Today@Sam Article
First Beto Chair Lecturer Scheduled
Oct. 17, 2017
SHSU Media Contact: Emily Binetti
Pamela Wilcox, criminal justice professor and graduate school fellow in the School of Justice at the University of Cincinnati, will present her latest research on “Communities and Crime: An Enduring American Challenge” as part of the first Beto Chair Lecture of the fall.
The presentation will be on Oct. 20 from 9:30-11 a.m. in the Hazel B. Kerper Courtroom at Sam Houston State University.
The presentation is based on her latest book of the same name, coauthored with Francis Cullen and Ben Feldmeyer, which investigates the link between crime and place. This presentation provides an intellectual history that traces how varying images of community have evolved over time and how these images have influenced criminological thinking and criminal justice policy. 
In particular, Wilcox will discuss five defining images of community: community as social disorganization; community as truly disadvantaged; community as a criminal subculture; community as crime opportunity; and community as a site of efficacy and resilience.
Each image presents a different perspective on why some neighborhoods produce so much crime, thus also implying unique approaches to crime control and criminal justice policy.
Wilcox’s research focuses on developing and testing theories of crime, victimization and crime prevention, especially how they influence schools and communities.
Wilcox is also the author of “Criminal Circumstance: A Dynamic Multicontextual Criminal Opportunity Theory” and co-editor of “The Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory,” “The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory,” “Criminological Theory: Past to Present,” and “Challenging Criminological Theory: The Legacy of Ruth Rosner Kornhauser.”
Her work also has been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as Criminology, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Justice Quarterly, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Violence and Victims, and Journal of School Violence.
Wilcox served as a co-principal investigator of several federally-funded studies examining school-based offending and victimization, student fear of crime and perceptions of safety, and bar-related violence. She is a former deputy editor of Justice Quarterly, a current associate editor of Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency and Criminal Justice Review, and she serves on the editorial boards of Criminology and Victims and Offenders.
Wilcox received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Duke University and began her teaching career at the University of Kentucky before joining the University of Cincinnati in 2004. She served as the chair of the Crime, Law and Deviance Section of the American Sociological Association and was an elected executive counselor for the American Society of Criminology. She has been elected to serve as Vice-President for the American Society of Criminology during the 2019 term.
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