This week we spoke with Professor Tom Tyler. We reflected on his career and how he became interested in criminology. We also discuss his major contributions to the field: his work on police legitimacy and procedural justice. Finally, Tom gives us his thoughts on the field and advice for the future.

Tom Tyler is the Macklin Fleming Professor Emeritus of Law and Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School, as well as a Founding Director of The Justice Collaboratory. In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his research on legitimacy and procedural justice. He holds a PhD in social psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles.

This week, we talked to Tim Barnum about his work on people's perceptions of risk and deterrence from crime.

Timothy Barnum is currently an assistant professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. Prior to Sam Houston, Dr. Barnum was a Senior Researcher at Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. He received his PhD from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2018. His recent works explore the individual and situational factors that shape criminal decisions, perceptions, and attitudes.

This week we spoke with Laura DeMarco about cumulative disadvantage and contact with the criminal justice system.

Laura DeMarco is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at North Carolina State University. Her research asks questions about how the criminal justice system reflects, reproduces, and creates various inequalities, with attention to how the legal and economic context shape the stigma of a criminal record. Laura received her PhD from the Ohio State University in 2020. Before that she obtained a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University at Albany – State University of New York, and a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Sociology from SUNY Geneseo.