Stanford Law School Professor Joan Petersilia Elected to the American Academy of Political and Social Science

On May 17, 2018, the American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) inducted Joan Petersilia, the Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, as a Thorsten Sellin Fellow at the academy’s 2018 gala dinner. Each year, AAPSS invites a small group of outstanding scholars/public servants to join the academy as fellows in recognition of their contributions to advancement of the social sciences. Reflecting the broad and interdisciplinary nature of the AAPSS, fellows include sociologists, political scientists, psychologists and economists, as well as scholars and practitioners in communications, education, government and public policy.

Stanford Law Professor and Faculty Co-director, Stanford Criminal Justice Center

Joan Petersilia: A Life’s Work Focusing on America’s Prison Challenges 1

Joan Petersilia

Joan Petersilia has spent more than 30 years studying the performance of U.S. criminal justice agencies and has been instrumental in affecting sentencing and corrections reform in California and throughout the United States. She is the author of 11 books about crime and public policy, and her research on parole reform, prisoner reintegration and sentencing policy has fueled changes in policies throughout the nation.

A criminologist with a background in empirical research and social science, Petersilia is also faculty co-director for the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC), focusing on policies related to crime control, sentencing, and corrections, and developing nonpartisan analyses and recommendations intended to aid public officials, legal practitioners, and the public in understanding criminal justice policy at the state and national levels.

Before entering academia, Petersilia served as a special advisor to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, helping to reorganize juvenile and adult corrections and working with the California State Legislature to implement prison and parole reform. In addition, she recently received the prestigious Stockholm Prize in Criminology (the Nobel Prize in criminology) for her work on prisoner reentry.

Read more about Dr. Petersilia and her work with the SCJC

About the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC)

Founded in 2005, the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC) serves as a research and policy institute on issues related to the criminal justice system. Our efforts are geared both towards generating policy research for the public sector, as well as providing pedagogical opportunities to Stanford Law School students with academic or careers in interests in criminal law and crime policy.

The Stanford Criminal Justice Center is led by Faculty Co-Directors Professors Joan Petersilia, David Sklansky, and Robert Weisberg, and Executive Director Debbie Mukamal.

About the American Academy of Political and Social Science

The AAPSS was founded in 1889 to promote progress in the social sciences. The goal of the academy’s founders was to foster, across disciplines, important questions in the realm of social sciences, and to promote the work of those whose research aimed to address important social problems.