as to sit in on college classes on criminology, victimology and white collar crime.

“I really enjoyed it, and it was really informative,” said Christine Ziese of New Braunfels High School. “I am looking forward to the things you offer in the summer.”

In addition to learning from professionals in the field, teachers also had a collaborative session where they swapped lesson plans that have been successful in their own classrooms.

“I was impressed with the variety of topics,” said June Strohsahl of Pine Tree High School. “I also enjoyed sharing with the other teachers.”

Dr. Chi-Chung (Jorn) Yu, an Assistant Professor at the College, provided insight on how to use everyday items, such as a stick, elastic string, and a laser pointer, to study bullet trajectories at a crime scene. He also taught teachers how to create and use blood spatter experiments in the classroom, using different tools and ketchup.

Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, Director of the SHSU Regional Crime Lab, also discussed the tools of the trade that she uses in the lab to identify controlled substances and to determine the purity, volume and location of where it originated. She showed teachers how color tests can be done on simple substances, such as quinine, sugar, aspirin, mace and nutmeg, to get false positive results for drugs.

Sgt. Josh Bruegger, a Drug Recognition Expert with the Pasadena Police Department, talked about ways to detect drug impairment. The DR experts go beyond the traditional field sobriety test and breathalyzer when dealing with suspected drugged drivers. The 12 step evaluation process assesses the person’s appearance and behavior; measures vital signs, records automatic responses and reaction, and evaluates judgment, information processing, and coordination.

Andy Bennett, Director of the Center of Excellence in Digital Forensics at SHSU, discussed the many different electronic devices in use today such as computers, cell phones, and even GPS watches, that can yield evidence in a criminal investigation. Digital forensic experts can find deleted or hidden files; decrypt passwords; track Web browsing history, social media and networking activities; reconstruct timeliness and support findings. The specialists are in demand in government, law enforcement, the military, and the private sector.

Chantal Bergeron, a Doctoral candidate at SHSU, talked about the traits of psychopathy, a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity and a failure to learn from experience. She showed teachers experiments and web sites that could be used to illustrate this disorder that affects approximately 1 percent of the general population and up to 15 percent of the inmate population. She also showed “successful" psychopaths who have used to the same traits to get ahead in business.

Barry Freece, senior special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco and Firearms, presented information about arson investigations and what to look for look for at the scene of a fire to evaluate those cases.

“Hosting and delivering this annual conference for high school criminal justice and forensic science teachers continues to be a win-win,” says Dr. Holly Miller, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs. “The teachers are able to utilize the latest knowledge and research presented at our conference in their classrooms, and we are able to promote our recognized College of Criminal Justice and Sam Houston State University.”

Study Abroad Trips Planned to Italy, China, UK in 2012

2011-10-18T11:45:00.003-05:00

The College of Criminal Justice is offering a world full of opportunities for students to study criminal justice in other countries through Study Abroad programs in 2012.

Over the summer, College faculty will lead trips to Italy, China, and Scotland/England to provide a firsthand look at the current and historical operations of law enforcement and corrections in these countries. In addition to interacting with criminal justice professionals, students have the opportunity to see some of the top tourist attractions during their trips. Students who participate in Study Abroad programs also earn three credits toward their degrees.

“Come for the credits and stay for the education,” said Amanda Burris, Administrative Assistant for International/Study Abroad Programs. “You will not want to miss these fantastic trips. You can take in the beauty and history of each country during this once in a lifetime experience.”

The trip to Italy with Dr. Will Oliver will be held from May 14-26. Travel will include Rome, the Vatican, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, and a day trip to Venice, with visits to the crime museum in Rome, the Coliseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and St. Mark’s Square in Venice. The cost of the trip is $2,250 and includes airfare, in-country travel, lodging, museum entry and most meals.

The trip of China led by Dr. Ling Ren also will be held from May 14-26. This trip will provide CJ students with an overview of China’s law enforcement system and will explore historical and contemporary policing issues by exchanges with police cadets, interaction with police professionals, and visits to major and local police departments. In addition, this course will introduce the students to Chinese culture, customs, and cuisine.

Some of the cultural and historic sites to be visited are Hangzhou: West Lake, Linyin Temple, Leifeng Pagoda, and the National Tea Museum; Shanghai: Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Bund (Wai Tan), Nang Jing Road, Jade, Buddha Temple, Yu Garden, Huangpu River Cruise, and the Museum of Contemporary Art; Putuo Mountain; and Xitang Ancient Town. The cost is $1,500 and includes visa application fees, lodging, in-country transportation, museum entries, and most meals.

The Scotland/England Study Abroad Program, with dates to be announced, will be lead by Dr. Mitchel Roth. Travel will include tours/visits to prisons such as Wandsworth and Pentonville (oldest working British prison); museums; Tower of London; Parliament; and Old Bailey.

While in the UK, students will visit Bramshill Police College and also interact with police officials, probation officers, and other criminal justice professionals. There will be opportunities to take the Jack the Ripper night-time walking tour, take a Thames River boat tour to Greenwhich, see Salisbury (Magna Carta), Stonehenge, Cambridge, Canterbury, Bath, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and many other memorable places. The cost of the trip is $2,450 and includes in-country travel, lodging, entry fees and some meals.

Tuition and airfare are not included in these courses. Scholarships are available through the Office of International Programs at http://www.shsu.edu/~int_www/scholarships/.

To reserve a seat in a CJ Study Abroad Program, complete an application at http://www.cjcenter.org/resources/forms.html#abroad and submit a non-refundable $100 deposit by April 1, 2012.

Detecting "Bath Salt" Designer Drugs

2011-10-18T11:13:00.003-05:00

In October 2011 the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Forensic Science Foundation (FSF) funded a capstone project proposal in the Master of Forensic Science Program to investigate the designer drugs known as “Bath Salts” (beta-keto-amphetamines or BKAs).

Designer drugs have posed a challenge for law enforcement and forensic scientists for decades, but more recently the proliferation of analogs has overwhelmed the scientific community, in large part due to the internet. The majority of BKA designer drugs are derived from cathinone, the active ingredient of Khat (Catha edulis), a plant native to Africa and the Middle East. Synthesis of these drugs is readily accomplished by clandestine chemists, making it an appealing drug for the designer drugs market.

The study will specifically address a number of central nervous system stimulants that are capable of producing powerful and unpredictable adrenergic and hallucinogenic effects. Many of these drugs were considered “legal highs” until the Drug Enforcement Administration placed several of them in Schedule I of the Federal Controlled Substance Act in an emergency scheduling action earlier this year. These drugs were available locally in gas stations, head shops and online until September 1 of this year, when The State of Texas enacted legislation to ban these substances. At least 24 other states have outlawed them, or have legislation pending due to intense media interest and publicity.

In the proposed study, at least six of the most popular “bath salt” drugs will be investigated in biological samples. These include mephedrone, methylone, ethylone, butylone, MDPV and naphyrone. Mephedrone is one of the most common BKAs. It has a reputation of having similar but superior effects to MDMA (3,4 -methylenedioxymethamphetamine or Ecstasy). Street names for mephedrone include MCAT, meow meow, MMC hammer, 4 MMC, bubbles, meph, rush, drone and plant feeder. Mephedrone and the related BKAs are still relatively new, so few clinical, pharmacological or toxicological studies have been reported.

These drugs are easily identified in seized drug materials. The SHSU Regional Crime Laboratory (RCL) operated by the Criminal Justice Center routinely receives items of evidence containing these drugs. Detection in toxicological (biological) evidence is far more challenging. Toxicologists are struggling to develop methodology to detect these drugs (and their metabolites) in biological specimens. Even less is understood with respect to the interpretation of results, and this has real consequences in terms of criminal casework and death investigation.

In order for these drugs to be studied and understood, analytical methodology will be developed for routine use. In the proposed study, solid phase extraction (SPE) will be used to isolate the beta-keto amphetamines from biological matrices. Chromatographic and spectroscopic methods will be developed for instrumental analysis of the biological extracts. Chemical derivatization will be used to develop extracts that are amenable to common instrumental techniques that are used in a crime laboratory, such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

The research will be conducted by MSFS student Kayla Ellefsen from Toronto, Canada and Dr. Sarah Kerrigan. Due to the scheduling status of some of these drugs, much of the research must be conducted at the Regional Crime Laboratory in The Woodlands. The proposed study is an example of the MSFS student capstone experience, whereby students must successfully complete an intensive one-year research project with a faculty member. During the final phase of the study, the optimized procedure will be validated for use in actual casework at the Regional Crime Laboratory. This NIJ/FSF funded research highlights not only the relevance of student research in the field of forensic science, but also the potential for important collaborations between the MSFS Program and the RCL.

SHSU Homecoming Game

2011-10-15T12:22:00.001-05:00

Sat., Oct. 15, 2011
2 p.m.
Bowers Stadium
Huntsville

Join the College of Criminal Justice for sausage on a stick and soft drinks at its Tailgating Party before the big game! Kickoff for SHSU vs. Nicholls State begins at 2 p.m.!

To learn more about the game and to purchase tickets, visit GOBEARKATS.COM

Studying Risk Factors for Female Victimization on Texas College Campuses

2011-10-11T09:59:00.003-05:00

According to recent research, 15 to 30 percent of women will experience rape or attempted rape during their college careers. Similarly, property crime and personal victimization remains a concern on college campuses.

To highlight prevention, the Crime Victims’ Institute recently released findings from a study that investigated the impact of students’ daily routine activities and levels of self-control on personal, property crime, and sexual assault victimization.

The study, entitled “Risk Factors Associated with Women’s Victimization,” provides important implications for crime prevention strategies on Texas college campuses. It was authored by Drs. Cortney A. Franklin, Travis A. Franklin, Matt R. Nobles, and Glen Kercher of Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice.

Important findings presented in the study include:

Lower levels of individual self-control were associated with increases in overall victimization for the college women who participated in the study.
The risk of property crime victimization increased when women spent more time shopping and partying.
Living off campus, participating in drug sales, and being in their early years of college increased property crime victimization risk among these university women.
Personal victimization was related to living off campus and participating in drug sales behavior.
The risk of sexual assault victimization increased with time spent on campus and time spent partying.

“Any study of victimization must acknowledge that offenders are, first and foremost, responsible for the behavioral choices they make that negatively impact others. To empower victims, however, findings from this study reiterate the value of prudent behavioral choices, in-school residence options, and target hardening strategies employed to guard against threats to property and personal safety,” said Dr. Cortney Franklin, the lead researcher. “The goal of this study is not to hold would-be victims accountable for their own victimization, though it is instructive to consider the impact of lifestyle variables and how situational and individual constructs can strengthen property, personal, and sexual security.”

The study was conducted using 2,233 online surveys completed by women enrolled at 8 randomly-selected, public universities in Texas. The average age of the respondents was 22.59 years old. The study focused on property crime victimization (larceny, burglary, vandalism, motor vehicle theft and theft), personal victimization (face-to-face crimes and violent crime but excluding sexual assault), and sexual assault (including oral, vaginal, anal or other types of violation that are of a sexual nature).

The authors concluded that self-control deficits remain a useful construct in understanding behaviors that precede property crime, personal, and sexual assault victimization. Lower levels of self-control may influence an individual’s participation in high-risk behaviors, such as the heavy drinking that occurs frequently on college campuses. Additionally, routine patterns of public behavior like nighttime social activities, frequent partying and, in the case of rape, regular daytime campus involvement were also shown to influence victimization risk.

Additionally, participating in drug sales behavior significantly enhanced risk across all three victimization types cementing the importance of selecting prosocial friends and limiting associations with potential offenders.

The Crime Victims’ Institute, located at Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice, was created by the Texas Legislature in 1995 to study the impact of crime on victims, their relatives and society as a whole. Research sponsored by CVI evaluates the effectiveness of criminal justice and juvenile justice policy, and develops recommendations to prevent future criminal victimization in society. Findings are also routinely presented to news media, victim service providers, legislators, judges and police officers.

Two SHSU P.D. Students Earn Graduate Research Awards

2011-10-10T12:36:00.014-05:00

Robin Jackson Two Ph.D. students from the College of Criminal Justice earned awards from the Southwestern Association of Criminal Justice (SWACJ) in a graduate student paper competition.

Robin D. Jackson was presented first place and Youngoh Jo took second place in the competition for research papers. Jackson’s paper was “Social bonds and nonmedical prescription drug use by adolescents,” and Jo’s was "The stability of self-control: Hirschi's redefined self-control."

“The two prizes awarded to Sam Houston State University graduate students not only reflects well on our two students, but the faculty that have mentored them and our College as a whole,” said Dr. Will Oliver.

The Southwest Association of Criminal Justice is a regional affiliate of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, one of two major professional organizations in the field. Its membership includes institutions and agencies from across the country. The organizations recently held its annual meeting in College Station, Texas.

Jackson submitted her paper on nonmedical prescription drug use by adolescents and social bonds. The paper found that recent trends indicate an increase in the use of prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes by adolescents. Previous research indicates that prescription drug abuse along with marijuana use is greater than the prevalence of other illicit drug use. Additionally, some studies indicate that a correlation exists between illicit drug use and nonmedical use of prescription drugs by adolescents.

Despite these findings, few studies exploring the use of prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes exist in criminal justice literature. An even smaller amount examines the relationship between criminological theory and the nonmedical use of prescription drugs by adolescents. The current study utilizes the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine the relationship between all four social bonds and nonmedical prescription drug use among adolescents.

Findings from the study provide partial support for social bonding theory and additional support for demographic trends related to nonmedical prescription drug use. Adolescents and young adults with strong attachments to parents and school as well as high involvement with school related activities are less likely to report nonmedical prescription drug use. Females are more likely than males to report nonmedical use of prescription drugs, and a correlation exist between alcohol consumption and nonmedical prescription drug use by adolescents, yet no correlation exists for other illicit drug use.

Jackson said the she initially did the paper for a class last spring. “I was not expecting to win,” said Jackson. “ I am proud to represent Sam Houston State University.”
Youngoh JoJo examined the stability of self-control in his research paper. According to his abstract, Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory has been rigorously tested and received consistent support for strong low self-control-deviance relationship, while one of the fundamental premises of the theory, stability of self-control, has not been fully investigated.

