Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center

Current Director: Dr. Bianca E. Bersani

Dr. Bianca E. Bersani is the Director of the Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center (MCRIC) and Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. As a life course criminologist, her research interests involve the study of patterns and predictors of offending from adolescence through adulthood. Key themes include the investigation of desistance and persistence in offending, family and intimate relationship dynamics, divergence in offending across race/ethnicity, gender, and immigration status, and the application of innovative methodologies to understanding the mechanisms of behavioral change. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and an M.A. from the University of Nebraska.

 Email: bbersani@umd.edu

Founding Director: Dr. Gary LaFree

Dr. Gary LaFree is the Founding Director of the Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center (MCRIC) and Professor and Chair of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at the University of Maryland. He is also the former Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland.

Dr. LaFree received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University in 1979. During 2005-2006, he served as President of the American Society of Criminology (ASC). Dr. LaFree was named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology in 2006 and a member of the National Academy of Science's Committee on Law and Justice in 2008. He has also served as the Past President of the ASC’s Division on International Criminology (1991-1993), the chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Crime, Law and Deviance (1991-1993), the Executive Board of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation (2001-2006), and the Executive Committee of the Justice Research Statistics Association (2000-2001, 1993-1994).

While at the University of Maryland, Dr. LaFree has been a founding member of the Democracy Collaborative and an invited member of the National Consortium of Violence Research. Before joining the faculty at Maryland, Dr. LaFree served as the Chair of the Sociology and Criminology Department at the University of New Mexico for six years and as the Director of the New Mexico Criminal Justice Statistics Analysis Center for 13 years. Dr. LaFree was appointed by the Governor of New Mexico to chair the State Crime and Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council—a position that he filled for four years.

Dr. LaFree received the G. Paul Sylvestre Award for outstanding achievements in advancing criminal justice statistics in 1994, and the Phillip Hoke Award for excellence in applied research in 1994 and 1998, from the Justice Research Statistics Association. LaFree has written more than 60 articles and book chapters and three books and is currently on the editorial boards of seven journals.

Watch the Video below of Dr. LaFree discussing his work at the University of Maryland, and his thoughts on the future of the field of criminology and criminal justice.