Dr. Blevins received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include corrections, the occupational reactions of criminal justice employees, and crime prevention. Dr. Blevins has teamed with local law enforcement agencies to study theft, robberies, and prostitution. Her work can be found in the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, Criminal Justice Policy Review, American Journal of Criminal Justice, Deviant Behavior, and International Journal of Police Science and Management.  She has also coauthored several book chapters and co-edited Taking Stock: The Status of Criminological Theory and Transformative Justice: Critical and Peacemaking Themes Influenced by Richard Quinney. She is a member of the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Southern Criminal Justice Association.

Avi Brisman is a Professor in the School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University, an Adjunct Professor in the School of Justice at Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), an Honorary Professor at Newcastle Law School at the University of Newcastle (Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia), and Editor-in-Chief of Critical Criminology: An International Journal. He received a B.A. from Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH), an M.F.A. from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY), a J.D. with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law (Hartford, CT), where he was a Notes and Comments Editor of the Connecticut Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Board, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from Emory University (Atlanta, GA). His books include the Routledge International Handbook of Green Criminology (2013, 2020), co-edited with Nigel South; Water, Crime and Security in the Twenty-First Century: Too Dirty, Too Little, Too Much (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), co-authored with Bill McClanahan, Nigel South and Reece Walters; Environmental Crime in Latin America: The Theft of Nature and the Poisoning of the Land (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), co-edited with David Rodríguez Goyes, Hanneke Mol, and Nigel South; Introducción a la criminología verde. Conceptos para nuevos horizontes y diálogos socioambientales
[Introduction to Green Criminology: Concepts for New Horizons and Socio-Environmental Dialogues] (Editorial Temis S.A. and Universidad Antonio Nariño, Fondo Editorial, 2017), co-edited with Hanneke Mol, David Rodríguez Goyes and Nigel South; The Routledge Companion to Criminological Theory and Concepts (2017), co-edited with Eamonn Carrabine and Nigel South; Geometries of Crime: How Young People Perceive Crime and Justice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); Environmental Crime and Social Conflict: Contemporary and Emerging Issues (Ashgate, 2015), co-edited with Nigel South and Rob White; and Green Cultural Criminology: Constructions of Environmental Harm, Consumerism, and Resistance to Ecocide (Routledge, 2014), co-authored with Nigel South. His forthcoming books include Introdução à criminologia verde: perspectivas críticas, decoloniais e do Sul [Introduction to Green Criminology: Southern, decolonial and critical perspectives] (Tirant lo Blanch, 2021), co-edited with Marília de Nardin Budó, David Rodríguez Goyes, Lorenzo Natali, and Ragnhild Sollund. In 2015, he received the Critical Criminologist of the Year Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Critical Criminology. His work has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Italian, Portuguese, Slovenian and Spanish.

CV Victoria Collins March 2024

Victoria E. Collins is a Professor in the School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. Victoria’s research and teaching interests include state crime/crimes of the powerful, victimology, violence against women, and the sociology of sport. Victoria has published four books Fighting Sports, Gender, and the Commodification of Violence: Heavy Bag Heroines (Lexington Books), State Crime, Women and Gender (Routledge Taylor & Francis), The Violence of Neoliberalism: Crime, Harm and Inequality (Routledge Taylor & Francis, co-authored), and Explorations in Critical Criminology: Essays in Honor of William Chambliss (Brill, co-edited). Some of Victoria’s recent publications have appeared in journals such as Crime, Media, Culture, Critical Criminology, and Critical Sociology.

Books:
Fighting Sports, Gender, and the Commodification of Violence: Heavy Bag Heroines
State Crime, Women and Gender

The Violence of Neoliberalism: Crime, Harm and Inequality

Chuck Fields is Professor of Justice Studies and has a BA (1980) and MA (1981) in Political Science from Appalachian State University, and a PhD in Criminal Justice Theory (1984) from Sam Houston State University.

This is his 30th year of teaching at several universities in the United States, and was Department Chair of Criminal Justice at the California State University, San Bernardino, and Corrections and Juvenile Justice Studies at EKU. He is a member of numerous regional, national, and international professional associations and has published 11 edited books and Technical Reports, over 30 scholarly articles, chapters, encyclopedia entries, and reviews, and presented at over 30 academic conferences. Current research interests include The “Terza Scuola” (Third School) of the Italian Socialists: 1880–1910, Drugs and International Drug Policy, and Comparative Justice Systems.

