Gary LaFree is a Professor and Chair of the Criminology and Criminal Justice department at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Director of the Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center (MCRIC) and the Founding Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). His main areas of expertise are sociology, criminology, race and crime, cross-national comparative research and political violence and terrorism.

Education

LaFree received his B.A. (1973), his M.A. (1975) and his Ph.D. (1979) from Indiana University.

Career

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 (1988-2001). 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. LaFree previously taught at Indiana University (1975-1976) and the University of New Mexico (1979-2000).

Memberships

LaFree is a member of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and a past member of the National Consortium on Violence Research. He was president of the American Society of Criminology for the year 2005-2006 and became a Fellow of the ASC in 2007. LaFree has been or is currently on the editorial boards of several scientific journals including Criminology, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and the International Journal of Conflict and Violence.

Works (selection)

On violent crime

On race and crime

On terrorism

Sources