1932
0
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Annual Review of Criminology
  4. Volume 3, 2020
  5. Article

Annual Review of Criminology

Volume 3, 2020

Engineer to Operations Research to Criminology: Quite a Trajectory

Abstract

In reflecting on my career trajectory, I find it very intriguing: from high school science to Cornell's first class in engineering physics and then on to early involvement in the new field of operations research on military and air transportation, which led to significant leadership roles there. I was then a naïve recruit in criminology in a role that involved quantitative analysis and concern for the total criminal justice system with an emphasis on dimensions of criminal careers and their use in analysis for sentencing, incarceration, and related policies. The analytic issues emphasized included racial disproportionality in prison, drug policy, and facilitating redemption from the long-term punitive effects of crime involvement. In the process, I had the opportunity to provide leadership to the Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University, an important academic institution concerned with facilitating rational public policy; the National Consortium on Violence Research (NCOVR), a multi-university research and education program; and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, an important state-level criminal justice policy and funding agency.

Keyword(s): autobiography, criminal careers, criminal justice system, National Consortium on Violence Research, NCOVR, operations research, redemption
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041534
2020-01-13
2024-04-18
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/criminol/3/1/annurev-criminol-011419-041534.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041534&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Beck AJ, Blumstein A. 2018. Racial disproportionality in U.S. state prisons: accounting for the effects of racial and ethnic differences in criminal involvement, arrests, sentencing, and time served. J. Quant. Criminol. 34:3863–85
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Blumstein A. 1958. The Monte Carlo Method as a decision aid in airways modernization. Proceedings of the National Conference on Aeronautics and Electronics Dayton, OH: Natl. Conf. Aeronaut. Electron
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Blumstein A. 1959. The landing capacity of a runway. Oper. Res. 7:6689–827
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Blumstein A. 1960a. The operations rate of a runway used for both landings and takeoffs. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Operations Research Oxford, UK: IFORS
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Blumstein A. 1960b. The operations capacity of runways used for landings and takeoffs PhD Diss., Cornell Univ Ithaca, NY:
  6. Blumstein A. 1970. Systems analysis and the criminal justice system. Ann. Am. Acad. Political Soc. Sci. 374:92–106
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Blumstein A. 1982. On the racial disproportionality of U.S. prison populations. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 73:31259–81
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Blumstein A. 1988a. American prisons in a time of crisis. The American Prison: Issues in Research and Policy 4 L Goodstein, DL MacKenzie 13–22 New York: Plenum Press
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Blumstein A. 1988b. Prison populations: a system out of control. Crime Justice 10:231–66
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Blumstein A. 1990. Disaggregating the violence trends. The Crime Drop in America A Blumstein, J Wallman 13–44 New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Blumstein A. 1993. Making rationality relevant: the American Society of Criminology Presidential Address. Criminology 31:11–16
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Blumstein A. 1995. Youth violence, guns, and the illicit-drug industry. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 86:410–36
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Blumstein A. 2003. The notorious 100:1 crack:powder disparity—the data tell us that it is time to restore the balance. Fed. Sentencing Rep. 16:187–92
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Blumstein A, Beck AJ. 1999. Population growth in U.S. prisons, 1980–1996. Crime Justice 26:17–61
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Blumstein A, Belkin J, Glass W 1971. JUSSIM Urban. Syst. Inst. Rep., Sch. Urban Public Aff. Carnegie Mellon Univ Pittsburgh, PA:
  16. Blumstein A, Belkin J, Glass W 1974. JUSSIM II, an interactive feedback model for criminal justice planning Urban Syst. Inst. Rep., Sch. Urban Public Aff. Carnegie Mellon Univ Pittsburgh, PA:
  17. Blumstein A, Cohen J. 1973. A theory of the stability of punishment. J. Crim. Law Criminol. Police Sci. 63:2198–207
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Blumstein A, Cohen J. 1982. Duration of adult criminal careers: final report Natl. Inst. Justice Rep., US Dep. Justice Washington, DC:
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Blumstein A, Cohen J. 1987. Characterizing criminal careers. Science 238:4818985–91
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Farrington DP 1988a. Criminal career research: its value for criminology. Criminology 26:11–35
