|
~
The Public Affair
~
Spring 2005 |
A Publication of the
Department
of Sociology,
Anthropology, and the Crime and Society Program
Missouri State University
Springfield, Missouri 65804 |
|
~ Faculty Musings ~
This
page is dedicated to the faculty of the department who teach
primarily sociology-designated courses. The three following web pages are
devoted to the Anthropology faculty and the sociologists who
teach primarily criminology-designated courses respectively.
Sociology Faculty
| Anthropology Faculty |
Crime and Society Faculty
_________________________________________________________________
From
the Sociology Faculty
Making the World a Better Place
- One Semester at a
Time
by
Dr. Gary Brock
What
can we do about waste? Is poverty getting worse or
better? Should controlled substances be criminalized or
legalized? Is the family disintegrating or merely
adapting? Are men and women equals
- or should they be
treated differently? How can the American educational
system better meet students’ needs? What should be done
about the health care crisis? Why do we treat each
other disrespectfully because we look different
from one another? After
9/11, have we responded appropriately? Serious
questions - and issues that cannot be resolved in a single
semester. But, Drs. Carlie and Brock took an old
course, Social Problems, gave it a new look, and
attempted to address these issues.
Students tackled nine social problems
- from family to
education to terrorism - on a four-day cycle. The first
day we introduced students to the issues associated with
that problem. On the second day we invited an academic
who has done extensive research in that area to speak to
the students. The third day, we invited someone from
the community who was actively attempting to resolve
aspects of that social problem. Then, on the fourth
day, Dr. Carlie and I met with our respective sections,
to discuss a review they’d written from a current
newspaper article, what they’d learned about the problem
from our guest speakers, and we then proposed solutions.
The
most rewarding aspect of the course, at least for me,
was the personal social action component. We emphasized
throughout the semester that everyone can become part of the
solution. Therefore, each student was required to
engage in a personal social action. They had to
select, from the problems we studied, something they felt
passionately about and were willing to devote personal
time and energy to in hopes of
resolving that problem. I must
admit, I got a “warm and fuzzy feeling” as I read their
personal social action statements.
So,
this fall, 140 students variously
served food to the homeless,
organized groups to help disenfranchised individuals,
built homes, registered voters, volunteered at animal
shelters, picked up trash, organized and marched about a
variety of social issues, worked with disadvantaged
children, read to children in schools, and wrote
letters - to their local newspaper, congressman, U.S.
representative or senator, President Bush and foreign
governments. Students became involved in their
community, locally and globally. They addressed issues
in small Missouri towns and those in the Middle East.
Education became more than an academic exercise where
their primary concern was the grade they would receive
for the course; they were forced to consider others’
needs and how their academic experience potentially
could make a difference in the world outside the
university.
Missouri State
has a public affairs mission and SOC 152 reflected that
state mandate. The Missouri State academic environment is
supposed to produce concerned citizens. Our hope is the
public affairs aspect of this course will motivate
students to remain involved, and informed, citizens
after the semester concludes and following
graduation—the mission of this university.
Throughout the semester, we stress the following quote
from Sidney Sheldon as found on page
21 of his book Windmills of the Gods.
Let us remember that the problems we
share
are far greater than the problems that divide us,
and that the problems that divide us
are of our own making.
May we
all work to become part of the solution.
_________________________________________________________________
World Population
Beyond 6 Billion
by
Dr.
Robin Amonker
One major social change taking place in
the world today is a “population explosion,”
a rapid increase in the size of the world’s
population. For approximately 150,000 years,
Homo sapiens increased very slowly in numbers
throughout most of their existence. However,
ever since the beginning of the modern era the
population has been accelerating. It took many
centuries for the world population to reach one
billion people in 1850, but by 2000 the world
population had grown to over 6 billion (Table
1). At the current rate, another billion people
will be added to the world population in about
12-13 years. According to United Nations
projections the world population will be over 9
billion by 2050.
|
Table 1.