Using Hirschi’s (2004) redefinition of self-control, this study examines the stability thesis. A recent longitudinal national data of South Korean youths with ages ranging from 14 to 18 is used for this purpose. Correlation analysis reveals moderate relationships among self-controls for five years. Gender differences in self-control are significant and consistent, while the differences in self-control between offender and non-offender vary across different time points. Finally, the results of growth mixture modeling show that group differences in self-control change rather than being stable. Overall, the study provides weak support for self-control stability. The implications of these findings are discussed. Jo thanked Dr. Todd Armstrong for inspiring his paper.

“I thank Dr. Todd Armstrong for providing a great class where I learned a lot about criminological theory and got the idea of this paper,” Jo said.

Jo said this was his first time attending SWACJ and he found the presentations “thoughtful, interesting and professionally useful.”

“The relatively smaller group of attendees than national conferences not only facilitated robust discussions during the program, but also provided a relaxed atmosphere conducive to networking during the luncheon and breaks,” Jo said. “Especially, I was amazed by so many active Sam graduates in academia, which made me proud of studying at Sam.“

Battle of the Piney Woods

2011-10-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

Sat., Oct. 8, 2011
2 p.m.
Reliant Stadium
Houston, TX

Sam Houston State University takes on Stephen F. Austin University for the Battle of the Piney Woods in Reliant Stadium. Join the College of Criminal Jutice Tailgating at the SHSU area before the game!

To learn more about the game and to purchase tickets, visit GOBEARKATS.COM

Harris County Grand Jury Visits STAFS “Body Farm,” Crime Lab

2011-10-07T16:42:00.006-05:00

Representatives from the grand jury, district attorney and arson squad in Harris County recently toured the SHSU Regional Crime Lab.

Members of the Harris County Grand Jury, District Attorney’s Office and the Houston Fire Department Arson Squad recently visited the Regional Crime Lab and Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science (STAFS) Facility at Sam Houston State University.

“The tours gave us the opportunity to see close-up the outstanding work being done at the SHSU Crime Lab and the fascinating research being conducted at the STAFS facility,” said Trisha Pollard, an SHSU Alumna and foreman of a Harris County Grand Jury. “The crime lab tour gave us a better understanding about controlled substances and the expense and complexity of running the tests as well as the enormity of the problem.”

“We’ve had some cases where it has been a long time before homicide victims were discovered. The “Body Farm” tour gave us an insight into the investigator’s role in trying to determine the time of death and methods used to determine the cause of death,” Pollard added.

Pollard, who also serves on the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System, arranged the tours for the grand jury to provide a first hand look at the investigation and research processes that go into drug and homicide cases. She also invited members of the criminal justice community in Harris County to participate.

Pollard was instrumental in getting STAFS, also known as the “Body Farm,” located at Sam Houston State University. It’s one of only four willed-body donation centers for forensic science in the world. The donations are a tremendous resource for education and research in various fields of science, such as anthropology, pathology, biology and chemistry. Research conducted at STAFS aids in solving crimes by discovering evidence on and in the body and studying the timing of processes after death.

“This is one of our most cost-effective research facilities,” said Dr. Vincent Webb, Dean of the College of Criminal Justice. “We appreciate Mrs. Pollard’s efforts to bring it to Sam Houston State University.”

Opened in 2009, the nine-acre facility also provides summer courses in crime scene investigations, pattern evidence, forensic anthropology, and entomology to law enforcement personnel, forensic science experts, high school teachers and students. The facility is also used for research by other universities in Texas, such as Texas A & M and the University of Houston, and there are plans to expand opportunities for scientific study via the Internet.

Among the courses taught at STAFS are forensic anthropology; the recognition, recovery and analysis of human remains; the recognition of evidence associated with a crime scene involving human remains; and the necessary collection, preservation and transportation of evidence so contamination and compromise of evidence is eliminated. Participants can earn credits for attending these programs from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TCLEOSE) and the International Association for Identification (IAI).

The Regional Crime Lab, which opened in November 2010, is an independent, accredited crime lab that offers fee-based services for law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, attorneys, other laboratories or organizations, and the general public. It provides testing for controlled substances and toxicology in criminal, civil and death investigation cases. The lab provides analytical, testimonial and support services in these cases.

The lab was created to address a backlog in cases at state and Houston area crime labs and to provide a facility for outlying rural counties in Southeast Texas. It provides timely processing of controlled substances and blood alcohol tests as well as a secure internet reporting system that provides access to the results 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The lab is capable of processing 5,000 cases annually, and is currently handling cases for Montgomery County and other counties in the region.

Real Talk w/CJ: Mary Lewis, Office of Inspector General USDA

2011-10-04T13:12:00.006-05:00

Tue., Oct. 4, 2011
2-3 P.M.
CJava Cafe

On any given day, SHSU Criminal Justice Alumnus Mary (Coulter) Lewis may be investigating dog and cock fighting rings, tracking down fraud in the food stamp program, examining illegal activities in government farm loans, or checking out issues in food safety.

For 23 years, Lewis has worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Office of Inspector General. Her job is to weed out fraud in about 300 government programs in the federal system.

"There is never a dull moment,” said Lewis, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Temple TX office, which covers New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Lewis supervises agents in Central and South Texas and Arkansas. “We are a big lending type agency, with 300 programs. We can have fraud in any one of them…fraud is fraud. You don’t have to know a lot about agricultural programs. It’s never the same every day.”

Lewis, a 1988 criminal justice graduate, will discuss the Department and other federal job opportunities as part of Real Talk w/CJ on Oct. 4 at 2 p.m. in the CJava Café in the Criminal Justice Center.

The Office of Inspector General is the law enforcement arm of the USDA, which covers a diverse array of programs in the federal government, including food stamps, federal farm aid, animal fighting, animal and plant protection, food safety, agricultural research, the forest service and natural resources conservation, to name a few.

The office also investigates wrongdoing by department employees for such offenses as bribery, public corruption and child pornography.

"We are not only investigating farmers and participants in our program, we investigate our employees," Lewis said. "We are like Internal Affairs."

Lewis found out about the USDA as a student at SHSU.

"There are all kinds of opportunities," Lewis said. “If it had not been for my advisor at SHSU, I wouldn’t have known about the job at all. Once you get your foot in the door, you can work at one agency for a while and then get into another agency that may interest you more. It’s a good way to get into the federal system."

Despite dreams of working for the FBI, Lewis stayed in the Department of Agriculture because of the diverse array of work as well as the opportunity to collaborate with other federal agencies on cases. Food stamp fraud, where shop owners purchase government benefits for cash to make a profit, has been linked to terrorist groups oversees. Animal fighting often includes not only gambling and animal cruelty, but also drug deals, illegal weapons and stolen property.

Loan schemes can lead to major fraud, costing the government – and taxpayers -- millions of dollars. In one Houston case, an export program which guarantees payments for grains or other products through bank loans racked up $102 million in fraudulent payments before it was halted. In another farm fraud case, a program participant sold his collateral for a loan – cattle – to buy an engagement ring, a cruise, and new car as well as to make payments on his sun tanning business.

"In these hard economic times, instead of coming in and saying they have a problem, they are selling their collateral," Lewis said. "We are working more of these cases to make an impact on the community."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also vital to the health and safety of food and agriculture in this country. Lewis once supervised a case of a chicken processing plant worker who was in such a hurry to go four-wheeling that he put ink in the chillers with raw chicken rather than take leave. The ink adulterated the food, which caused the plant to be shut down and the meat to be destroyed, costing the business $100,000.

Another time, her office caught several USDA border inspectors in Laredo, TX, who were responsible for ensuring vegetables and flowers were fumigated to destroy incoming pests from Mexico. Not only did the agricultural workers falsify their overtime records on their inspections, the fumigation process was never done, opening up the U.S. to potentially harmful bugs.

“There is one beetle that can wipe out an entire forest,” Lewis said.

As the Special Agent in Charge in Temple, Lewis supervises six agents, two in Arkansas and four in Texas. In the past, she also has served on the USDA’s Emergency Response Team.

Lewis urges students to look at all federal agencies, not just the popular ones.

“I want to let them know about all the opportunities available in the federal system,” Lewis said. “You don’t have to wait for the big agencies. I have the same authority as the other branches, but I work cases in the USDA.”

Weimer Chief Upgrades Small Town Policing

2011-10-04T08:32:00.004-05:00

Weimar Chief Bill Livingston is a Masters alumnus from SHSU and vice president of the Leadership Command College Alumni Association at LEMIT.

When Bill Livingston became Chief of the Weimar Police Department in 1993, officers had to go to the repair shop to pick up patrol cars – and hope that they made it through a shift . The department operated out of a tiny office in City Hall.

Since then, each officers has been assigned their own vehicle equipped with a computer and computer-aided dispatch, a cell phone, .357 gun and rifle, and even V-view lapel cameras. The police department has moved into its own building, with a secure four acre storage lot. It will soon add a vehicle lift to help state and local police search for drugs from stops on the I-10 corridor.

“When I got here, you didn’t go to the police department to get your car, you went to the repair shop,” Livingston said. “Now everyone has their own car. Technology is changing every single day and we are trying to keep up with cell phones, Nextel, CAD systems, computers in cars and new reporting systems.”

Livingston, a SHSU Masters Alumnus and Vice President of the Leadership Command College Alumni Association, has built a professional, eight-man police department in Weimar in Colorado County. He came to his law enforcement career later in life, after spending 15 years in the insurance business.

“I really liked the idea of helping people,” said Livingston.

Livingston began in law enforcement as a part-time deputy in the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office in 1989. During that same period, Livingston served as a part-time administrative assistant to the County Judge , where he helped establish the 9-1-1 rural addressing system for Fayette County and created a countywide emergency plan. The rural addressing system mapped all properties in Fayette County in the 9-1-1 system, and the emergency management plan delineated responsibilities among police, fire and emergency medical services during natural and manmade events in the county.

In 1993, Livingston was offered the Chief’s position in Weimar. It is generally a quiet rural town with “a little bit of everything” from drugs to burglaries to domestic disturbances. That was until 1999, when a local minister and his wife were found murdered in the parsonage.

“People couldn’t even remember having one murder in the city and now there were two,” Livingston said.

It turned out to be not just any random act of violence. The murders were tied to Rafael Resendez Ramirez, who grabbed national headlines as the “Railroad Killer,” a serial murderer who rode the rails in search of his next victim, leaving in his wake nine victims in Illinois, Kentucky and Texas, including Rev. Norman J. "Skip" Sirnic and wife Karen in Weimar as well as 73-year-old Josephine Konvicka in nearby Fayette County.

Livingston worked with the Texas Rangers, Houston Police Department and FBI on the case, all the while trying to catch the killer and quell the fears of the community. He held large community meetings and did daily briefing with national media. Residents installed alarms systems and outdoor lights, and some would come to him with rusty old guns asking him to teach them to shoot.

One evening after spending several hours examining minuet details at the crime scene, he rounded the corner of the parsonage to see a large crowd of people gathering for a church service at the minister’s parish. In fear and grief, the crowd addressed him with questions. “That was tough,” Livingston recalled, tears welling in his eyes.

“You can’t learn these lessons in school,” said Livingston. “We were doing everything that we could think of to keep the citizens safe and to locate this killer.”

Since Weimar is located on 1-10, a major east-west corridor for drugs, the city also gets its share of drug arrests and seizures. Several years ago, Weimar officers stopped a bus laden with drug money on its way back to Mexico, which led to a $750,000 seizure windfall. To help with future drug cases, Livingston was just approved to receive a portion of the proceeds for a vehicle lift that can be used by the local department or Texas DPS troopers to more easily examine vehicles for hidden contraband.

Livingston has been active with the Leadership Command College, the premiere professional development series offered at three Texas Universities, including the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, located at Sam Houston State University. He credits LCC with giving him hand-on management experience.

“To me, it is more of a practical than academic approach to instruction,” said Livingston. “It taught a lot of things that I still put to use today. A lot of it made you think and analyze your thoughts, positions and actions. It also gave me a tremendous network of friends/cohorts that I continue to be in touch with today.”

After earning six college credit hours from LCC, Livingston decided to pursue his Master’s degree in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management at SHSU, and he was among the first to graduate in August from the newly revised online program. He credits his studies with helping him in budget preparation, in computer presentations and in developing his portfolio. He also learned the steps he needs to take on employment agreements, and he taught that skill to other law enforcement managers.

“In my position, over the last 18 years, I have dealt with all types of people, employees and the public,” Livingston said. “I have been fortunate to have been able to make numerous advancements in policing in our city, including the addition of equipment, vehicles, facilities, training and the computerization of our offices and vehicles. And, I am extremely proud of my completion of the LCC program and the Master’s program at Sam Houston State University. I recommend them BOTH on a routine basis.”

SHSU Students Aid in Montgomery County Body Search

2011-09-30T14:41:00.003-05:00

A group from SHSU recently assisted the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in Sam Houston State Forest in a search for human remains.

Ten criminal justice and forensic science students from Sam Houston State University recently assisted the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in a real-life search for human remains in the Sam Houston National Forest.

The students, representing the graduate and undergraduate programs, volunteered their time on Sept. 26 to search for skeletal remains after numerous bones were discovered by hunters on Forest Service Road 234 off Calvary Road near Lake Conroe. The bones were strewn over an area the size of half a football field, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office needed assistance to do a meticulous line search of the area.

“To get out of the classroom and into the field was a great experience,” said student Kevin Derr. “It was great to see professionals at work and to get first-hand experiences with crime scene investigators, detectives and police officers. You get an idea of what you could be doing for the rest of your life.”

Students spent 3-1/2 hours as part of teams searching grids within a 300 square foot area. The line search involved scanning the ground, getting down on their hands and knees to search for evidence or cutting through thick brush with machetes to get a closer look. While students did not uncover any new bones, one student was assigned to a team that discovered additional evidence.

“It’s nice to be able to volunteer to help out,” said Graduate Student Angela Rippley. “They only had five to six officers, and they said it would have taken at least a day to search the same area. It is making their jobs a little easier. If it can help find who did this, it will help the family.”

This is not the first time that the Southeast Texas Applied Forensic Science (STAFS) Facility has aided Montgomery County and other jurisdictions in crime cases. Last year, Director Dr. Joan Bytheway analyzed evidence in a Montgomery County homicide where a woman was killed, stuffed in a garbage can and burned. Dr. Bytheway reconstructed the skeleton – which consisted of 100-150 pieces – and found a fracture with tool marks on the skull.

The suspect, Robert Ellis Hinton, Jr., recently pled guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 30 years.

