Justin Pickett Receives American Society of Criminology's 2015 Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award

ALBANY, N.Y. (August 12, 2015) -- Assistant Professor Justin Pickett of the University at Albany School of Criminal Justice has received the 2015 Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology. The award recognizes outstanding scholarly contributions to the discipline of criminology by someone who has received a Ph.D., M.D., LL.D., or similar graduate degree no more than five years before the year of the award.

"This award represents the highest recognition for a young scholar in our field, and Justin is carrying on the rich tradition of our School’s research leadership. His work on how race, crime, and justice interact are especially salient in American society today. Justin’s careful and systematic research contributes substantially not only to the academic literature but to criminal justice policy and practice," said School of Criminal Justice Dean William Alex Pridemore.

Assistant Professor Justin Pickett, recipient of the 2015 Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology.

After studying sociology at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, Pickett earned master’s and doctoral degrees in criminal justice from Florida State University. He joined the faculty at the University at Albany School of Criminal Justice in fall 2012.

His broad research interests center on public opinion about criminal justice, including a particular focus on the development of strategies to improve the measurement and analysis of public attitudes.

Pickett also researches the roles of interracial contact, minority threat, and racial stereotypes as determinants of popular views about crime and justice issues. His past studies have explored the extent to which the association between black proximity and whites’ perceptions of victimization risk is contingent upon the latter’s endorsement of the stereotype of blacks as criminals. He has also participated in projects examining the effects of interracial contact on whites’ assessments of black criminality and on perceptions of victimization risk, and studied the relationships between ethnic threat and public support for judicial use of ethnicity in sentencing.

Recent research projects include exploring the effectiveness of different techniques for increasing response rates and quality in criminal justice surveys and examining the ways in which context moderates the influence of racial beliefs on public support for juvenile treatment programs.

Pickett's Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award is the first for a faculty member in the University at Albany School of Criminal Justice.

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