Growth of World Population in Billion-fold
Increase |
|
Year |
Population |
Time |
|
1850 |
1 Billion |
Many Years |
|
1930 |
2 Billion |
80 Years |
|
1960 |
3 Billion |
30 Years |
|
1975 |
4 Billion |
15 Years |
|
1987 |
5 Billion |
12 Years |
|
1999 |
6 Billion |
12 Years |
|
Source:
United Nations |
The
tremendous increase in population growth in the modern
era is the result of two factors: the world wide death
rate has declined dramatically, but the birth rate has
not shown a similar decline. The large gap between the
birth and death rates has resulted in a high rate of
population growth (Table 2). With 135 million births and
58 million deaths, 77 million people are added to the
world population each year.
|
Table 2.
Birth Rates, Death Rates and Growth Rates of
World Population: 1905-2004 |
|
Year |
Birth Rate |
Death Rate |
Growth Rate |
|
1905 |
39 |
30 |
0.9% |
|
1940 |
35 |
24 |
1.1% |
|
2004 |
21 |
9 |
1.3% |
|
Change |
-46.1% |
-70.0% |
-44.4% |
|
Source:
Population Reference
Bureau |
Throughout most of human history, death
rates have been very high and the average life
expectancy at birth was only about 30 years. The
high death rates in pre-industrial times were primarily
the result of famines and food shortages, epidemic
diseases, and poor sanitary conditions. Only since the
beginning of the twentieth century have there been sharp
reductions in death rates as a result of improved
agriculture, the industrial revolution, immunization,
and advancement in medical technology.
The world is divided into two population
categories. These include: (a) more developed countries
(MDC) - North America, Europe, U.S.S.R. Australia, New
Zealand, and Japan, and (b) less-developed countries (LDC)
- Asia, Africa, L. America, and Pacific Islands.
The MDC countries as a whole are increasing at a
relatively modest rate of 0.1 percent per year, and many
countries of this group are moving close to zero
population growth. Some countries are even experiencing
negative population growth. On the other hand, the LDC
countries are growing at an annual rate of 1.6 percent
per year, and in many countries the growth rates are in
excess of 3 percent per year. These different growth
rates have substantially altered the distribution of
world population, and they will continue to do so in the
years to come (Table 3).
|
Table 3. Distribution of World Population
by Divisions: 2004 |
|
Area |
Populations
(Millions) |
% |
Birth
Rate |
Death
Rate |
Growth
Rate |
Population
Projection for
2050 |
|
World |
6,396 |
100.0 |
21 |
9 |
1.3 |
9,276 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
More
Developed
Countries |
1,206 |
18.8 |
11 |
10 |
0.1 |
1,257 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Less
Developed
Countries |
5,190 |
81.2 |
24 |
8 |
1.6 |
6,677 |
|
Source:
Population Reference
Bureau |
Although birth rates of the MDC countries
has declined dramatically, birth rates of the LDC
countries have remained high. The key factors affecting
birth rates are importance of children as a part of the
labor force, religious beliefs and cultural norms, cost
of raising and educating children, average age at
marriage, infant mortality rate, employment
opportunities, status of women, and availability of
legal abortion and contraceptive methods.
The world is facing a
number of population problems, which include poverty,
hunger, disease, housing shortage, illiteracy, crowding,
pollution and climate change, low status of women,
unemployment, political conflict, and loss of individual
freedom.
As we
enter the 21st Century, it becomes clear that
rapid population growth will increasingly affect the
world situation. We face the challenge of anticipating
the future and encouraging institutions at all levels to
plan in ways that will maximize the well-being of the
population.
________________________________________________________________
Hanging out with C. Wright Mills
by Professor Emeritus
Lloyd R. Young
Almost
anyone who has had contact with sociology,
at least those who went to college after 1956, when he
published his milestone book The Power Elite,
knows of
C. Wright Mills. Mills taught us that within every sector of
society - business, government,
education, religion, etc. - power
tends to be concentrated in the few individuals who have risen
to the top of the leadership ladder. And, furthermore, those
individuals at the top of all the sectors tend to find each
other. They live in the same
neighborhoods, belong to the same clubs, go to the same
churches, their kids go to the same schools. Mills called
them the "power
elite." To the extent to which
events are under our control, they are shaped largely by the
actions of this elite.
There has
been a lot of discussion concerning the character of this elite.
Is it conspiratorial, with members working together as a group
to serve the private interests of each? Or do the individual
leaders continue to focus on the interests of those whom they
represent in their separate spheres of influence? Or do the
members of the elite work together for the benefit of all the
separate entities, which is to say, the whole community?