Dr. Bytheway also consults with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and Medical Examiner to determine if bones are human or animal and to analyze skeletal remains to determine age and sex of the victims and evidence of a crime. Dr. Bytheway and SHSU students also have participated in previous line searches for bodies in Montgomery County and were called into Houston County two years ago to find a missing woman. Students were able to retrieve rib bones in that case.

Among the students that participated in the line search were Jacob Filip, Brittany Cuello, Angela Rippley, Ashley Gallaway, Kevin Derr, Chelsea Ashley, Paula Alvers, Sam Narro, David Hoffpauir and SHSU Alumnus Stacie Gray.

“Some of them had never done it before,” said Dr. Bytheway, who was at the scene for two days. “They didn’t realize how meticulous the work is whether it is in the field or in the lab.”

The Montgomery County Sheriff Office said they found 20 bones during their search, but they have been unable to identify the victim. Dr. Bytheway is expected to help analyze the remains for the department.

Terrorism Expert Joins College of Criminal Justice

2011-09-29T09:59:00.002-05:00

A pioneering expert on international terrorism joined the College of Criminal Justice as a visiting professor.

Dr. Stephen Sloan, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, has been a researcher in the field of international terrorism, crisis management, unconventional warfare and political violence for more than 40 years, offering the first college course on the systematic study of terrorism in 1975. He has worked with the military, police and security forces on the issue worldwide.

Dr. Sloan will teach two, Master-level courses in Security Studies this semester, including National Security and Crisis Management. The courses are designed to educate students about conflict, violence, warfare and terrorism and how it fits in the changing international environment. The classes will explore U.S. national and domestic security and will include exercises, command posts and simulations to let students experience a decision-making scenario.

“It’s a protracted form of conflict, and there is no decisive outcome,” said Dr. Sloan. “Ultimately, it’s a test of wills between governments and terrorists. To deal with it effectively, you have to know what it is so you don’t overreact to the images. It is a form of psychological warfare to spread fear and intimation to publicize the terrorists’ cause.”

In addressing terrorism issues, there is also the classic balance between civil liberties and national security. The classes also will study the key role of intelligence in the process.

Dr. Sloan was a professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma for 38 years and lived five blocks from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City when it was bombed by domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh. Dr. Sloan spent 10 days at the site providing media interviews and commentary.

As a graduate student at NYU, his initial focus of study was comparative governmentsand Southeast Asia. After he was caught in the middle of a coup attempt while visiting Indonesia in 1965, his interests turned to terrorism. His dissertation was on “The Study of Political Violence and the Indonesia Experience, ” which he turned into a book.

To better prepare for terrorist attacks across the globe, Dr. Sloan helped run full-scale simulations in countries like Korea, New Zealand, Germany and many others. He served as a consultant on counterterrorism and has written 13 books on the issue, the most recent Red Team and Counterterrorism Training with Robert Bunker.

Dr. Sloan was a Senior Fellow for the Aerospace Doctrine Research and Education at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL., and was a Fulbright Professor at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal. He also taught at Drew University and Upsala College in New Jersey and currently serves as a professor of terrorism studies at the University of Central Florida.

Dr. Sloan is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the American Society for Industrial Security, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the International Counterterrorism and Security Association. Dr. Sloan is married to Dr. Roberta Sloan, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Mass Communition.

Scholarships Open Doors of Opportunity

2011-09-28T15:59:00.004-05:00

Katrina Caldwell-Russell, a senior at the College of Criminal Justice, has been awarded three scholarships during her college career.

Sam Houston State Senior Katrina Caldwell-Russell sees a bright future ahead in the criminal justice field with a federal agency, as a victim counselor or perhaps by combating identity theft. But the best part of all is that she will start her career in May debt-free.

Russell is the recipient of three scholarships from the College of Criminal Justice as well as Pell and Texas Resident grants. Without this assistance, she probably wouldn’t have made it through college.

“I come from an low-income background, and my Mom and Dad are disabled,” said 21-year old Russell. “They haven’t had a hand in any of the monetary aspect of my college career. I thank God for the donors’ special tributes to students. I could not be comfortable and stress-free without receiving scholarships.”

Russell, who was born and raised in Dallas, works full-time as a manager of Cato Fashions. She also carries a full load at Sam Houston State University, where she majors in criminal justice and minors in psychology. She came to the College of Criminal Justice with dreams of becoming a homicide detective, but after learning about the diverse opportunities in the field, she is ready to tackle the world.

“I first came in wanting to be a homicide detective,” Russell said. “As I went through the years, I discovered I wanted to do a little of all of it.”

Russell hopes to get a federal job and has eyed working for Immigration Customs Enforcement. After taking a class in Understanding Human Behavior, she became interested in victim services and would consider a career helping victims of child abuse, elder abuse and rape. She recently spoke to a contact working against identity theft, and she may pursue opportunities in that area. She is undecided in which path to take, but she is fired up for anything.

Russell also wants to keep her options open and plans to take the GRE to further her education in the future.

Since her sophomore year, Russell has received three scholarships from the College of Criminal Justice, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, the E.A. “Bud” Olson Scholarship 100 Club of Houston and the Sarah and Michael Cleary Scholarship. The DAR scholarship was given in honor of the organization’s 100th Anniversary and the Olson Endowment Scholarship was set up by the 100 Club in honor of a longtime board member.

The Cleary scholarship is given in memory of Sarah Janine Cleary and also to honor Michael Cleary, a 1997 SHSU graduate. Russell got to meet Sarah’s mother Joy Triplett, at the Honor’s Convocation. “Her Mom was so sweet,” she said.

Russell encourages other students to apply for scholarships at SHSU and said the process is “easy.” There are about 80 scholarships available in the College of Criminal Justice alone, with many more opportunities throughout the university. “It’s really simple,” said Russell. “All you have to do is go to ScholarX on the SHSU Web site. You fill out one application, and for all that you qualify they will apply for you.”

The application requests personal information and essays on mentors, career goals or participation with organizations on campus. Many of the clubs offer scholarships. Applications are generally due in February for the following year and are awarded in April.

Russell credits her incentive to go to college with “The Rae” program formerly at Justin F. Kimball High School in Dallas. By taking the ACT and SAT, applying to two scholarships a month,and meeting with the college advisor, Dreamworks Board of Directors’ Roger A. Enrico introduced a program to cover tuition after scholarship for students from the school. In addition, Enrico provided a $500 grant to all students who took and passed AP classes, which help Russell pay for her senior expenses.

“You hear the advertisement that there are millions of dollars out there in unclaimed scholarships – it’s true,” Russell said. “It has not had to come out of my pocket for tuition, housing, car expenses and I am going to graduate debt-free. I am blessed and thankful. Words cannot express my appreciation to the donors.”

Prosecutorial Misconduct: The Case of Wrongly Convicted Death Row Inmate

2011-09-28T15:33:00.004-05:00

Dr. Michael S. Vaughn discusses the case of Connick v. Thompson during Constitution Day at SHSU.

Dr. Michael S. Vaughn, director of the College of Criminal Justice Ph.D. program, recently discussed the case of John Thompson, a innocent death row inmate who was convicted of murder and imprisoned for 18 years, during a Constitution Day celebration at Sam Houston State University.

“It was a very interesting case, but I found it to be very troubling,” said Dr. Vaughn, a criminal justice legal expert. “The state's attorney withheld exculpatory crime scene evidence from the defense, and the state's attorney manipulated eyewitnesses’ testimony so that Thompson was misidentified at trial as the killer, and the witness received a reward from the victim's family. Claims of prosecutorial misconduct resulted in the case going to the United States Supreme Court.”

In 1985, Thompson was charged with the murder of Raymond Liuzza in Louisiana. Three weeks later, he was accused in a separate armed robbery. The prosecution failed to turn over exculpatory evidence to Thompson’ attorney, which were used to secure the death penalty and which led to Thompson’s decision not to take the stand in his own defense. The evidence included a blood stain found at the robbery scene, which did not match Thompson’s blood type, and a description of the suspect at the murder scene, which more closely resembled that of a key eyewitness.

After this evidence was discovered, Thompson’s case was overturned based on a Brady violation, which is a 1963 Supreme Court case that requires the government to disclose exculpatory evidence. Thompson was released after 14 years on death row. He filed a civil lawsuit against the prosecutor, then Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. (father of singer Harry Connick Jr.) and won a $14 million verdict based on violations of his 5th and 14th Amendment rights.

The 5th Amendment states that there can be no trial without an indictment and prohibits double jeopardy and compulsory self-incrimination. The 14th Amendment provides due process and equal protection under the law.

The case, Connick v. Thompson, went to the U.S. Supreme Court and was overturned in April by a vote of 5:4. Thompson’s attorney argued that withholding Brady evidence by the prosecutor’s office was a “failure to adequately train prosecutors concerning their Brady obligations.” However, the Court ruled that this was a single incident of a Brady violation and it didn’t constitute a pattern of abuse.

However, Dr. Vaughn believes the case included evidence of a pattern of abuse. Nine years after the robbery conviction, an assistant prosecutor in the case made a death bed confession that the prosecution suppressed the blood evidence against Thompson. Evidence also showed that the lead prosecutor stopped reading law books after he was elected. The Supreme Court only found one Brady violation – the blood stain – but did not take into account the suspect description in the robbery case.

“Due process is essential to our justice system,” Dr. Vaughn said. “It is the backbone our justice system. The government must not take life, liberty or property without due process of law. Prosecutors must seek the truth and not be concerned with convictions, but be concerned with justice. Rigidly adhering to Brady helps that goal.”

The lecture, attended by students from several Colleges at SHSU, was one of five presented during Constitution Day at SHSU, which was celebrated on Sept. 14 and 15.

"Constitution Day is a day to remember the role the Constitution has played in organizing our political system and providing a framework in which to discuss pressing social and moral issues over the past two centuries," said Thomas Cox, associate professor of history and chair of the Constitution Day committee.

Directors Appointed for Online, Masters Programs

2011-09-28T09:48:00.011-05:00

To address the growth in graduate and online programs, Dr. Vincent Webb, Dean of the College of Criminal Justice, recently named Dr. Gaylene Armstrong as Director of the Masters Program and Tessalyn Johnson as Director of E-Learning.

The College is serving about 1,000 online students this fall at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and the Master’s Program includes about 250 students, of which 77 enrolled this fall.

Both undergraduate and graduate students can pursue degrees through traditional classroom settings or through online classes, and graduate students also are offered a weekend option to complete the Criminal Justice Leadership and Management program.

The College currently offers Bachelor degrees in Criminal Justice and Victims Studies as well as Masters degrees in Security Studies, Forensic Science, Criminal Justice and Criminal Justice Leadership and Management for professionals as well as military police.

Dr Gaylene Armstrong The Master's degree in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management is offered in two different formats: online and weekend. It is geared toward students who are actively employed in criminal justice agencies and interested in advanced study specifically in leadership/management issues in criminal justice careers.

The Master's in Criminal Justice is geared toward the more traditional student engaging in career transitions who are interested in an end goal of non-research oriented criminal justice agency work. The College also maintain a strong Master's of Arts program as well that targets research-minded students aiming to advance knowledge within the criminal justice system .

Currently, only the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and the two Master’s in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management are offered online, with new online options expected to be introduced in the Fall of 2012.

“The Masters Program is designed to prepare students to conduct research and to actively participate in the development of knowledge in the areas of criminological theory, crime control and correctional and police administration," said Dr. Armstrong. “Some of the programs are designed for working professionals and offer traditional classes, online options or intensive weekend programs. The courses are taught by internationally-known faculty from the college.”

Dr. Michael S. Vaughn will continue to lead the Ph.D. program in Criminal Justice.

Tessalyn JohnsonThe College began offering the Bachelor of Science on Criminal Justice online this fall, with all of the major-specific classes available via computer. Students can complete their associate’s degree or first two years of core curriculum at Sam Houston State University or another institution of higher education and complete their degree via the computer.

The Online Masters of Criminal Justice Leadership for professionals and the military offer a flexible schedule, with two, 7.5 week courses per semester. The courses are taught by the College’s world renowned faculty and provide student-friendly delivery and learning platforms, with technical support available 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

“I am very pleased and excited to be appointed as the new Director for E-Learning here at the college,” said Johnson. “I am sure that with the development of new programs, such as the new MS in Criminal Justice as online and a new graduate certificate in CJ Leadership and Management, online student enrollment will continue to grow. The best part about an online education with our college is that we continue to offer the quality education our students are used to, now offered in an online format.”

Beto Chair Lecture: Dr. Charles R. Tittle

2011-09-23T16:30:00.010-05:00

Fri., Sept. 23, 2011
9:30 A.M. to 11:00 A.M
Hazel B. Kerper Courtroom
Criminal Justice Center

Dr. Charles R. Tittle, a distinguished sociologist specializing in criminology, will provide the first Beto Lecture of the Fall semester on "The Uses of, and Technology for, International Surveys." Tittle is the Goodwin-Glaxo Wellcome Professor of Social Sciences at North Carolina State University. He is best known for his research on crime, deviance and social control.

His landmark book, Control Balance: Toward a General Theory of Deviance (1995), won the American Society of Criminology’s Michael J. Hindelang Award and the American Sociological Association’s Albert J. Reiss Distinguished Scholarship Award. Dr. Tittle also was recognized by the ASC with the Edwin H. Sutherland Award in 1998 for his outstanding contributions to the discipline of criminology.

Dr. Tittle earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Ouachita Baptist College in Arkansas and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining North Carolina State University in 2000, he served on the faculty of Washington State University, Indiana University and Florida Atlantic University.

Dr. Tittle has published several books, including Social Deviance and Crime: An Organizational and Theoretical Sanctions and Social Deviance: The Question of Deterrence, as well as dozens of articles in academic journals such as Criminology; Justice Quarterly; Social Science Research;, Journal of Quantitative Criminology; and Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, to name a few.

University Mourns Passing of Dr. James Barrum

2011-09-19T16:37:00.003-05:00

Dr. James Barrum, College of Criminal Justice, 1969-2009

Dr. James Barrum, an Associate Professor at the College of Criminal Justice from 1969-2009 and a former Internship Coordinator, lived the University motto “The Measure of a Life is its Service.”

