Zatz honored for criminology work

February 20, 2007

Marjorie Zatz, interim vice president and executive vice provost at ASU's West campus, will receive the Western Society of Criminology's (WSC) prestigious Paul Tappan Award for “outstanding contributions to the field of criminology.” The award will be conferred during the WSC's 34th annual conference, which takes place Feb. 15-17 in Scottsdale. “I am deeply honored,” says Zatz, who also is a professor in ASU's School of Justice and Social Inquiry. “The Paul Tappan Award is special for me because it recognizes contributions to the field of criminology, rather than to a subdivision within the field. I am humbled to be the recipient this year, because the list of previous honorees includes some of the most respected scholars in the discipline.” In addition to receiving the Tappan Award, Zatz will present the conference's keynote address Feb. 16, titled “Immigration, Crime and Justice: The Social and Political Implications of Recent U.S. Immigration Policies.” “We are very pleased and honored to present the Tappan Award to Dr. Zatz,” says Sue Cote, WSC president and associate professor of criminal justice at California State University-Sacramento. “Her expert work is significant, and she deserves to join the ranks of the notable scholars who have been recognized by the WSC for their significant contributions to our field. We are looking forward to hearing her speak at our conference.” Zatz's keynote address will target some of the central elements of her research, including the relationship between race, ethnicity, gender, and criminal justice processing and sanctioning. “The specific focus will be on the social and political implications of recent U.S. immigration policies,” Zatz says. “I am particularly interested in the ways in which these policies and practices reinforce racialized and gendered constructions of crime and victimization.” Before serving ASU as a faculty and administration leader for 25 years, Zatz earned her doctorate in sociology with a minor in Latin-American studies from Indiana University . In addition to her interest in the ways in which race, ethnicity and gender affect juvenile and criminal court decisions, she is an expert in the social constructions of race and gender, Chicano/a gangs and comparative justice, particularly Latin-American legal systems. Just last year, the third edition of her book, “Images of Color, Images of Crime,” was published by Roxbury Publishing Co. Zatz has published two additional books and more than 50 articles and chapters in scholarly journals and academic presses, including Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Social Problems, Justice Quarterly, and Law and Society Review. In addition to the 2006-2007 Paul Tappan Award, her honors and awards include the American Society of Criminology's Herbert Bloch Award, the WSC's W.E.B. DuBois Award for Research on Race and the Administration of Justice, the American Society of Criminology Division of Women and Crime's Senior Scholar Award and the ASU Faculty Women's Association's Outstanding Mentor of Women Award.

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