It
has been my good fortune to have the opportunity to explore
these issues in Springfield for the past decade.
It began in
the fall of 1994. John Keiser was newly appointed as President
of Missouri State. His passion was, and remains,
finding ways for the University to expand and communicate
scholarship, and ways to invest that scholarship, and the
scholars, in the improvement of the civic society
- what has come to be known as the "public
affairs mission" of the
University.
President
Keiser asked our department if we would find a way to initiate a
conversation with the community, focusing on urgent issues in
the public arena. We accepted the challenge, and with the
Springfield Police Department as partner, sponsored in the
spring of 1995 a Conference on Urban Violence. We invited about
300 leaders from all segments of the community (think
"power elite")
to spend a day talking about the increasing violence in
Springfield, and what we might do about it.
Most of the
individuals invited did indeed attend. And after the conference
was over, they wanted more. To make a long story short, there
emerged what came to be called the
Good Community Committee
(GCC) - borrowed from the title of
Robert Bellah's book, The Good
Society. The GCC consists of approximately
40 people,
leaders representing every area of the city -
government, business, labor, education, religion, the
media, philanthropy, the arts, voluntary associations, social
service agencies, and minorities.
The GCC has
little formal organization. It has no
office, no staff, no telephone, no address,
and no budget. Its
members meet once a month with the
goal of leaving all separate agendas at the door in order to
think clearly about the common good and ways to make the whole
community better.
At the
invitation of Missouri State, Professor Robert
Bellah came to Missouri State
to speak at the university's
first Public Affairs Convocation, in the fall of 1995. He was
asked to talk about "The
Moral Crisis in American Public Life." The
crisis Bellah identified is the growing tendency of society's
leaders to pursue their own gain, rather than the welfare of the
public. "Reversing that trend is our
greatest need," he said.
The Good
Community Committee has been trying to do that in Springfield now
for a decade. Chairing that group since its beginning has given me a
chance to understand what C. Wright Mills was talking about, to use
what I learned as a sociologist, and -
most important - to find my personal role in
Missouri State's public affairs mission. They have
been good years.
Due to Dr. Young's
generosity, the department annually offers the
Lloyd R. Young Scholarship. If you wish, you can visit
the site for additional information. If you're interested,
you can also contribute to the Scholarship or create a
scholarship of your own. (Editor)
________________________________________________________________
Brazil – A Sleeping Giant?
from
Dr. Marvin Prosono
When most
Americans think about
Brazil they either think of beautiful beaches in
Rio populated by the young and the beautiful or the
Amazon River and the lush rain forest associated
with it.
That Brazil
is a country of almost 180 million people, is larger
than the continental United States, has the largest
city in the Western Hemisphere (Sao Paulo), has a
soap opera industry which is followed in a great
part of the world, and
has the largest and most
diversified economy in South America are facts that
also deserve recognition. Brasilia, the capital of
Brazil, was built as a city of the future in the
1960s and ever since Brazil has been trying to live
up to its aspiration as a leader of the progressive
spirit.
In
2002, Brazil elected a new President, Luis Inacio
Lula da Silva (known affectionately as “Lula” by his
countrymen). Lula, as leader of the Workers’ Party,
was feared by the business sector and by foreign
investors and observers because they imagined he
might possibly lead Brazil down a socialist
path. However, Lula has surprised everyone and
tightened the reins on
government spending, holding inflation in check
and
satisfying world financial authorities.
The Brazilian
currency continues to gain strength against the
dollar, unemployment is falling and the general
business atmosphere is improving. Lula has his
problems because those in his party expected him to
embark upon ambitious social programs to improve the
life of the 100 million Brazilians who live either
in poverty or in fairly precarious
circumstances. Lula has had to backpedal on some of
his earlier promises but he still works to improve
the lives of Brazilians and his campaign “Fome
Zero” (Zero Hunger) works to insure that no one
in Brazil is lacking food. By working so hard to
satisfy the International Monetary Fund, he has
alienated many of his supporters who have turned
against him for not acting forcefully enough to
handle the country’s many social problems.
