Criminology professional society names award for ASU professor
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A regional professional society dedicated to scientifically studying crime has named an annual award after an Arizona State University professor.
The Western Society of Criminology (WSC) will honor Henry F. Fradella with the inaugural Henry F. Fradella Award in a ceremony at its annual conference Feb. 8–10 in Long Beach, California. The award recognizes major contributions to empirical research of legal issues in criminal justice.
Two of Fradella’s colleagues at ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Anthony Peguero and Danielle Wallace, will also receive WSC awards that were announced in the fall. Peguero is the WSC’s W.E.B. Du Bois Award winner, while Wallace is a Fellows Award recipient. All three will be honored in February.
School of Criminology and Criminal Justive Director and Professor Beth Huebner said the awards demonstrate the faculty members’ ongoing leadership in criminology.
“All three faculty who are receiving awards are being recognized for their long-term dedication to the organization and their excellence in criminology scholarship,” Huebner said. “These awards are a testament to their excellence as scholars.”
Fradella, a former WSC president, is a full professor who was the school's associate director from 2014 to 2022. The award also honors Fradella for his more than seven years of service to the WSC as its executive director from 2016 to 2022. He was WSC president from 2012 to 2013 after serving earlier terms as the society’s vice president and secretary.
Fradella, who holds JD and PhD degrees, researches the historical development of substantive, procedural and evidentiary criminal law; the evaluation of law’s effects on human behavior; the dynamics of legal decision-making; and the nature, sources and consequences of variations and changes in legal institutions and processes.
Fradella said he was “flabbergasted” when he received a letter telling him of the award in his name.
“I am rarely at a loss for words,” he said, “but all I could say was, ‘Wow.’”
Fradella said he is humbled and deeply honored that the WSC created the award because it recognizes empirical contributions to the legal aspects of criminal justice.
“I would have been thrilled to be the recipient of such an award, but to have it named for me is indescribable,” Fradella said. “I am profoundly grateful.”
Wallace will receive the Fellows Award, conferred upon individuals generally associated with the Western region who have made important contributions to the field of criminology. Her research focuses on crime and health; disparities in policing; and neighborhoods in relation to crime and disorder, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Peguero will receive the W.E.B. Du Bois Award for significant contributions to the field of racial and ethnic issues in criminology. Peguero holds a shared appointment with the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and ASU’s T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. His research interests involve youth violence, socialization and marginalization, schools and the adaptation of children immigrants.
Founded in 1973, WSC attracts scholars, students, government officials and practitioners from both the public and private sectors from around the world.
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