“When I think about Dr. Barrum, I think about how he lived the Sam Houston motto,” said Ph.D. Student Bridget Hepner, who served as his assistant when he was internship coordinator. “He made sure that students would get the jobs that made life better. He would sit and talk with students about life in general. He raised money through golf tournaments and other sporting events. During our site visits, everybody from any branch of law enforcement loved him and loved how he was….Knowing him made you a better person.”

Dr. Barrum joined the faculty in 1969 when the College was known as the "Institute of Contemporary Corrections," and he continued his dedication to correction as he progressed through his career. Dr. Barrum was an expert on problems associated with substance abuse and crime as well as correctional counseling.

In 1991, Barrum received a Certificate from the Texas Governor for his outstanding contributions to the state’s War on Drugs, and he also earned a Certificate of Appreciate from the Texas County on Family Violence in 1994. He was a participant in the FBI’s Citizen Academy in 2002.

“His professional contributions helped our program remain true to its roots as a program dedicated to scholarly enlightenment of criminal justice practices with particular emphasis on the field of corrections,” said Dr. Dennis Longmire. “He took a special interest in all of his students and encouraged them to do their best. He was not only popular among the student body but he was respected as someone who was able to translate theory and research into useful and compassionate practice.”

He also served as the faculty adviser for Alpha Lambda Delta, the National Freshman Honor Society, as well as Lambda Alpha Epsilon, the American Criminal Justice Association, at SHSU.

Dr. Jerry Dowling said Dr. Barrum helped to ramp up the College’s Internship Program and successfully placed student in criminal justice internship across the nation and world.

“He did an exceptional job as the internship coordinator,” Dr. Jerry Dowling said. “Before it was an informal situation, but when James was put in charge, he ramped it up. He made a lot of contacts in the criminal justice profession in the state and across the nation and placed students all over the world. He took it not only to the next level but up the next three levels.”

Ann Broussard, coordinator of the Criminal Justice Center Conference Center part-time who began her SHSU career as a part-me secretary in the Internship Office, said Dr. Barrum always went the extra mile for students – and colleagues.

“If you were a good student, he would go to the ends of the earth to get you a good placement for your internship,” said Broussard. “He was just a good guy. He was a sweet guy that was always good to me.”

Cutty Gilbert, adjunct faculty member and director of Alumni Relations and Development, said Dr. Barrum encouraged her to come back to school to complete her Master’s degree.

“He gave lots of encouragement to me to come back to school and finish my undergraduate degree and was always there to support me while obtaining my Masters degree,” Gilbert said.

LEMIT Targets Program for Officers in Crisis

2011-09-19T14:01:00.005-05:00

Ector County Sheriff Sgt. Steven McNeill will serve as a peer mentor during a new LEMIT program to help officers after tramatic incidents. McNeill is pictured with Dr. Rita Watkins, Executive Director of LEMIT, who is initiating the program in Texas.

After Ector County Sheriff Sgt. Steven McNeill was shot in the head in a standoff with a domestic terrorist in West Odessa in September 2010, he wanted to get back to work and return to “normal.”

“During the incident, I was focused and clear and knew what I needed to do,” said McNeill, one of two officers shot during a siege at a remote compound. “But later, when the adrenaline wore off and the reality sunk in, you realize ‘I almost died out there.’ I was lucky, but it was more emotional then. The reality set in about just how severe it was, and it was emotional to talk about.”

Not only was McNeill impacted by the incident, but so too were those around him. Even after his recovery, his wife still thought he would die and continued to mentally prepare herself to be a widow and single parent. Other officers involved in the shooting were haunted by images of their two felled colleagues or the barrage of bullets fired during the siege.

“Physically you survive, but you still have the emotional scars to deal with,” McNeill said.

To help officers affected by critical incidents in the field, such as colleagues who are injured or killed, officer-involved shootings, suicides, accident scenes, or wildfires, the Law Enforcement Institute of Texas is launching The Texas Law Enforcement Assistance Program (TX LEAP). The program will be open to law enforcement officers and their spouses who have difficulty coping with the aftermath of a critical incident. It is expected to debut in the fall of 2012.

“We want them to get the help they need,” said Dr. Rita Watkins, Executive Director of LEMIT. “We see them leave the job or turn to alcohol or drugs.”

The project will be patterned after The Post Critical Incident Seminar offered by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Assistance Program, a free, three-day program which provides safe and effective methods to train officers how to deal with critical incident stress.

“The officers are still dealing with the aftermath of the incident and haven’t processed it yet,” said Dara Glotzbach, a program coordinator at LEMIT. “It gets them unstuck. The event is right in front of their face 24/7 and this program helps put the event in perspective."

The program includes peer counseling by officers who have been through similar experiences. Four Texas officers, who have participated in the South Carolina Program, will serve as peer counselors for LEMIT. McNeill is one of them.

“The beauty of the program is that it is peer-driven,” said Dr. Watkins. “They come out feeling that they are not alone, that someone in their group knows what’s going on and what they are feeling is normal.”

Spouses, too, will be invited to participate. Mikal Sieger, another LEMIT program coordinator, recalled a powerful transformation of a couple in South Carolina who came in like “robots,” but left like high school sweethearts.

“The spouses are invited too,” said Sieger. “They tell their stories and they realize that they are not alone.”

In addition to small and large group discussions and personal experiences, the program includes lectures on the phases of emotional recovery; law enforcement relationship; cops, doctors, and medicines; fear and coping; and the search for meaning. It also offers a comprehensive, integrative psychotherapy approach called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which helps to resolve the trauma caused by the event.

“It is a magical way of connecting the dots,” said Sgt. McNeill. “I felt better instantly.”

LEMIT currently has no funding for the program, but is exploring the South Carolina model for financial assistance in the development of TX LEAP. The South Carolina model is delivered through donations specifically for the Post Critical Incident Seminar.

“It is the most amazing wellness program that I have ever seen and experienced,” said Dr. Watkins, who attended two sessions in South Carolina. “There is a lot of heartache for these officers, and we are looking at the opportunity to bring this program to Texas. It’s just too important for officers who deal with critical incidents to understand that there is a program to help them afterward.”

McNeill said the program is sorely needed.

“I know there are a lot of major incidents that occur in Texas,” McNeill said. “We don’t have anything in place. This is a healing process, and something that makes you feel 10 times better than you did before.”

Drug Court Professionals Seek CMIT Services

2011-09-19T13:32:00.018-05:00

The Texas Association of Drug Court Professionals (TADCP) recently joined a growing number of international, national and state associations that use the Correctional Management Institute of Texas (CMIT)for secretariat services.

The TADCP is a non-profit organization whose objective is to reduce substance abuse and crime by establishing, and funding drug courts through collaborative community efforts. CMIT will provide administrative and logistical support for the organization, such as managing its membership and upcoming 2011 Annual Drug Court Training Program in October in Dallas.

CMIT, which was created by the Texas Legislature in 1994, provides professional development training, technical assistance and research to enhance corrections in adult and juvenile community and institutional corrections agencies. It also offers professional support services to seven outside organizations in the field, including:

The Association of Parole Authorities International
The National Association of Probation Executives
The National Juvenile Court Services Association
The Texas Association for Court Administration
The Texas Jail Association
The Texas Probation Association

The Texas Association of Drug Court Professionals includes judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, substance abuse counselors, probation officers and court administrators involved in drug courts throughout the state.

“I think it is a positive thing that CMIT and the Drug Courts are working together,” said Fred Rangel of CMIT, who will serve as secretariat to the organization.

Drug Courts are special courts given the responsibility to handle cases involving chemically dependent offenders through an intensive supervision and treatment program. Based on an innovative program that was first developed in Miami in 1989, Drug Courts have received wide-spread attention as an effective treatment strategy for chemically dependent criminal offenders.

Drug Courts attempt to solve some of the underlying problems leading to criminal behavior by forcing offenders to deal with their substance abuse problems. The design and structure of Drug Court programs are developed at the local level and reflect the unique strengths and needs of each community. Drug Court participants are subject to mandatory drug and alcohol testing and report frequently to the Judge and program staff.

Drug Courts are not in adversarial relationships, rather all parties work together toward the long term sobriety of the participant - judges, treatment providers, probation officers, law enforcement officers and others.

The organization has about 370 member and it offers an annual conference, which is expected to attract more than 400 this year, Rangel said.

Real Talk w/CJ: Charles Andrews, First Data Corp.

2011-09-13T09:40:00.012-05:00

Tue., Sept. 13, 2011
2-3 P.M.
CJava Cafe

Charles Andrews, Director of Security & Investigations at First Data Corp. USA_ Telecheck, will discuss his 30 year career in law enforcement, corporate security, business risk and consulting.

With the help of local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, Charles E. “Chuck” Andrews has been able to put hundreds of people behind bars and recover millions of dollars in restitution for the merchant and bank world.

As the Director of Security & Investigations for First Data Corp USA Telecheck, the world’s largest third party financial payment company located in Houston, Andrews works with thousands of law enforcement agencies and loss
prevention personnel in the investigation of fraud cases involving checks and financial transactions.

“We need to enlist the cooperation of law enforcement to make these cases,” said Andrews, a 1985 SHSU Alumnus. “We worked cooperatively with law enforcement last year and took hundreds of 'fraudsters' off the street and recovered untold millions in restitution.”

The lion’s share of his work focuses on organized crime, which often comes from manipulated account numbers, combined with identify theft via computer to purchase goods and convert it to cash for personal or organizational ill gotten gains. He also does internal investigations in the heavily regulated industry for violations of the law or violations of corporate policy.

Andrews has led a diverse career in criminal justice, beginning as a Law Enforcement Explorer at the age of 13 and earning a commission as a peace officer at the age of 19 while a senior in high school. He attended SHSU College of Criminal Justice and credits a Study Abroad trip with Dr. Raymond Teske to West Germany, Switzerland and France for sparking his interest in international culture and a realization that he could make significant change in this world.

Andrews had a successful career as a police officer in Colorado and Texas and attained the position of police chief. As the Director of Crime Prevention in Lafayette, Colorado, he was the youngest person across the globe to be named International Crime Prevention Officer of the Year.

"Crime prevention should be all the energy and focus of law enforcement," Andrews said. “It should always be the top priority. The second priority should be the response of getting violent people off the streets."

After a successful career as a police officer, Andrews turned his sights on the corporate world.

He joined The Dow Chemical Company in 2000 to learn more about running a business and got a second degree in chemical processing. Pulled away to be Vice President of Corporate Security and Operations in the finance and retail industry, he managed a $100 million company and sharpened his business acumen skills.

Andrews also has served as the law enforcement advisor to the Fox television series “Cops” and helped promote several new technologies to assist police and security, including a new bar code technology to help corporations find missing items internationally and the Ampel probe, a device to protect officers while searching a suspect’s pocket sand when picking up evidence at a crime scene.

"My career has always been all over the place – intentionally," Andrews said. "All the things that I have been involved in revolve around protecting officers, the public and corporate business."

He also speaks at national and international conferences, sharing his knowledge with law enforcement and private security organizations. He belongs to many key groups, such as the International Chiefs of Police Association, the International Society of Crime Prevention Practitioners and the American Society of Industrial Security International in Houston, where he serves in leadership positions.

Andrews stresses the importance of building relationships and said many of his professional contacts began right here at SHSU. "You will find my CJ class of 1982 – 1985 now serving as Chiefs of Police of major law enforcement agencies on the public side and on the corporate side, you will find them running little companies like Starbucks!"

"Relationships are key," Andrews said. “We get more done informally than we do formally between law enforcement and private security….It is important to keep up with those relationships and contact those people who can help direct you, help assist you and help advise you.”

Andrews said in criminal justice, learning is a lifelong process. He is currently pursuing an MBA in Security Executive Management at the University of Houston-Downtown and hopes to be teaching at the graduate level in the years ahead.

Recent Publication by SHSU Faculty, Graduate Students and Alumni

2011-09-09T13:03:00.004-05:00

Here is a list of recent publications by faculty, graduate students and alumni of Sam Houston State University, College of Criminal Justice.

**Akyuz, K. & Armstrong, T. (2011). Understanding the sociostructural correlates of terrorism in Turkey. International Criminal Justice Review, 21(2), 134-155.

Benson, M.L., Alarid, L.F.**, Burton, V.S. & Cullen. F.T. (2011). Reintegration or stigmatizations? Offenders expectations of community re-entry. Journal of Criminal Justice. Advance online publication.

Bouffard, J.A. & Bouffard, L.A. (2011). What works (or doesn’t) in a DUI court? An example of expedited case processing. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39(4), 320-328.

Bouffard, L. A. & Bouffard, J.A. (2011). Understanding men’s perceptions of risks and rewards in a date rape scenario. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 55(4), 626-645.

Bucheli, S.R., Bytheway, J.A., Gangitano, D.A. (2010). Necrophagous caterpillars provide human mtDNA evidence. Journal of Forensic Science, 55(4):1130-1132.

*Cihan, A. and Wells, W. (2011). Citizens’ opinions about police discretion in criminal investigations. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 34(2), 347-362.

Del Carmen, R.V., **Nolasco, C.A., and Vaughn, M. S. ( 2011).What Herring hath wrought: An analysis of Post-Herring cases in the federal courts. American Journal of Criminal Law, 38(2), 221-262.

Kim, H.J & Gerber, J. (2010). Evaluating the process of a restorative justice conference: An examination of the factors that lead to reintegrative shaming. Asia Pacific Journal of Police & Criminal Justice, 8(2), 1-19.

King, W.R., Cihan, A.*, and Heinonen, J. (2011). The reliability of police employee counts: Comparing FBI and ICMA data 1954-2008. Journal of Criminal Justice. Advance online publication.

Knight, K.E. (2011). Assortative mating and partner influence on antisocial behavior across the life course. Journal of Family Theory and Review. Advance online publication.

Lee, H.Y. & Gerber, J. (2009). "We just do what we think is right. We just do what we are told:" perceptions of crime and justice of North Korean defectors. Asia Pacific Journal of Police & Criminal Justice, 7(1), 21-48

Lindgren, N.K., Bucheli, S.R., Archambeault, A. D. & Bytheway, J. A. (2011). Exclusion of forensically important flies due to burying behavior by the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) in southeast Texas. Forensic Science International, 204(1-3), e1-e3.

Marion, N. E. & Oliver, W. (2012). The public policy of crime and criminal justice edition 2. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

**Morris, R. G., Gerber, J. and Menard, S. (2011). Social bonds, self-control, and adult criminality: A nationally representative assessment of Hirschi’s revised self-control theory Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38(6), 584-599.

