Entries by Jeffrey Ian Ross

What’s causing the trend in flash mobs engaging in “smash-and-grab” thefts of luxury goods & how might we respond?

Over the past few weeks there’s been a considerable amount of news media coverage of flash mob “smash-and-grabs,” also known as flash robs, of luxury items from retail stores throughout the United States. True, stores like Best Buy, CVS, and Home Depot have been subject to this kind of victimization, but luxury items like clothing, […]

CONVICT CRIMINOLOGY FOR THE FUTURE translated into Portuguese & published as A CRIMINOLOGIA DOS CONDENADOS E O FUTURO

This week Francesca Vianello’s (University of Padua) and my edited book Convict Criminology for the Future was published as A Criminologia dos Condenados E O Futuro, by Brazilian publisher Tirant Lo Branch. During this process, not only were we significantly assisted by respected Brazilian Criminologist Dr. Maria Lucia Karam, who graciously and masterfully translated the […]

Three cheers for divisions in learned societies

One of the principle concepts in the field of cell biology is mitosis. This natural process occurs when a cell or organism splits into two. A similar situation happens in many learned societies (e.g., American Sociological Association, American Political Science Association, etc.). Over time, as knowledge accumulates and new people study a phenomenon, they may […]

Should scholars have to ask for honorariums? It depends

This past week, in a small corner of the twitterverse, a mild storm erupted. This squall centered on a reply written by a junior African American faculty member. The academic, who works at a top ten private university, expressed displeasure with being asked to give a face-to-face lecture at another university, (not in a conference […]