I have
visited Brazil on a number of occasions but in
January 2003, I attended the
World Social Forum in Porto Alegre where I heard
Lula deliver a 35 minute, unscripted speech to a
crowd of 100,000 people. It was inspiring because he
was telling the attendees at the World Social Forum
that we all have much work to do to insure that
justice and peace be made realities in this world.
I have
witnessed many political occasions, but his
performance before this crowd was something that
Americans could surely envy in terms of its
authenticity and sincerity. Lula worked himself up
from the lowest reaches of Brazilian society,
eventually becoming an organizer and leader in the
metal workers union. From there he helped form the
left-leaning
Worker’s Party. That party along with European
intellectuals conceived the idea of a forum that
might bring together all the progressive forces in
the world.
So was born
the “World Social Forum” which meets every year in
January at the same time as the elitist World
Economic Forum which meets in Switzerland. The World
Social Forum has met in Brazil since 2001 except for
its 2004 meeting which was held in Mumbai,
India. The motto of the Forum is “Another World is
Possible”. Brazil is working to demonstrate that
this is true, but it has many problems of its own to
overcome, not the least of which is the terrible
inequality that plagues the country. Nonetheless,
with the election of Lula and leadership within the
World Social Forum, Brazil has set itself on the
path of progressive change and may in time become a
model for the world.
Editor's Note: This year Dr. Prosono was a
recipient of our
College's Excellence in Teaching Award.
________________________________________________________________
Missouri
Higher Education is in Trouble:
The Structural Basis of Missouri’s Higher Education Crisis
by John B. Harms*
Editor's Note: I asked Dr.
Harms to write about the state of affairs in higher education in
Missouri. He recently spoke about this issue with the 140
students in our Social Problems (SOC 152) course. The impact of
his comments were measurable, and devastating.
Consider
the following facts about Missouri’s public institutions of
higher education:
*
Appropriations for Missouri’s public
institutions of higher education were cut
$140 million in FY2003 (FY =
Fiscal Year) and FY2004 (Keiser, Missouri State Focus,
August 2004).
*
Higher education cuts have resulted in a
$1,700 average tuition increase for MO’s public 4 year
institutions, affecting 80,000 Missouri students. (MO
Budget Project, Jan 2004, p.3).
*
State tax cuts in the late 1990s have
reduced MO’s state general fund revenues by $700 million
in FY2005. (MO Budget Project, August 2004, p.4).
*
From 1995-1999, the Hancock Amendment
triggered returns of over $980 million to corporate and
individual income taxpayers. (MO Budget Project, Jan
2004, p.3).
*
Between 1991 and 2003, Full Time
Equivalent (FTE - going to school
full time) student enrollment in Missouri’s
public colleges and universities declined by more than
3%, while the national trend was an increase of 18.7%.
MO is one of only 3 states to have a FTE decline in this
period. (2003 SHEF Report, p.26)
*
Missouri ranks second in the nation in
tuition hikes in the last two years. (MNEA White Paper,
July 2004).
*
Missouri has the lowest per capita
funding support for higher education among the
surrounding states: MO=$321, KS=$496, AR=$449, OK=$477,
IA=$507, IL=$411. (2003 SHEF Report, p.41).
*
Changes to Missouri’s tax code in the
late 1990s resulted in a loss of $818.1 million dollars
in FY2000, and have eroded its tax base by 11% annually
(Missouri Budget Project 2004, p.5).
*
Missouri’s state support for public
higher education has declined as a percentage of the
overall state budget from 8.3% in FY1980 to 6.8% in
FY2000 to 5.8% in FY2003 (Keiser 2003, Appropriations
Request For Operations. p.37).
*
Nationally, median student loan debt was
$16,500 in 2003. At Missouri State University
the average student graduated in 2003 with $17,000 of
student loan debt, an increase of 74% since 1997 (USA
Today 6/30/03; Missouri State Office of Student Financial Aid).
What
these facts reveal is that state revenues and appropriations
for higher education are declining, while tuitions and
student loan debts are increasing. The cause of this
imbalance between revenues and appropriations is rooted in
the structure of Missouri’s Constitution and tax code, and
its appropriations policies.