Munoz, A., Gangitano, D.A., Smith, C.P., Boone, T.B., and Somogyi, G.T. (2010). Removal of urothelium affects bladder contractility and release of ATP but not release of NO in rat urinary bladder. BMC Urology, 10:10.

Pratt, T.C., Gau, J.M. and Franklin, T.W. (2011). Key ideas in criminology and criminal justice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Roth, M. (2011). A history of crime and punishment: Readings and documents in criminal justice. University Readers Inc.

Souryal, S.S. (2011). Ethics in criminal justice: In search of the truth edition 5. Burlington, MA: Anderson Publishing

**Trulson, C.R., Caudill, J.W., Belshaw, S.H. & DeLisi, M. (2011). A problem of fit: extreme delinquents blended sentencing, and the determinants of continued adult sanctions. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 22(3), 263-284.

**Trulson, C.R., Delisi, M. & Marquart, J.W. (2011). Institutional misconduct, delinquent background, and rearrest frequency among serious and violent delinquent offenders. Crime & Delinquency, 57(5), 709-731.

Ward, J.T., Nobles, M.R., Lanza-Kaduce, L., Levett, L.M. & Tillyer, R. (2011). Caught in their own speed traps: The intersection of speed enforcement policy, police legitimacy and decision acceptance. Police Quarterly, 14 (3), 251-276.

Wells, W., Ling, W. and Ye, X. (2011). Patterns of near-repeat gun assaults in Houston. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. Advance online publication.

Wells, W. & Wu, Ling (2011). Proactive policing effects on repeat and near-repeat shootings in Houston. Police Quarterly, 14(3). 289-319.

Wynne, S.L. & Joo, H.J.. (2010) Predictors of School Victimization: Individual, Familial, and School Factors. Crime & Delinquency 57, 458-488.

Youstin, T.J, Nobles, M.R., Ward, J.T. and Cook, C.L. (2011) Assessing the generalizability of the near repeat phenomenon. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38(10), 1042-1063.

Zhao, J., Lai, Y.L.*, Ren, L. and Lawton, B. (2011). The impact of race/ethnicity and quality-of-life policing on public attitudes toward racially biased policing and traffic stops. Crime & Delinquency. Advance online publication.

Bold: Faculty
*: Graduate Student
**: Alumni

Serving Juvenile Offenders with Mental Health Issues

2011-09-08T16:20:00.005-05:00

Patricia Cantu-Barrios at work in the Cameron County Juvenile Probation Office.

Patricia Cantu-Barrios is only one of about 36 juvenile probation officers in the state to specialize in mental health cases.

As a certified probation officer with Cameron County Juvenile Probation in Brownsville, Cantu-Barrios has a specialized caseload of 15 juveniles from ages 10 to 17 with mental health issues. In addition to providing traditional probation services, she also works with Tropical Texas Behavioral Health on medication management and on assessing and stabilizing the youth as well as protecting the public.

"Some of them are suicidal, serial offenders and self injurers (cutters)," said Cantu-Barrios, who graduated from SHSU in August from the online Masters of Science in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management Program. "In the long run, our job is to stabilize them, minimize their hurting factors and protect the public. We are at their disposal 24/7 when they or their families need us."

While probation is charged with working on their skills and supervision in the community, the mental health agency’s role is to keep their young patients stable. Some of the juveniles are also autistic or mentally challenged.

Juveniles are referred to the program by probation officers and ordered to participate by the judges through a court order with offenses ranging from misdemeanor cases to felony assaults. Many assaults involve family members, so Cantu-Barrios often works with the juvenile parents on effective ways of discipline.

By having specialized clientele, probation officers learn quickly how to deal with mental health issues and how to de-escalate crisis situations. For example, many juveniles with mental health issues can’t handle the hard and strict rules of an intensive supervision program, instead they need more visual cues, calendars or assistance.

"You have to individualize things for them to better communicate with them," Cantu-Barrios said. “You need to look at them in the eye and show them how to and guide what you want out of them. You can tell them one or two directives at a time and add more as they meet those goals…It‘s a lot more relationship building and constant positive enforcement."

Cantu-Barrios discovered that one of her clients couldn’t read. She set up a simple program using pictures, vowels and consonants so he could figure out simple words in the classroom.

Cantu-Barrios, a former early childhood teacher, said it also is valuable to understand the stages of child development when dealing with all youth and youth with mental illness.

"It helps to understand and assess these kids,” Cantu-Barrios said. As part of the agency’s outreach efforts, Cantu-Barrios recalled meeting a seven year old boy in a summer program in the community. He suddenly left the program after his father was released from jail, and shortly thereafter, his father died. The mother sent him back to the program to get stability in his life, but he received no additional counseling to deal with his grief. Cantu-Barrios found him help through a local community program.

"If nobody is there to catch them or offer help, they are more likely to become the juveniles we deal with today," said Cantu-Barrios. "If you know about child development and where the child was lost, you may be able to help with rehabilitation and provide a sense of survival."

Before joining the mental health unit a year ago, Cantu Barrios was an intensive supervision officer, a field and school officer and an intake officer in Cameron County. Prior to coming to Cameron County, she was one of five people to work juvenile probation in Willacy County Texas, where her duties included everything from cleaning the office, to supervising juveniles to handling court duties.

Cantu-Barrios likes the diversity of her work and the fact that she learns something new every day.

"Not every possession of marijuana is the same and not every parent of every kid is the same," said Cantu-Barrios.

While working with youth in her community, Cantu-Barrios also pursued a Master’s degree online with Sam Houston State University. She said that SHSU provided her the information she needed for her career and the confidence to use it.

"I’m on a cloud," said Cantu-Barrios. "I feel very secure with myself. Now I am not afraid anymore. The CJ staff at Sam Houston was also there, always motivating me. Sam makes me feel proud that I was able to get this education."

Cantu-Barrios hopes to use the community probation concepts she learned in the Master’s Program and apply it to clientele. She also hopes to coordinate with other criminal justice agencies in her area.

“I learned networking is extremely important," said Barrios. “You have to work as a unit together. You have to know what other people are doing to make it better. There is a great diversity in jobs in criminal justice and from a juvenile probation officer to police, everything comes together to meet in the middle."

CMIT Trains Native American Correctional Managers

2011-09-07T13:56:00.014-05:00

The Correctional Management Institute of Texas recently hosted the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal correctional managers from 10 states for a national training on jail leadership and succession planning.

The National Jail Leadership Command Academy, delivered in collaberation with the American Jail Association, is designed for mid-level correctional managers to develop leadership skills for top administrative positions in the future. The program is taught by national experts in their field both in the profession and in academia.

"It helped put together a lot of information," said Frank R. Hecht, American Jail Association President and Jail Administrator for Tohono O’odham Nation Corrections, one of the main instructors for the program. "It gives them the knowledge and skills in the leadership, management and overall understanding of the organization. It provides a sense of commonality. It also reenergizes them and recommits them to their community."

Corrections in Indian Country include the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, contracted facilities and those operated by different tribes. Participants came from Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Washington.

"Despite all the challenges we face, we all have good hearts to make a difference in the nations’ programs and community," said James Begay of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. "We care for the community."

During the weeklong program, participants learned about key issues from leaders in the field. They included:

Self Awareness for Leaders (MBTI®)
Essential Leadership Tools
Dealing with Criticism and Crucial Conversations
A Jail Manager’s Guide to the Uses and Abuses of Statistics
The Jail and the Big Picture in the Justice System
Collaboration for Jail Leaders
Managing the Multi-generational Workforce
Recruitment and Retention
Ethics for Jail Leaders
Performance Management
Managing the Problem Employees
Internal Agency Culture
Mission, Vision, Values and Strategic Planning
The Jail’s Budget
Leadership Development and Succession Planning
Power and Influence
Leading Change

Delores Greyeyes of the Navajo Nation said it made the process of strategic planning much easier.

"I have all the tools and resources now," Greyeyes said. "It will help me with overall management, through self-development and actualization applications for working with personnel and facilities."

It also helped motivate correctional leaders to make changes at their facilities.

"The training made me look at myself and how I do things," said David Charles of the Navajo Nation. "We want a legacy of leadership. But there are things you can’t change, you can only change yourself."

One of the key issues to tackle is communication.

"I looked at myself and I thought I was sharing information," said Sherry Begay of the Navajo Nation. "There are a lot of good things I thought I was doing that I was not doing."

Sgt. Bennett Chewing from the Tohono O’odham Nation Department of Public Safety proudly displayed the badge his corrections officers wear, which reflects the life of the Tohono O’odham Nation with the mountains, cactus, fruits and deserts of his community. The badge bears 11 stars representing the 11 districts of his area. At the top is the creator, and below him is a maze.

“It is the man of the maze,” Chewing explained. “You can go to the end or turn around, but everything leads back to the creator.”

SHSU Alumni Lead Military Prisons

2011-09-06T15:06:00.005-05:00

Doug Dretke, Director of the Correctional Management Institute of Texas (center) greets Peter Grande (left), retired lieutenant colonel and Chief of State at the Military Corection Complex at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Major Andrew Deaton (right), Battalion Commander of the 40th Military Police Battalion (Internment/Resettlement) (Rear) (Provisional) at the American Correctional Associations' Military Reception in August.

Two Sam Houston State University graduates are among the top staff at two military prisons at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, home of the United States Disciplinary Barracks(USDB), the only maximum security correctional facility for all branches of the U.S. armed forces, as well as the Joint Regional Correctional Facility (JRCF), a minimum/medium custody prison.

Peter Grande, a retired lieutenant colonel (LTC) with the U.S. Army, is now the civilian Chief of Staff of the Military Correctional Complex, which contains both the USDB and JRCF, at Fort Leavenworth. He oversees the policy compliance, resource management, information technology, engineering and legal support to the USDB and the JRCF, as well as serving as a senior advisor to the Commandant (warden) of the USDB, an active duty Army colonel. Mr. Grande is also the public information officer for the facilities and is the historian for the site.

Major (MAJ) Andrew Deaton is the Battalion Commander of the 40th Military Police Battalion (Internment/Resettlement) (Rear) (Provisional), responsible for the training, discipline, health and welfare of more than 670 military correctional specialists working in both facilities. There are more than 1,000 military inmates under the administrative control of the leadership of these two facilities, representing everything from pre-trial confinement to inmates sentenced to death to military parolees.

Both men earned degrees at Sam Houston State University: Grande received his Master’s degree in 1991 and Deaton earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1998.

"Sam Houston State University gave me my first look at the total law enforcement package from street patrol to corrections to the courts," said Deaton. “It gave me the basic understanding I needed to be successful in the criminal justice profession. It's not just about riding around in fast cars with lights and sirens. Police, the courts and corrections are inseparably interwoven, as they should be. My education at Sam Houston gave me a true appreciation of the challenges and rewards of what our criminal justice system does for this nation and gave me my first critical insight on how it truly works."

Grande was part of a unique program at SHSU in the early 1990s, which provided a fully funded master’s degree program for military police officers. Grande said he was mentored by the masters, including Dr. George Beto, who taught him about “management by walking” and Dr. Rolando del Carmen, who instilled in him the need to keep up with new developments in the law and courts. Dr. del Carmen’s books still sit on his shelf in his office.

"I learned as much from them as I did my academic courses," said Grande.

Grande said he also learned that to develop good policy, you had to be able to measure its effect, especially the impact is has on the entire system. For example, prisons are operated on good order and discipline, so when a new policy is proposed, you must measure its impact on security, logistics, litigation and the morale of both the staff and inmates alike.

Both military leaders have been around the country and world in service to the United States. During his 31 years in the Military Police Corps, Grande was a correctional specialist in Fort Dix and Fort Knox, a training officer and instructor at the U.S. Army Military Police School and commander, which is the equivalent of a warden, at two medium security correctional facilities in Germany and Fort Knox, Kentucky. He is also airborne, air assault, and ranger qualified.

In the international arena, Grande served as the Chief of Physical Security at the U.S. Army Headquarters in Europe. Grande was the Provost Marshal, equivalent to a police chief, for the U.S. Military Support Element in Grenada, as well as the Deputy Provost Marshal, similar to a deputy chief, for two infantry divisions in Wuerzburg, Germany. He was a physical security evaluator of deployed forces in Albania and Bosnia, and was the commander for enemy prisoners of war during the Kosovo conflict.

As a Certified Corrections Executive and trained auditor with the American Correctional Association (ACA) and National Institute of Corrections, Grande has served as a consultant on managing prisons in the Dominican Republic, Slovakia, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as well as on detainee operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism.

"We brought expertise to prisons that they didn’t have before,” said Grande. “Now the Army recognizes the strategic value of correctional specialists and their professionalism in handling prisoners.”

Deaton has had a diverse career all over the world, including two tours of duty in Iraq. He graduated from SHSU in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice with a major in law enforcement and police science. While at SHSU, he led a tank platoon in the Army National Guard unit located in Huntsville.

After SHSU, Deaton continued his military career, entering the active duty Army as a first lieutenant (1LT) Military Police Officer at Fort Riley, Kansas. He led a military police platoon for two years and later when promoted to captain (CPT), joined the base’s Criminal Investigations Division (CID) Battalion (Army felony detectives), responsible for managing CID unit manning across a five-state region.

After earning a Master’s degree in Business and Organizational Security Management from Webster University, he became a non-lethal weapons instructor and also earned certifications as a hostage negotiator and as a Special Reaction Team member, the Army’s equivalent to a SWAT team.

During his overseas service, Deaton assisted with security and intelligence operations in Korea and later, during his first combat tour, served as a senior Military Police operations officer in Iraq, where he was the liaison to top Coalition Forces military and civilian staff in the Green Zone. Deaton was further responsible for the synchronization of the Military Police forces flowing into and out of the Iraqi theater of operations. He also helped establish and train the first Iraqi riot police units during this time.

Upon his return to the U.S., Deaton commanded a military police unit at Fort Hood, Texas. When he was promoted to MAJ, he was assigned to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where he was second-in-command of a basic training battalion, which trained 1,000 – 1,400 new soldiers at a time.

During his second combat tour to Iraq, Deaton was embedded with the Iraqi Army’s only mechanized infantry brigade, advising senior Iraqi officers on how to coordinate and execute effective combat operations, to include securely holding captured terrorists and confinement of Iraqi military offenders who were sentenced to short lengths in jail.

