Rylan Simpson received the Criminology, Law and Society Department's Michelle Smith Pontell Award
Read about the Criminology, Law and Society Departmental Annual Award Winners and other student accomplishments for 2016-17 in the Newsletter.
ILSSC graduate student Rylan Simpson received the Criminology, Law and Society Department’s Michelle Smith Pontell Award (recognition of outstanding accomplishments in graduate study)
ILSSC graduate student Chris Contreras received the Criminology, Law and Society Department’s Kitty Calavita Award (recognition of best second-year project)
ILSSC graduate student Nick Branic who received the Criminology, Law and Society Department Student Nominated Peer Mentoring Award (for a second time).
Chris Contreras submitted his second year paper “A Block-Level Analysis of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Crime in the City of Los Angeles”. This paper was published in Justice Quarterly, 2016. This outstanding research looks at the effect of marijuana dispensaries on crime rates within socially organized blocks. Chris’s timely contribution provides some much needed analysis for states as they look to revenue sources through legalization of marijuana.
Rylan Simpson has excelled at all aspects of his graduate studies; he is a well-rounded scholar. His empirical research on policing has been published in excellent journals, he regularly gives well received guest lectures in courses in addition to his outstanding work as a TA, and he links to the community through all the work he has done presenting to various police agencies, thus garnering him attention and requests for presentations as far away as Brisbane, Australia.