Editor's
Note:
The code and the formulae used to
determine appropriations could be revised to be more
equitable. The first step in the process of rectifying
current policy is educating the public, hence Dr. Harms'
article above. If you would like to read more about this
issue, please see:
The Structural Basis of Missouri’s Higher Education Crisis
and
State Policy and the Crisis of
Public Higher Education in Missouri
If you feel moved to express your
opinion on matters raised in Dr. Harms' article
above, please click to find and send an email to your
Missouri State Representative or
Missouri Senators.
* Dr. Harms is
currently the President of the Missouri Conference of the
American Association of
University Professors.
_____________________________________________________________
From
the Anthropology Faculty
Missouri State
– Jamaica, Mon!
by
Bill Wedenoja
I have been conducting research in
Jamaica since 1972, beginning with a study of
children and violence, focusing for the most part on
traditional religion, and recently studying
alternative tourism. The past five years, I have
concentrated on developing opportunities for Missouri State
students – particularly anthropology majors – to
gain a cross-cultural research experience while
providing services to a Jamaican community.
In 2001 I took Missouri State students Casey Reid, Carrie
Smith, Melanie Helfrecht, and Matt Jones on a
two-week study tour of the island. Brendan Fletcher,
Stephanie Finley, Susan Rakestraw, Anna Johnston,
and Dina Williams toured the island and helped with
some research for four weeks in
2003. Last summer, Chris Smith from Missouri State and two
graduate students from the University of Michigan
and the University of London came with me for four
weeks. Three Missouri State students have already committed to
four weeks in the summer of 2005.
The
program has two components. We spend the first two
weeks assisting the
Bluefields Peoples Community Association or
BPCA, a grass roots organization founded in 1987 in
the small fishing village of Belmont, with 3800
people, on the southwest coast of the
island. Belmont is, incidentally, the home of reggae
superstar
Peter Tosh. Projects have included a pedestrian
survey on the direction of the BPCA, a survey of
potential community tourism providers, and a survey
of primary school children participating in a
community computer project.
In addition, we have helped with the local
basic school (pre-school), supplied paint and
labor for the BPCA offices and school house,
assisted with website development, advised them on
tourism development and
promotion, identified historic sites, and
created a map and compiled statistical information
on the community. While in Belmont, we of course
attend church services and cultural events and make
many new friends. In Fall 2003, I am pleased to
say, the
Anthropology Club raised $535 to pay the lease
on the basic school, and this fall they have thus
far raised $400 for relief in the wake of hurricane
Ivan. The BPCA will use this money to
establish a BPCA-Missouri State emergency loan program for
people in need.
The second phase of the trip is a tour of the
island. Our first stop is the capital city of
Kingston, where we stay for several days in dorms at
the
University of the West Indies while exploring
the city.
Some
highlights of our visit to Kingston have been the
pirate capital of
Port Royal, the
Jamaica National Heritage Trust
(JNHT), the
archaeology division of the JNHT, the
Tuff Gong recording studio, and the
Bob Marley museum.
From Kingston, we drive north on a
precipitous route across the beautiful Blue
Mountains, crossing a pass at 4000 feet and, last
summer, stopping to visit a coffee plantation, where
the finest coffee in the world is said to be grown.
With the north coast seaport of
Port Antonio as our base, we explore the wild
and undeveloped east coast, including the famous
Blue Lagoon, and venture into the mountains to the
Maroon capital of
Moore Town, where we have interviewed the
Colonel and the Captain, the two principal leaders
of communities of descendants of runaway slaves, and
hiked to
Nanny Falls, named after a national hero. The
next stop on the tour is the remote mountain farming
village of Albert Town where the
Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency arranges
home-stays and a guided
hike in the wild and rugged
Cockpit Country.
I hope this experience will help
students decide on a direction to follow in their
careers and that it will also give them the skills
and confidence to tackle foreign travel on their
own.
Editor's Note:
This year Dr. Wedenoja was a recipient of our
College's Excellence in Service Award.
______________________________________________________
Dr. Bill Meadows Invited to Speak at
Senate Hearing
about
Dr. Bill Meadows
Dr.
William C. Meadows joined the
anthropology faculty at Missouri State in August of 2004.
He took his
undergraduate training at Indiana University and
graduate training at the University of Oklahoma.
Meadows was hired to replace
Dr.
Burt Purrington and to strengthen both the
anthropology department and the new Native American
Studies minor.