When he arrived to Fort Leavenworth, MAJ Deaton was assigned to the 15th Military Police Brigade, where he served for a year as the brigade operations officer, helping to build the newly formed brigade staff structure, which has oversight of the two military police battalions and civilian staff that run the prisons there. In just over one year’s time, the team he was a part of developed the programs, training methods and logistical support for the unit, which grew from one battalion, with one prison (USDB) and approximately 400 Soldiers in 2009 to a brigade with two battalions, two prisons (USDB and JRCF) and more than 1,200 Soldiers in 2010. There are also more than 150 civilian staff members who are a key part of the brigade’s team, who work in both prison facilities.

MAJ Deaton joined the 40th Military Police Battalion in October 2010, and when the unit’s commander was deployed with troops to Iraq, he was given special authority to serve as commander of the remaining 670+ Soldiers, whose duties are within the two military prisons.

"Any time I’m in a troop leading position, it’s my absolute favorite assignment. It’s the best thing I, or any other Army officer, gets to do," Deaton said. “And my ACA training as a Certified Corrections Manager has definitely helped me understand the intricacies of leading in a corrections environment. The Lord has truly blessed me with a lot of opportunity, and without Him and the phenomenal team we have here, I wouldn’t be where I am today."

Mr. Grande and MAJ Deaton are still an important part of Sam Houston State University. The University’s Correctional Management Institute of Texas, represented by its Director Doug Dretke, had the honor to serve as a sponsor of the American Correctional Associations' Military Reception at their annual conference Aug. 6.

“This is one of ACA's most prestigious conference event, recognizing the sacrifices and efforts our military make every day on behalf of America," Dretke said.

Grooming Security Managers with Internships

2011-09-01T08:27:00.008-05:00

Three SHSU students, Justin Neuneker, Ana Mendez and Matthew Thomas (l to r), recently completed an internship in private security at G4S in Houston.

Three Sam Houston State University graduate students got an insider’s view of the diverse opportunities available in private security during internships at G4S Secure Solutions (USA) in Houston, the world’s largest international security solutions group.

"We are trying to groom future managers," said Abbigail Damron, office manager for G4S in Houston and a 2010 SHSU graduate. "All of them came in with some background, and it wasn’t just academic. They bring their previous work experience and education. They bring fresh eyes into our company."

Justin Neuneker turned his internship with the company into a job as a project manager overseeing several high rise office buildings and a major facility for the company’s Petrochemical section. Matthew Thomas and Ana Mendez helped with contract audits, contract profiles and payroll, learning the ins and outs of the business. Mendez, who is currently working with the company as a security officer on special assignment, also was offered a job once her assignment is complete.

All three students graduated with a Master of Science in Security Studies from SHSU in August.

G4S, formerly known as The Wackenhut Corporation, is one of the largest private employers in the world, with 625,000 employees across the globe. Originally founded by a retired FBI agent, George Wackenhut, the company provides security solutions in such diverse industries as government, oil and gas, ports and airports, financial institutions, retail, private energy and utilities, transportation and logistics, leisure and tourism and major corporations.

G4S employs more than 1,000 people in the Houston area, with contracts focusing on government, real estate and the petrochemical industry. The company supplies services to many major worldwide companies in the area.

While Wackenhut started out as a security company, it expanded greatly after 9/11 as many companies began seeking ways to protect plants and infrastructure. With the help of Damron, the company began offering its first paid internship in the Houston area in 2010 to spark the next generation of security leaders.

"After 9/11 occurred, there were great security concerns,” said Neuneker. "With Houston having so many oil and gas sites, security is considered extremely important in order to prevent disasters. Security is protecting not only the oil and gas industry, but the Houston economy."

Because of his experience working for Macy’s retail security, Neuneker was assigned as a project manager at G4S, overseeing 30 security employees in the petrochemical division. Students can learn about all aspects of security in the business, including human resources, payroll, operations and sales.

"It’s a booming field," Neuneker said. "The security field is going to keep expanding. There is always going to be a demand for security since our nation’s infrastructure is so dependent upon the oil and gas industry."

Neuneker said he learned how to handle many aspects of the job from his studies at Sam Houston State University, including how to manage staff, different management styles and human resources issues as well as terrorism threats and laws governing private security.

Thomas decided to try the private sector after completing an internship with the U.S. Marshals Service as an undergraduate. At G4S, he worked in contract auditing, contract profiling and payroll.

"I took Dr. (Jim) Dozier’s Security Management course, which covered contracts, liability and fraud, so I had seen this all before,” Thomas said. “But I learned a lot about contracts, like how attention to detail and knowledge go a long way. It definitely taught me how to write proper contracts and how not to.”

Thomas was responsible for auditing contracts line by line to ensure that the company was abiding by their end of the deal, including billing cycles, pay rates, equipment and staffing. He also did contract profiling, which boiled down the key elements of lengthy agreements into short, easy-to-locate, Excel spreadsheets.

Finally, he helped with payroll for all the company’s employees in the Houston region.

Ana Mendez also worked on contract auditing and profiling at G4S. She said she was amazed at how what she learned in the classroom applied directly to what she was doing in her internship.

"I had the ability to actually apply it," Mendez said. "I took the class, I learned it and I applied it to what I was doing."

In addition to her internship duties in the office, Mendez took on a security assignment at G4S protecting a national gas pipeline booster site near Oakhurst, TX. She is assisting one-on-one with the client at the site and, once the contract is complete, she has a job waiting for her at the G4S offices.

"I was offered a position," said Mendez. "There was a lot more they want me to get into that we were unable to do over the summer. However, I definitely got one month of office experience and one month of field experience."

Intern Finds Future Career in Crime Stoppers

2011-08-29T14:26:00.008-05:00

Gregory Clark Jr. turned a summer internship at Crime Stoppers of Houston into a part-time job and a future career opportunity that combines law enforcement and community relations.

"I want to go back and get my Master’s degree and continue to work with Crime Stoppers," said Clark. "It gives me a chance to work with the community hands-on, to answer their questions and come up with solutions to make their community safer, their apartments safer and their areas safer."

Crime Stoppers of Houston, the largest chapter of its kind in the
country, is a non-profit organization aimed at solving and preventing serious crime in the Greater Houston area in partnership with citizens, media and the criminal justice system. It also keeps the community safe and helps to prevent crime in neighborhoods and schools.

Clark was part of the crime prevention team that spoke to homeowners’ associations, civic groups and apartment complexes to educate residents about the organization and to train them how to make their neighborhoods safer.

“He did a great job in educating people about public safety," said Katherine Cabaniss, Executive Director of Crime Stoppers of Houston. “He really made a difference. He was a good speaker, and he interacted well with the public on a personal level.”

Clark encouraged residents to form crime prevention groups and offered crime prevention tips. He also taught residents to use the organization’s telephone tip line 713-222-TIPS to provide information about criminal activity in the area. The tip line provides a anonymous forum for resident to report criminal activity in their area without the fear of retaliation. Callers are promised cash rewards of up to $5,000 in exchange for their accurate crime tips. The information is transmitted immediately to law enforcement.

"I got to train them to be watchful and to form groups like Citizens on Patrol," Clark said. “I taught them how to use the tip line and what to look for. I showed them how to be safe and where to post the Crime Stoppers signs."

In addition to public speaking, Clark performed administrative duties and participated in fundraising events to raise money for the organization. He also wrote press release and edited videos about new crimes and wanted felons and participated in press conferences to help solve crimes. Along the way, he got to meet Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia. Clark was also featured in a Houston Police Department video from a Child Safety Seminar.

"This showed me the other side of criminal justice," Clark said. "This was not just the law enforcement side, but the administrative side of it, like press releases and videos."

Clark said he was able to apply everything he learned in classes at SHSU to his work in the field. For example, presentations he did in class prepared him for public speaking engagements before community groups, and lectures taught him the appropriate background and language for cases and offenses so he could communicate with police officers.

As a non-profit organization, Crime Stoppers relies on interns and volunteers to accomplish their goals. The organization has hosted two SHSU interns to date and said they were "excellent."

"We have found the interns from Sam Houston to be excellent," said Cabaniss. "Interns are critical to our work. High quality, outgoing, smart interns are very important because we need resources and staff to accomplish our mission."

The College of Criminal Justice offers internship at about 200 agencies, including federal, state, and local law enforcement and corrections as well as victim service organizations and private security. An average of 125 students a year participate in these programs.

Internships generally are taken during the last semester before graduation and include a full-time, 40-hour a week assignment. Undergraduates earn nine semester hour credits and graduate students earn six. Internship can lead to full-time employment opportunities or provide valuable networking for future jobs.

Crime Victim Services Alliance Meeting

2011-08-29T13:10:00.000-05:00

Wed Aug. 31, 2011
Thu Sept. 1, 2011
2 P.M.
Friel Room
Criminal Justice Center

Come to the Fall 2011 Informational Meetings. For more information, contact Molly Smith: Msmith@shsu.edu.

Phi Alpha Delta Meet and Greet

2011-08-29T11:47:00.000-05:00

Fri, Aug. 29, 2011
6 - 7 P.M
Lowman Student Center
Room 302

Meet with the officers of the ONLY Pre-Law organization at SHSU. For more information, contact President Porsche Williams at shsuphialphadelta@gmail.com.

Lambda Alpha Epsilon Informational Meeting

2011-08-29T11:22:00.002-05:00

Mon-Fri, Aug. 29-Sept. 2, 2011
5 P.M. or 9 P.M.
CJava Cafe

To find out how to get involved in the largest criminal justice organization at Sam Houston, come to one of our informational meetings!

If you like

Exploring the criminal justice profession
Meeting fellow criminal justice students
Traveling to competitions
Being recognized for your achievements
Getting a "leg up" on your future employment opportunities

Qualifications

CJ Major or Minor
2.0 over all GPA
2.5 criminal justice courses GPA (does not apply to freshman or tranfer students)
Continuously enrolled in CJ class

For more information, contact President Christian Barefield at edb025@shsu.edu or Vice President Brian Ward at baw025@shsu.edu

CJ Students Discover the World of Criminal Justice

2011-08-25T10:28:00.004-05:00

SHSU Students met with police cadets from Zhejiang Police College in China.

Students from Sam Houston State University spent their summer vacations learning about criminal justice in China, Germany, Austria and Italy.

The College of Criminal Justice hosted three Study Abroad Programs in the Summer of 2011, which combined an ongoing study of the history and development of criminal justice worldwide with tours of major attractions. The trips were led by faculty members with expertise in the countries visited.

"This summer's trip to China was an unforgettable experience that truly broadened my academic horizons," said student Diana Mejia. “The modern world we live in is growing more and more globally interconnected and, for this reason, I believe that it is increasingly important that we were able to participate in academic exchanges such as this. The faculty and students at Zhejiang Police College were extremely welcoming and humble, and I hope that more students will have the opportunity to learn about both the police strategies and rich culture of the East.”

Dr. Ling Ren led the trip to China, which included visits to police colleges and police stations in Hangzhou and Shanghai, as well as tours of national landmarks, such as Putuo Mountain, Lingyin Temple and the Shanghai Art Museum.

“Imagine everything you know is set aside for anything you will learn,” said Student Jia-Rong Lee. “Strategies of policing, hospitality treatment, and the food presented daily are all fresh wonderful surprises on this trip. The trip may have been only two weeks, but the experience was worth more than that time."

The trip to Italy, led by Dr. Mitchel Roth, examined the history and current criminal justice systems in Rome, Florence and Sicily, with stops at famous landmarks like the Coliseum, Vatican, and Mamertine Prison.

"We were able to experience a culture so different from our own, especially one that the media has stereotyped for so long," student Dixie Parker said. "One of the most interesting things I learned about criminal justice was that Rome actually was the first to have 'law' and basically set the pace for the rest of modern western society. Also, that the bond between firefighters and policemen dates all the way back to ancient Roman times."

Dr. Willard Oliver took students to Germany and Austria to explore criminal and procedural law, the police, courts, and correctional systems in Munich and Vienna. Among the hot spots visited were Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and the Donauinsel Island Park in the Danube River.

For Ph.D. Student Ben Atkins, the highlight of the trip was a visit to the United Nations in Vienna, where students attended presentations from the UN's Anti-Human Trafficking, Drug Trafficking, and Money Laundering units.

"While we did go on the normal tour of the UN along with a large group of other tourists, the presentations were actually presented privately, only to our small class, which made for an excellent question and answer session afterwards,” Atkins said. “This was especially beneficial for myself and the other Ph.D. students on the trip as we are continually searching for new avenues of research. In addition to being an excellent international experience, the UN visit introduced us to a valuable resource in Criminal Justice/Criminology. “

John Allen said he felt right at home in China, where he found himself intrigued by the centralized law enforcement structure.

"Being from a small southern town I thought I would feel really out of place in China and be really uncomfortable, but I soon found everyone to be very welcoming." Allen said. "Even though I was so far away from home, I still felt right at home."

The Study Abroad Program allows students to earn three credit hours toward their degree while immersing themselves in different cultures for two weeks. All students must have at least a 2.0 GPA and completed any prerequisite courses to participate.

For more information about Study Abroad opportunities, visit the College of Criminal Justice web site at http://www.cjcenter.org/abroad.

CJ Graduates First New Online Masters Cohort

2011-08-25T10:06:00.005-05:00

Graduates of the new online Master of Science in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management pose before Commencement on Aug. 6.

Graduates of the new online Master of Science in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management met for the first time on Aug. 6 after two years of debating, learning and sharing via the computer and Internet.

"It has allowed me to use other resources and to make good friends," said Bill Livingston, who has been Police Chief for the Weimar Police Department for 18 years. "It has broadened my view of criminal justice."

Livingston and 19 others graduated from the new online program designed specifically for professionals in the field. It is one of three online degree programs offered by the College, which also provides a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management for Military Police as well as a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.

Livingston already has used in his department the skills he learned in the program in his department. It helped him during budget preparation and in computer presentations and assisted in developing his portfolio. He also learned the steps he needs to take on employment agreements, and he taught that skill to other law enforcement managers.

Meanwhile, Patricia Cantu-Barrios, a juvenile probation officer from Cameron County, hopes to introduce the concept of community probation that she learned in her virtual classroom into the mental health component of her service. With significant budget cuts across the state, it represents a movement away from the institutionalization of juvenile probation into a community-based focus, similar to what community policing is doing in getting officers into neighborhoods.