His involvement in international education began in 1997 when he was invited to participate in the International Summer Law School Program at Lapin Uliopisto (The University of Lapland) in Finland. Has been a visiting lecturer at several institutions in Finland and Slovenia, and over the past 15 years, has collaborated with scholars and students on several publication and research endeavors in a variety of disciplines. The College of Justice and Safety has hosted numerous faculty and student groups from these countries on several occasions, and annually takes student groups to Washington, DC, Finland & Estonia, Cuba, and periodically Slovenia. He is on the program committee and The College of Justice and Safety is a co-sponsor of the Bienniel (even years) Conference on Policing in Eastern and Central Europe held in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Dr. Pete Kraska, Professor 

Dr. Pete Kraska, a professor in the School of Justice Studies, stands as a leading authority in police policy, police militarization, criminal justice theory, and criminological research methods. A prolific scholar, he has authored seminal books and published extensively in top academic journals, shaping the discourse on police practices and criminal justice reform. Dr. Kraska’s expertise has positioned him as a sought-after voice on national platforms, leading to appearances before the U.S. Senate and various state congressional hearings. His work has been highlighted by major media outlets, including 60 Minutes, The Economist, The Washington Post, BBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. Currently, Dr. Kraska serves as a consultant and expert witness in civil rights cases addressing critical issues in police use-of-force, no-knock warrants, protest policing, and “less-lethal” control measures. He collaborates with Campaign Zero, contributing to model legislation and data collection efforts aimed at reforming no-knock practices and regulating protest policing. Through his groundbreaking work, Dr. Kraska not only drives academic innovation but actively influences policy and public awareness in pursuit of a more equitable justice system. 

Frequently Requested Talks / Presentations / Reports 

Talks

Police Militarization and America’s Punitive Turn:
Lessons from the Field

Kraska’s U.S. Senate Testimony 

Report

Policing Protest Civil Rights Case – Tavis Day Final Report

Frequently Requested Articles

Police Militarization 101 pdf

Exploding Number of Swat Teams Sets Off Alarms

Breonna Taylor Vice Documentary

Normalizing Police Militarization, Living in Denial

Fighting is the Most Real and Honest Thing: Violence and the Civilization/Barbarism Dialectic

Militarization and Policing—Its Relevance to 21st Century Police

Criminal Justice Theory: Toward Legitimacy and an Infrastructure

Militarizing American Police: The Rise and Normalization of Paramilitary Units

Militarizing Mayberry and Beyond: Making Sense of American Paramilitary Policing

Trafficking in Bodily Perfection: Examining the Late-Modern Steroid Marketplace and Its Criminalization

Enjoying Militarism: Political/Personal Dilemmas in Studying U.S. Police Paramilitary Units

Moving Beyond our Methodological Default: A Case for Mixed Methods 

Books

Criminal Justice and Criminology Research Methods
Theorizing Criminal Justice
Militarizing the American Criminal Justice System  

Dr. Betsy Matthews’ primary areas of focus are community corrections and correctional rehabilitation. She has published several articles and book chapters on both of these issues.

Dr. Matthews joined the EKU faculty in 1999 and received her Ph.D. in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2003. Dr. Matthews has a blend of practical and academic experience. She began her career as a child care worker in a residential treatment facility for behaviorally disordered adolescents before moving into an adult probation officer position in Greene County, Ohio. After earning her master’s degree, Dr. Matthews accepted a position with the American Probation and Parole Association, serving as a research associate on federally funded grant projects.

Dr. Irina R. Soderstrom is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice. She received her B.A. in sociology/pre-law at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign in 1987. She received her M.S. in administration of justice in 1990 and her Ph.D. in educational psychology/statistics and measurement in 1997 from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Her primary teaching interests include statistics, research methods and research seminar courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her primary research focus is in program evaluation and she has conducted considerable evaluative research on parole programs, boot camps, correctional industries, teen courts and school safety.

Judah Schept, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. He holds a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University and a BA in Sociology from Vassar College. Judah’s work examines the political economy, historical geography, and cultural politics of the prison industrial complex. He is the author of Progressive Punishment: Job Loss, Jail Growth, and the Neoliberal Politics of Carceral Expansion (New York University Press, 2015). In addition, Judah’s writing can be found in journals such as Radical Criminology, Theoretical Criminology, Punishment and Society, Social Justice, and Crime, Media, Culture, as well as in blogs and opinion pieces for academic and activist websites. Judah’s current research examines the historical, spatial and political relationships between extractive and prison economies in Central Appalachia.

Dr. Ken Tunnell is a prolific writer. Some of his books include Pissing on Demand, Living Off Crime and Political Crime in Contemporary America. He has also been published in numerous journals, including Free Inquiry in Creative Sociology, Social Justice, Deviant Behavior, Journal of Criminal Justice Education and Journal of Popular Culture.

Dr. Tunnell’s areas of academic interest include field research, cultural criminology, rural crime and visual sociology.