Dr.
Meadows'
background is in cultural anthropology,
archaeology, history, Native American Studies, and some
linguistics with specialization in
North American Indians and Japan.
Among the courses Dr. Meadow's teaches are World
Cultures, North American Prehistory, North American
Indians, and
he has added two new
courses to our offerings; a
course on contemporary American Indians entitled
North American Indians Today and the an ethnographic
field school,
for which he took Missouri State
anthropology students Joshua Harmsworth and
Marcus Ross to Oklahoma for six weeks of ethnographic
fieldwork this summer with the Kiowa.
Meadows is
a member of the Native American Heritage Month Committee
at Missouri State and
is
Chairman of the 2004 Missouri State Powwow
which was held November 21st
and 22nd, 2004, on the campus of Missouri State in
McDonald Arena.
Among the many publications Dr.
Meadows has produced are two
recent books:
Kiowa, Apache and Comanche Military Societies;
and
The Comanche Code Talkers of World War II.
He is currently working on a
third book entitled Kiowa Military Societies:
Ethnohistory and Ritual.
(Links from the above books are for informational
purposes only.)
On
September 22, 2004,
Meadows testified before the
United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
for an Oversight Hearing on the Contributions of Native
American Code Talkers in American Military History. If
you'd like to read what Meadows told the Senate
Committee, please visit
the minutes of the hearing ... they are very
interesting. The contributions
of Native American Code Talkers has to do with
the use of Native Americans languages in the Armed
Services for secure military communications.
Because
Meadows wrote
the most recent and comprehensive book on Native
American Code Talkers, and
has been able to identify the
largest number of tribes, their units and individual
members that served in this capacity to date,
he
was asked to testify regarding his
research. That research
involved a history of how code talking began in World
War I, and was then used again by a larger number of
tribes in World War II.
The
hearing was sponsored by then
Senator Tom Daschle and chaired by Senator Ben
Nighthorse Campbell. It was
designed to gather evidence and support for Senate and
House legislation aimed at obtaining Congressional
recognition for all Native American Code
Talkers.
Meadows
was joined by members of the
Choctaw,
Comanche,
Lakota,
and
Meskwaki Tribes as well as a military historian and
officer of the Office of Indian affairs.
The Senate
hearings were aired on C-Span and written about in
several press releases (example).
While in the nation's capitol,
Meadows attended the opening of the new
National Museum of the
American Indian, the first such national museum for
American Indians. If
you
would like to visit with Dr. Meadows about the courses
he teaches and/or about his research, please feel free
to contact him (Missouri State, Strong Hall Room 475, (417)
836-5684,
email).
The
Comanche Code Talkers Memorial is in Lawton,
Oklahoma.
____________________________________________________
From the
Crime and Society Faculty Stop it! You're Killing
Us!
Serial Murderers
by Gayle Rhineberger
Editor's Note: Dr.
Rhineberger has introduced several new criminology courses since
joining the department's faculty in 2002. Among those courses is
a very popular one entitled "Serial Murderers in Society." I
asked her to write about her studies on that topic for this
issue of the newsletter.
As a
sociologist, my interest in serial murder is focused on its overall
patterns, rather than each of the 399 serial murderers
who have operated in the U.S. between 1800 and 1995.
Serial
murder can be defined as occurring when one or more individuals
kills three or more people over a period of weeks, months, or
years. These murders generally occur at three or more different
times and in separate locations. Additionally, there is an
“emotional cooling-off period” between homicides. Some of our most
famous serial killers include
Jeffrey Dahmer,
John
Wayne Gacy,
Ted Bundy,
Ed Gein,
and
David Berkowitz ("Son-of-Sam").
However, these men do not represent the “typical” serial
murderer.
While I am
addicted to television and movie crime dramas (Law and Order, CSI,
Silence of the Lambs, Seven, etc.), the influx of these shows/movies
has only increased the public’s misperceptions about serial
murders. Contrary to popular opinion, serial murderers do not
resemble monsters or sex-starved beasts who are driven to kill. Many
are charismatic and hold stable and respectable jobs/positions in
the community. Similarly, all serial murders do not have abusive or
terrible childhoods, and most of them do not have an unusual
relationship with their mothers. A good portion of them do, but not
nearly as many as popular media would lead us to believe.