While Barrios can apply what she learned to the probation field, even more importantly, she learned the value of networking with other justice agencies.

"I learned networking is extremely important," said Barrios. "You have to work as a unit together. You have to know what other people are doing to make it better. There is a great diversity in jobs in criminal justice and from a juvenile probation officer to police, everything comes together to meet in the middle."

This Master’s degree is designed for working professionals, who can complete the program wherever they have access to the Internet. The program is available 24/7 and is held in 7-1/2 week modules so students can complete the degree within two years.

"Congratulations to you for successfully completing our Master of Science online program," Dr. Janet Mullings, Associate Dean of the College, told the graduates. "I believe our online program enjoys a great reputation as a challenging and rigorous academic course of study. Please stay in touch with us as you move forward in your professional careers and let us know if we may be of assistance to you."

The program offers a wide range of learning opportunities, including lectures, readings, videos and discussion boards. With many criminal justice careers represented, the discussion board became a hot bed of learning. Everyone provided examples from their specific professions, expanding knowledge well beyond the classroom setting, Barrios said.

"I want to praise the students," said Professor Jerry Dowling. "I was impressed with the use of the discussion board. I saw a lot more participation than in my face-to-face classes."

Many students found unique ways to take the courses while holding down a job. Some set up a computer classroom in their homes, while other downloaded lectures onto thumb drives, listening during their spare time. Many read assignments or listened to lectures during their lunch hours.

One man was taking a mid-term when he wife went into labor with twins; another went through cancer surgery while taking his courses.

"It was very challenging," said Livingston. "It makes you become extremely regimented."

Without the online program, Barrios said she couldn’t have pursued this degree.

"The online program was an opportunity for me,” Barrios said. “It was demanding. It made me more disciplined and more organized. I am honored to have participated in this program.”

The graduates of the first online cohort include Alain Babin, Margaret Beaty, Catherine Betts, Patricia Cantu-Barrios, Nancy Darnell, James Dixon, Leigh Freeman, William Gollmitzer, John Griffin Jr., Wayne Isbell, Bill Livingston Jr., Erik Reyna, Bobby Smith Jr., Jeffery Spivey, James Summitt, Trevor Taylor, Ricardo Trevino Jr., Jennifer Watkins, Joseph Williams, and Brent Wilson.

CJ College Offers Six Student Organizations

2011-08-12T15:44:00.004-05:00

Student organizations are available at Parent's Weekend and the Criminal Justice Open House.

Whether planning a career in criminal justice, victim services, forensic science or the law, the College of Criminal Justice has a student organization to help you get there.

The College offers six student organizations to meet the unique needs and interests of future professionals in the field. In addition to hosting outside speakers, these groups provide community service opportunities around campus or in the community and give students the support and camaraderie to excel in their academic and professional pursuits.

"Our students not only serve our College at such events as the CJ Spring Picnic and Saturdays@Sam, they also do a lot of service for the University and the community," said Dr. Holly Miller, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate ProgramS. "We have an exceptional group of student leaders."

The largest group at the College is Lambda Alpha Epsilon (LAE), a national organization of students and professionals in criminal justice. The group boasts more than 120 members at Sam Houston State University and provides networking with professionals, skill development through competitions, and a diverse array of volunteer opportunities.

"We all have the same goal, the same ambitions and the same end game in mind," said LAE Past President Tyler Eberhart. "It helps have an organization that backs that. Everyone knows the decisionS we make here are the ones we have to live with and the choices we make and the avenues we go down are the ones that get us to the final results. As future professionals, we are able to understand the field of criminal justice."

LAE participates in competitions with other chapters in the area and across the nation, and last year won the Sweepstakes Award for Region 2, which includes LAE chapters in Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The competition tests firearms skills, physical agility, crime scene investigation, knowledge about the chapter, criminal law, police management, corrections and juvenile justice. The organization also provided 550 hours of community service last year with a wide variety of events.

Alpha Phi Sigma is a criminal justice honor society that recognizes academic excellence among undergraduate and graduate majors in the field. To qualify for the organization, students must maintain a 3.2 grade point average both in their overall academic program as well as criminal justice courses. The group volunteers at many activities around campus, including the Criminal Justice Career Fair, a bone marrow drive and Saturdays@Sam.

“We promote to incoming students how much of an achievement it is to be in Alpha Phi Sigma, which is a national honor society,” said Past President Erin Stephens.

The National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice is a non-profit, professional organization that promotes the advancement of criminal justice.

"This is the only NABCJ student organization in Texas, and we are trying to introduce the organization at Prairie View and the University of Houston and other colleges in Texas," said President Stephany Fitz.

The organization sponsors Women’s Week, which raises awareness of women’s issues through events on physical fitness, professional advice for future careers, and domestic violence. The group also held a mini-conference that allowed criminal justice students to network with practitioners from the Drug Enforcement Agency, juvenile justice, and forensic investigation.

NABCJ members volunteer at the after school program at Scott Johnson Elementary School and participate in highway cleanups and Saturdays@SAM.

Phi Alpha Delta is the pre-law fraternity for Sam Houston State University. It assists students interested in attending law school. The group is building relationships outside the university and hosted an open forum with the Walker County District Attorney’s Office. It also promoted better relationships between the student body and law enforcement through a program called “Bridging the Gap.”

"We were able to help strengthen that relationship that is often forgotten, between student body and law enforcement," said President Dakeitha Haynes.

The Crime Victim Service Alliance, which was revived last year, promotes the victim’s rights movement and assists students pursuing careers in the criminal justice field. The group held events for National Crime Victims Week, providing teal ribbons to students in memory of those affected by crimes. It also hopes to get involved with victims’ groups in the community in the future.

"Our mission is to promote victim’s rights both as a movement and within the criminal justice field," said President Molly Smith.

The Society of Forensic Science is an undergraduate and graduate student criminal justice organization that brings together students interested in forensic science at Sam Houston State University. The organization facilitates and encourages research and theory development related to forensic science by providing guest speakers from various professional forensic disciplines.

The society also serves as a platform for student members to network and interact in academic research in order to further their knowledge about the discipline of forensic science. Members are encouraged to attend academic conferences and to present their original scholarly research.

The organization also volunteers at many SHSU and community events such as Saturdays @ Sam, Relay for Life, and canned food drives. Members also enjoy numerous social events such as picnics, holiday parties, and prison tours of the Walls and Ellis Units.

"The Society of Forensic Science strives to meet their members’ forensically related interests by arranging for a wide variety of forensic professionals to speak at meetings in regards to their educational and career experiences,” said President Ashleigh Faris. 'Participating in SFS is a great way for students to learn about the advancements being made in the field of forensic science and to build contacts that can aid them in their future careers."

College Adds New Bachelor’s in Victim Studies

2011-08-10T15:45:00.002-05:00

The College of Criminal Justice recently expanded its degree programs with a new bachelor of science in victim studies.

The new degree was approved by the Texas State University System Board of Regents and joins as existing bachelor of arts and a master’s degree in victim studies. Sam Houston State University is one of only a few institutions in the country to offer degrees in this discipline.

The victim studies degree prepares graduates to work in a wide array of careers, including victim service agencies; police departments and correctional facilities; child protective services; programs serving at-risk youth; and legal advocacy for victims.

"There is a growing awareness of the need to integrate victims into the criminal justice system," said Dr. Leana Bouffard, a professor in the College of Criminal Justice. "In the past, victims didn’t have much of a voice. Now there are victim advocacy groups and community service agencies for victims."

In addition to providing a new degree program, the curriculum was revamped to streamline the course offerings for students, with core classes concentrated in criminal justice. Historically, core classes were spread across several different Colleges at Sam Houston State University, but with changes in curriculums across campus, many were becoming unavailable.

"It's now more self-supported with core courses, of which most are in criminal justice," said Dr. Bouffard, who served on a committee to revise the program. "They can take electives in other departments, like sociology, psychology and political science."

The differences between the bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degree is that a BA requires foreign language courses, while the BS requires more science. Victim studies majors are required to take five core criminal justice courses as well as six credits in victim specific classes – including child abuse, family violence, crimes against women or the elderly -- as well as victim services classes – such as trauma, victims rights, interviewing or services delivery.

In addition to the core curriculum, the electives include two courses in social justice and three additional offerings in criminal justice, sociology and psychology. A number of internships also are available in victim service agencies.

To enhance opportunities for victim studies majors, the College recently revitalized The Crime Victim Services Alliance. The student organization is open to all who are interested in preserving and enhancing victims’ right. In the past the organization has provided guest speakers and site visits in the field as well as raised funds and awareness on victim issues.

Intern Fights Drunk Driving in Courts

2011-08-09T09:20:00.004-05:00

SHSU Intern Tasha Arevalo stands in front of a MADD poster bearing the photos of victims lost to drunken driving.

As a court monitor, Senior Tasha Arevalo got to see the real life world of Harris County courtrooms from the inside during her internship with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Southeast Texas.

"It was a learning experience every day," said Arevalo, who monitored misdemeanor DWI cases in Harris County’s 15 courts over the summer. "It’s not the same thing every day...I want other people to get involved. You are doing good in everything you do. You see the difference, and you see it all happening right there in front of you."

Arevalo said she witnessed success firsthand in a Harris County DWI court. A recently released defendant told the court he had started drinking when his wife died shortly after they were married. He felt lost and, without help, he just kept on drinking. But after coming through the program and getting the assistance he needed, he became sober.

"We changed this person, and they will change another person," said Arevalo. "It is not something you read in a book; you are seeing it firsthand."

At 21, Arevalo has the legal right to drink, but after this internship, she said she will never drink and drive.

"I have seen the victims and heard the crimes," Arevalo. "It can happen to anyone. There is not a face to a victim until you actually meet them."

Not only did Arevalo’s presence serve as a constant reminder of the victims in the courtroom, she helped the MADD organization keep valuable statistics on the overall performance of the courts on drunken driving cases to build a better bridge among the public, the judiciary and law enforcement on the issue. The Southeast Texas Chapter covers 10 counties in the state.

"Interns help expand the number of courts we can attend," said John McNamee, Affiliate Executive Director for the MADD chapter. "They help us increase our outreach in education. It brings a fresh perspective having college students come in. They are very eager and very smart, and they work hard during their internships. They help to save lives and change behaviors."

Each day, MADD monitors an average of 15-30 drunken driving cases in court, including daily dockets and trials, and records information on plea bargains, deferrals, and jury selection, to name a few. The standard action in misdemeanor DWI cases in Houston is for the defendant to attend drug or alcohol counseling, perform community service, pay a fine and serve 30 days in jail.

MADD also researches the background of each case for detailed information on the offense, including past records, arresting agencies and officers, and court actions. This data is included in the national MADD database that is presented to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“We definitely depend on interns and volunteers to help our cause and mission,” said Alicia Parmley, a 1992 SHSU graduate and Court Monitoring Program Specialist at MADD. “They definitely get to do a lot of things. They help do research, investigations and various aspect of the courts.”

In addition to her work in the courtroom, Arevalo got insight on the behind-the scene aspects of cases, visiting with judges and attorneys, reviewing attorneys notes and documents, and researching the background of each case. She also got to sit in on a Victim Impact Panel, where victims of DWI meet with offenders face-to-face to discuss how the crime has changed their lives.

During a courtroom break, one judge struck up a conversation with Arevalo, asking the intern for her opinion on the value of victim impact panels and the judge’s performance on the bench. The judge even offered her a future internship in her office.

"All these people are willing to talk to you and are willing to teach you,” Arevalo said. “They are also saying what can I do to help you….It made me confident in myself and gave me the tools to decide what to do in the future. Everyone was willing to help you learn and take you under their wing. I’m ready to go out and take on the world.”

Because of her internship, Arevalo has decided to go to law school. She saw how courts are struggling with a overcrowding and a lack of prosecutors and judges to do the job.

"There are not enough people," said Arevalo. "You see the stress on everyone. You want to think the courts are perfect and that everyone gets their time in court."

In addition to her role in court, Arevalo participated in public education events, like college programs, a fundraising walk, and community fairs. MADD also presents programs in schools and offers services to victims, such as counseling, advocacy and assistance with planning funerals.

“We are trying to lower the fatality rate,” said Parmley. “Our mission is to eliminate drunken driving and prevent underage drinking.”

SHSU Studies GPS Monitoring of Sex Offenders

2011-08-08T12:23:00.006-05:00

The use of GPS technology to monitor sex offenders should be viewed as a tool rather than a control mechanism, a team of researchers at Sam Houston State University found in a recent study.

In "Examining GPS Monitoring Alerts Triggered by Sex Offenders: The Divergence of Legislative Goals and Practical Applications in Community Corrections," Dr. Gaylene Armstrong and Beth Freeman examined the affects of a state law in Arizona that required the lifelong GPS monitoring of adult sex offenders convicted of dangerous crimes against children and placed on community supervision. The study monitored sex offenders in Maricopa County, AZ over a two-year period.

“A divergence between legislative goals and practical application of mandated GPS monitoring programs exists,” said Dr. Armstrong, Research Director of the Correctional Management Institute of Texas at the College of Criminal Justice. “GPS technology is far more limited than anticipated and should be viewed as a tool rather than depended upon as a control mechanism.”

The study found that a significant number of equipment-related alerts were triggered by a loss of a satellite signal, rather than offender violations. Those alerts resulted in a significant increase in the workload of probation officers.

“While it is expected that GPS technology provides the capability for near real-time tracking of an offender’s location and movement in the community and that alerts would primarily indicate non-compliance with geographical and temporal restrictions, findings demonstrated that the responses to non-violation alerts consumed an inordinate amount of an agency’s resources – resources that could be better directed to other case management activities,” the study found.

A secondary impact is the possibility of complacency by probation officers because of an overload of non-violation alerts, which may result in a failure to act and liability for offender actions, the report concluded.

The cost effectiveness of GPS monitoring should be considered when setting budget for technology and vendors, especially considering the workload required to implement and maintain the system. If lifelong monitoring is mandated, the number of cases will continue to grow, the study said.

Community corrections supervisors estimate that 70 percent of alerts are false alarms and are usually related to technology issues. Steps should be taken to reduce the likelihood of unintentional alarms. Probation officers also should also be trained on the use of the GPS system. and written rules and policies should be implemented, the report said.