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Farrington DP 1988b. Longitudinal and criminal career research: further clarifications. Criminology 26:157–74
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Miller H 1980. Demographically disaggregated projections of prison populations. J. Crim. Justice 8:11–25
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Moitra S, Nagin D 1981. On testing the stability of punishment hypothesis: a reply. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 72:44
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Martin S, Tonry M 1983a. Research on Sentencing: The Search for Reform 1: Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Martin S, Tonry M 1983b. Research on Sentencing: The Search for Reform 2: Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Nagin D 1976. The dynamics of a homeostatic punishment process. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 67:3317–54
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Nagin D 1978. Deterrence and incapacitation: estimating the effects of criminal sanctions on crime rates Rep., Panel Deterrence and Incapac., Natl. Acad. Sci Washington, DC:
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Blumstein A, Cohen J, Roth J, Visher CA 1986. Criminal Careers and “Career Criminals.” Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Blumstein A, Graddy E. 1982. Prevalence and recidivism in index arrests: a feedback model approach. Law Soc. Rev. 16:2265–90
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Blumstein A, Larson R. 1967. A systems approach to the study of crime and criminal justice. Operations Research for Public Systems P Morse Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Blumstein A, Larson R. 1969. Models of the total criminal justice system. Oper. Res. 17:2199–232
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Blumstein A, Larson R. 1972. Problems in modeling and measuring recidivism. J. Res. Crime Delinquency 8:2124–32
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Blumstein A, Moitra S. 1979. An analysis of the time series of the imprisonment rate in the states of the United States: a further test of the stability of punishment hypothesis. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 70:3376–90
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Blumstein A, Wallman J. 2006. The Crime Drop in America New York: Cambridge Univ Press. Revis ed
  35. Blumstein A, Nakamura K. 2009. Redemption in the presence of widespread criminal background checks. Criminology 47:2327–59
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Blumstein A, Nakamura K. 2012. Paying a price, long after the crime. New York Times Jan. 10. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/opinion/paying-a-price-long-after-the-crime.html
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Blumstein A, Nakamura K. 2014. Redemption for reintegrating prisoners in the era of widespread background checks Natl. Inst. Justice Rep., US Dep. Justice Washington, DC:
  38. Brame R, Turner MG, Paternoster R, Bushway SD 2011. Cumulative prevalence of arrest from ages 8 to 23 in a national sample. Pediatrics 129:121–27
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Cullen FT, Gendreau P. 2001. From nothing works to what works: changing professional ideology in the 21st century. Prison J 81:3313–38
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Christiansen R. 1967. Projected percentage of U.S. population with criminal arrest and conviction records. Task Force Report: Science and Technology216–27 Washington, DC: Pres. Comm. Law Enforc. Adm. Justice
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Gendreau P. 1981. Treatment in corrections: Martinson was wrong. Can. Psychol. 22:4332–38
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Gottfredson M, Hirsch T. 1986. The true value of lambda would appear to be zero: an essay on career criminals, criminal careers, selective incapacitation, and related topics. Criminology 24:2213–34
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Inst. Def. Anal. (IDA) 1968. A National Program of Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Alexandria, VA: IDA
  44. Martinson R. 1974. What works? Questions and answers about prison reform. Public Interest 35:22–54
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Nagin DS. 1998. Deterrence research at the outset of the twenty-first century. Crime Justice 23:1–42
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Natl. Res. Counc 2012. Deterrence and the Death Penalty DS Nagin, JV Pepper Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
  47. Pfaff JF. 2011. The micro and macro causes of prison growth. Ga. State Univ. Law Rev. 28:41239–71
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Piquero AR, Farrington DP, Blumstein A 2003. The criminal career paradigm. Crime Justice 30:359–506
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Pres. Comm. Law Enforc. Adm. Justice 1967a. Task force report on science and technology Rep., Task Force Sci. Technol Washington, DC:
  50. Pres. Comm. Law Enforc. Adm. Justice 1967b. The challenge of crime in a free society Rep., Pres. Comm. Law Enforc. Adm. Justice Washington, DC:
  51. Travis J, Western B, Redburn FS 2014. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Wikipedia 2019. 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Grand_Canyon_mid-air_collision
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011419-041534
Loading
  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error