Most serial
killers do not have genius-level IQs: most are of average
intelligence. Additionally, the FBI does not investigate all serial
murders, as they rarely cross state lines. There is not an
epidemic of serial murders in the U.S. Serial killers are
responsible for the death of at most 150 people (Fox and Levin,
2001), out of the approximately 16,000 people murdered
each year in
the U.S.
Other
interesting facts:
*
Approximately 84% of identified serial murderers are men.
*
Male serial killers
are more likely to
kill female strangers.
*
Female serial killers
are more likely to
kill family members or acquaintances.
*
Female serial killers
are more likely to
poison victims; males are more likely to strangle, suffocate, or
stab victims.
*
Aileen Wuornos is the only female
serial killer to be executed in the U.S.
*
California has the highest number of
serial murder cases (over 50); New York the
second highest (31 cases).
________________________________________________________________
Wassup, Homie?
from
Dr. Mike Carlie
In
1998 Dr. Carlie was granted a one-semester-long sabbatical in order
to study the gang phenomenon in St. Louis, Kansas City, and in
Springfield, His research also included a review of the literature
on gangs. Little did he realize that the sabbatical would lead to
nearly four years of research
conducted in the USA, the Netherlands, England, and in several cities in
Canada.
The end product of the
research is his new (2002) and free online book in which he
discusses over
80
different gang-related topics. Included in the book are selected
portions of his field notes from over 150 interviews, quotes from
hundreds of professional articles, and links to literally thousands
of websites on the Internet that expand upon the topics addressed in
the book. The book is updated several times each year with new
findings from research as reported in various professional
publications. Unlike other books, Into the Abyss
is a living document. Evidence of this are the continuing additions
to the book and a real-time posting of current
gang-related news.
Into the Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of Street Gangs
is 1,083 pages long and has been adopted by the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (Canada) and the New York Police Department as
training material for their respective gang units. Other police
departments, as well as state departments of corrections and many
community-based treatment programs, now use Into the Abyss as
a valued resource. Various chapters in the book have been published
including two articles in the new (November 2004) edition of
Opposing Viewpoints: Gangs, published by Thomson/Gale.
It was a good year for Dr.
Carlie. In 2004 he was awarded the Missouri Governor's Award for
Excellence in Teaching, the Missouri State Foundation Award for Teaching
Excellence, the Missouri State Award for Excellence in Academic Advising, and
a national award for his academic advising bestowed by the
National Academic Advising
Association. Students interested in the field of criminal
justice are encouraged to visit Dr. Carlie's
AdviseNet
website - a site for which, in part, he won the Missouri State- and national
advising awards.
________________________________________________________________
Hey,
Who's Running This Place?
What Deans Do
from Dean Lorene Stone
I
frequently am asked by students, alumni, and even my mother,
“Exactly what do you do as a dean?” There is no simple answer to
this question, since my job responsibilities change from one day to
the next.
In general terms, I am the
chief administrator of the College of Humanities and Public
Affairs. (The CHPA is one of six academic colleges at Missouri State.) As the
dean, I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the
College. Specifically, I oversee eight departments (with
undergraduate and graduate programs), three research centers, and
101 faculty members and 21 staff; I develop and monitor college
budgets in excess of $7.5 million; I hire and evaluate faculty and
attempt to facilitate the development of successful academic careers
for our faculty; I update and implement a technology plan as well as
a long-range plan for the CHPA; I deal with student and faculty
problems and complaints; I engage in fund-raising to support the
quality educational programs in the College; and I attend a lot of
meetings and represent the College at many campus and community
functions.
Unfortunately, as a full-time
administrator I have little time in the classroom, even though I try
to teach a class in juvenile delinquency (CAS
330) as often as possible. Although I miss teaching
and interacting with students on a more regular basis, my work as
Dean of the CHPA is very rewarding and challenging. It is exciting
to guide the College towards its goals and to fulfill our public
affairs mission. I encourage your ideas and insights and hope that
you will stop by my office (Strong 251) or e-mail me at
lhs301f@missouristate.edu.
Dr.
Stone is the Dean of the College serving the Department of
Sociology and Anthropology (and home of the Crime and Society
Program), among others.
________________________________________________________________
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