"Results demonstrated a clear difference between legislative perceptions of the level of technological advancement of GPS equipment and its actual readiness for broad based roll out in community corrections settings at this time," said the study. "Moreover, it appears from these results that GPS technology is currently too underdeveloped to recommend continued swift enactment of legislation mandating implementation and utilization of GPS in a cost-effective manner."

The study was published in the Journal of Criminal Justice.

Forensic Science Educator Training

2011-08-08T11:01:00.006-05:00

Due to insufficient enrollment, Sam Houston State University is unable to present the Forensic Science Educators Training on Aug. 8-11. The program is expected to return in the Summer of 2012. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and hope to see you next year.

Aug 8-11, 2011
Chemistry & Forensic Science Bldg

Hosted by:
The Forensic Science Program at Sam Houston State University

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to attend a four-day conference on forensic science at Sam Houston State University. Registrants will receive lab and lecture based instruction and a variety of electronic and physical resources to help incorporate forensic science into the middle and high school curriculum.

The conference is designed to provide instruction to middle- and high school science educators on the use of forensic science in lectures and laboratory exercises to underscore basic scientific principles. The participants will learn how the scientific method is applied to both the recovery of evidence from the scene of the crime and subsequent laboratory testing of physical evidence. The conference will consist of workshops and laboratory-based instruction by forensic science faculty and scientists with real-world experience in a variety of forensic disciplines, including:

Forensic biology and DNA
Forensic toxicology
Forensic pathology and death investigation
Trace evidence
Controlled substances
Fingerprints
Pattern evidence
Crime scene investigation
Entomology
Digital Forensics

Training will be provided in a state of the art facility with access to scientific equipment and resources available in crime laboratories. Conference faculty are forensic scientists with experience working within their respective disciplines.

We are a State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) approved Continuing Professional Education (CPE) provider. This conference provides 27 Continuing Education hours.

BOOKING AND PRICING

Registration
Register online

Accommodations
Discounted hotel room rates are available at the:

University Hotel
1610 Bobby K. Marks Drive
Huntsville, TX 77341
Phone: (936) 291-2151

Mention the Forensic Science Educator Training conference to receive the discounted rate.

Course Cost

Early registration fee is $600.00 and must be received at SHSU by May 31, 2011.

Registration fee is $650.00 and must be received at SHSU by July 20, 2011.

In addition to lecture and laboratory-based instruction on a wide variety of forensic science disciplines, participants will also receive electronic copies of classroom materials designed for middle and high school students.

For further information, please contact:
Emily Elkins, (efe001@shsu.edu) or by phone (936-294-4359).

7 New Ph.D.s Added to Alumni Roles; Inaugural Masters Online Class Graduates

2011-08-08T08:20:00.009-05:00

The Summer 2011 Ph.D. graduates from the College of Criminal are (l to r) Drs. Randa Embry, Kadir Akyuz, Hoon Lee, Napoleon Reyes, Claire Nolasco, Natalia del Rocio Tapia Mansilla and Alicia Deal.

A total of 176 students earned bachelor, master and doctoral degrees from SHSU’s College of Criminal Justice during the Summer Commencement ceremony on August 6.

Seven students received Ph.D. degrees, and the College graduated its first class of 20 students from its Online Master of Science program in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management. There were 56 graduate students and 120 undergraduates recognized at the ceremony.

Among the new Ph.D. graduates are Drs. Kadir Akyuz, Alicia Deal, Randa Embry, Hoon Lee, Claire Nolasco, Napoleon Reyes, and Natalia del Rocio Tapia Mansilla.

Dr. Akyuz will return to the Turkish National Police, where he has served in homicide, anti-smuggling and financial crime units. Dr. Akyuz’s dissertation was "Terrorism versus Justice: A Cross-National Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Terrorism on Due Process and Individual Rights." His dissertation committee was chaired by Dr. Mitchel Roth.

Dr. Deal’s dissertation was "Real Men? The Reporting Behavior of Male Physical Assault Victims and the Institutional Response to Male Victimization." Her dissertation committee was chaired by Dr. Victoria B. Titterington. Dr. Deal is seeking a job conducting research in a crime victim services agency.

Dr. Embry was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Central Missouri. Her dissertation was "Applying the Concept of Self-Preservation to Criminological Theory: Reconceptualizing Low Self-Control and Its Resultant Behaviors." Her dissertation committee was chaired by Dr. Phillip Lyons.

Dr. Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C. His dissertation was "The Impact of Neighborhood Crime Levels on Police Use of Force: An Examination at Micro and Macro Levels Using Geographic Information System Techniques." His committee was chaired by Dr. Michael S. Vaughn.

Dr. Reyes will join the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Sonoma State University in California as an Assistant Professor this fall. His dissertation was entitled "Sexual Homicide in the Philippines: A Comparative Analysis of Single-and Multiple-Offender Cases," and his committee also was chaired by Dr. Titterington.

Dr. Mansilla is an Assistant Professor at Lewis University in Chicago in the Department of Justice, Law, and Public Safety. Her dissertation, also chaired by Dr. Vaughn, was "Elder Abuse and Its Handling in the Courts."

Dr. Nolasco is an Assistant Professor in Criminology in the Department of Arts and Sciences at Texas A & M University, San Antonio. Her dissertation, was "Liability of Corrections Officials for Inmate-on-Inmate Sexual Violence: Analysis of Case Law after Farmer v. Brennan." Her committee also was chaired by Dr. Vaughn.

Another milestone reached in the summer of 2011 was the graduation of the first online master’s program in Criminal Justice Leadership and Management. Designed for criminal justice professionals in the field, this program offered a flexible schedule and high-quality graduate education from one of the largest and most reputable academic programs in the field.

Among the inaugural members of this distance learning class were Alain Babin, Margaret Beaty, Catherine Betts, Patricia Cantu-Barrios, Nancy Darnell, James Dixon, Leigh Freeman, William Gollmitzer, John Griffin Jr., Wayne Isbell, Rector Livingston Jr., Erik Reyna, Bobby Smith Jr., Jeffery Spivey, James Summitt, Trevor Taylor, Ricardo Trevino Jr., Jennifer Watkins, Joseph Williams, and Brent Wilson.

Game Wardens Protect Wildlife and the Public

2011-08-03T08:52:00.003-05:00

Game Warden Dornell Crist witnessed 90 pound alligator gar and 60 pound catfish on the Trinity River and retrieved a 10.5-foot alligator run over on Interstate 45. He also has seen “humongous” deer and rescued bald eagles.

As a Game Warden, Crist also assisted local law enforcement in capturing a burglary suspect and had a standoff with a knife-wielding man during a domestic disturbance. He evacuated residents and reported hot spots during recent wildfires and aided stranded residents during Hurricanes Ike and Rita.

“Many people think we only enforce the fish and game and water safety laws,” said Crist. “But we are law enforcement officers like anyone else.”

Crist, a 1994 graduate from Sam Houston State University, has been a Texas Game Warden for nine years, serving out of the Madisonville office, 26 miles north of Huntsville. Before getting his dream job, he served as a Deputy Sheriff in Walker County; a Community Service Specialist with the Gulf Coast Training Center; and a Parole Officer and Supervisor with the Texas Youth Commission in East Texas, covering Orange, Angelina, Sabine, Newton and Jasper counties.

“This job is one of the best,” said Crist. “If you love being outdoors, and you love law enforcement, this is the job for you. I love the freedom and I love doing work without a lot of supervision. It’s a great job. We get the best law enforcement training. It’s a very rewarding thing doing something that preserves the natural resources for future generations to come.”

There is no “typical” day for Crist. In fact, there is not even a set schedule. Game wardens are required to work 160 hours in any 28 day period, but their schedules depend on activities in the area. It may mean checking fishermen and water safety compliance early in the morning and returning at 5 p.m. to investigate reports of trespassers or illegal hunting activity on private property.

During the summer months, Crist focuses on the water, making sure boaters have safety equipment, such as life jackets, sound devices, fire extinguishers and registration. He also makes sure captains haven’t had too much to drink by administering “float” test to detect those over the legal limit. It includes observing for signs of intoxication and asking suspects to recite the alphabet, count backwards, and count fingers. If drunken boating is suspected, the suspect is transported to land and administered the standard field sobriety test after a 15-minute rest period to regain his or her land legs.

During his outings, Crist also will check for bag and size limits for fish.

In the fall, it is hunting season, and Crist will check bag limits for deer and birds and illegal hunting at night or on private property. Those caught with illegally harvested wildlife face heavy fines, which can range from $20 for some fish species to thousands of dollars for each deer, depending on its size. Deer and hog hunting are prevalent in East Texas, and Crist receives frequent complaints of hunters crossing into private property to track down their prey and hunting dogs, leaving cut fences and destroyed property along the way.

"We make sure that people don’t use or abuse the resources," Crist aid. "It is for all people of Texas to enjoy, and we make sure they resource are there for people. We do that by being out there and visible."

Crist assists local law enforcement, whether it is tracking a wanted criminal or aiding in emergency situations. He was first one scene at a domestic disturbance and had to face man banishing a knife who was high on methamphetamines. He led a 35-minute standoff with the man in his home. He also sat in the woods, waiting for the return of a burglary suspect who was wanted by local police.

Crist also aids during times of disaster, like wildfires and hurricane. He once plucked three men from a tree who went out to check their trout lines during flooding of the Navasota River. He brought food and water to residents during power outages caused by hurricanes and patrolled local businesses to protect them from looters.

As a game warden, Crist goes through extensive law enforcement training, with some extra lessons, like how to capture and relocate an alligator, and how to operate several different vehicles and equipment, such as four-wheel drive trucks, ATVs, boats, jet skis and night vision goggles, to name a few.

Crist said the favorite part of his job is dealing with a diverse array of people he encounters on the job, from wealthy homeowners on Lake Conroe to those who fish the Trinity River to put food on their table.

"I have learned to deal with different elements of society," said Crist. "Most people are really good, but I have to be ready to deal with the criminal element."

Crist said he also gets for work in some of the most beautiful places in Texas.

"I get to work in some of the most pretty places," said Crist.

ASIS Houston Welcomes Scholarship Winners

2011-07-27T10:40:00.005-05:00

SHSU Scholarship winners and their guests were recently honored by the Houston Chapter of ASIS. Pictures from left to right Cody Wortham, Garrett Samples, Craig Furrow, Lauren Smith, Dr. Jim Dozier and Jennifer Shearer.

Graduate students in Security Studies from Sam Houston State University were recently honored during a monthly meeting of the Houston Chapter of the American Society of Industrial Security.

"The members of ASIS Houston consider it an honor and privilege to welcome these young professionals to our community," said Mike Mallon, President of the local chapter. "The importance of mentorship to outstanding students by our members cannot be understated."

Cody Wortham, Lauren Smith and Jennifer Shearer received scholarships from the organization, which represents more than 37,000 security professionals worldwide. The society is dedicated to increasing the effectiveness and productivity of security professionals by developing educational programs and materials that address broad security interests as well as specific security topics.

"ASIS has given us the opportunity to begin the transition from our academic pursuits to the real-world of security professionals," said Smith. "To that end, ASIS continues to provide us with useful mentorship and helpful professional networking."

The students plan to use the scholarship funds to continue their studies. Wortham said he would like to pursue a career in the intelligence field in a collection or analyst position. Smith said she would like to work in national security, but is keeping her career options open.

"It’s a hard field to get into," said Wortham.

During the meeting, the scholarship winners and their guests learned more about geospatial analysis in a lecture by U.S. Marshal Frank Weber. He demonstrated how open source information, along with GIS programs like Google Earth, could be a helpful tool for public and private security professionals alike.

As an example, Wortham said that Weber showed how Google Earth could have been used in the case of Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1991 when she was 11 years old and forced to live in a series of sheds behind Phillip Garrido’s home in Antioch, California. Dugard was discovered two decade later, in 2009, after she had two children by Garrido. Garrido and his wife Nancy were sentenced in May.

Google Earth could have been used to see the growth of the tent city, which would raise suspicion among local law enforcement agencies, Wortham recalled.

“Because of its wide applicability, gaining knowledge about geospatial systems would be beneficial to anyone seeking a future in security,” Smith said.

Incorporating Victims in Community Policing

2011-07-26T14:48:00.006-05:00

Community policing can enhance services to crime victims by working with victim advocacy groups and by incorporating victims into neighborhood watch programs or police-citizen partnerships, according to a recent report from the Crime Victims’ Institute authored by Dr. Willard M. Oliver of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University.

In Community Policing and Victim Services in Texas, the Crime Victims’ Institute (CVI) at Sam Houston State University explores methods to better serve crime victims within the community policing model. According to the report, community policing is broadly defined as "a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder and fear of crime."

"This report focuses on the intersection of community policing and victim services in Texas," said Dr. Glen Kercher, Director of CVI. "We hope it will be informative and be the catalyst for innovative ways to assist victims of crime."

The report highlights two recent methods which demonstrate the possibilities of incorporating victims into community policing. To combat domestic violence and other sex crimes, a multi-jurisdictional task force could be formed to address issues through multi-agency partnerships and shared problem-solving.

Another opportunity is partnerships between organizations and institutes that have some bearing on the problem, but are often not brought into the fold of crime prevention. One example is collaborative efforts between law enforcement and the medical community to prevent victimization and more effectively and efficiently respond to crime victims.

Recent program initiatives sponsored in part by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the National Center for Victims of Crime, have assessed ways to bridge the gaps between community policing and victims. Among the key themes that emerged from these programs are:

Victims are stakeholders
Victim service organizations offer unique opportunities for partnerships
Productive relationships between police and victims require better communication
Reducing the risk of repeat victimization is an important component of effective response to crime
Partnerships are key to preventing repeat victimization
Police and victim service organizations can find common ground in preventing crime

The Office of Community Oriented Policing also assessed problem-solving methods to better address the issue of domestic violence. Some of the recommendations from the program research include:

Educating collaborative partners
Tailoring police response on the basis of offender and victim risk
Educating potential victims and offenders
Encouraging domestic violence victims and witnesses to call police
Encouraging other professionals to screen for domestic violence victimization and make appropriate referrals
Providing victims with emergency protection and services after an assault
Assessing the threat of repeat victimization
Issuing and enforcing restraining orders
Aggressively pursuing criminal prosecution of severe domestic violence cases
Establishing special domestic violence courts
Providing treatment for batterers

"The concept of community policing, specifically community partnerships and problem solving, are important to the development of improved police services for the victims of crime in the state of Texas," concluded Dr. Oliver.