John Jay College Magazine (Spring 2009)

John Jay MagazineSPRING 2009EDUCATING FOR JUSTICE

John Jay CollegeT h e C i T y U n i v e r s i T y o f n e w y o r k

of Criminal Justice

John Jay CollegeT H E C I T Y U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K

of Criminal Justice

PRESIDENT

Jeremy travis

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President’s Letter

Enforcing Immigration Laws John Jay Alumni Assess Local Law Enforcement’s Dilemma

Preserving the Memory of Violence

“Justice in New York”In Their Own Words

PRISM Shines Light on Students’ Scientific Curiosity

The Write Stuff Changing the Paradigm of Criminal JusticeJournalism

MS in Forensic Computing Prepares Future Cybercrime Sleuths

Alumni Worth Noting

Alumni Class Notes

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2

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CONTENTS

John Jay MagazineEDUCATING FOR JUSTICE

Dear friends of John Jay College,

With the 2008–2009 academic year drawing to a close, we can be proud as we reflect on the growing international stature ofJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice. We are recognized more and more as an institution distinguished by the scholarship of ourfaculty, the rigor of our core educational experience, the innovative nature of our interdisciplinary programs, and our contributionsto justice.

Such recognition is due in large part to the remarkable strides that we as a College have made over the past five years. As acommunity, we have developed, and implemented, an ambitious vision for academic excellence. We have focused our energieson three interlocking initiatives:

• Changing the Student ProfileWe have aggressively raised academic standards for admission to John Jay College. We are mid-way through a four-year plan to phase out admissions to our associate degree programs. We have created educational partnerships with the six community colleges of the City University of New York to offer joint degree programs in criminal justice and forensic science. These efforts are showing results. Over the past two years, the incoming baccalaureate class at John Jay has increased from 1,027 to 1,414, a 38 percent increase. Next, we will focus on improving student success, starting with increasing our retention and graduation rates.

• Historic Faculty Hiring InitiativeWe have launched an unprecedented faculty hiring program. We now have 419 full-time faculty, 25 percent more than four years ago. Fully 35 percent of our faculty have been hired in the last four years. The revitalization of the faculty is about more than just numerical growth. New faculty members joining the College’s ranks are committed to scholarship that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Our senior faculty members edit prestigious scholarly journals, hold leadership positions in leading academic associations, and produce critically acclaimed books, including last year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Our faculty have tripled the research funding from five years ago, generating million of research dollars for the College.

• Revitalizing John Jay’s Academic ProgramsThirty years ago, in the midst of New York City’s fiscal crisis, the College’s liberal arts majors were eliminated. Today, we have reversed that decision and have challenged our faculty to develop new majors in the humanities and sciences. We have already secured approval for two exciting new majors — in Economics and English — and many more are in the approval pipeline.

This issue of the John Jay Magazine reflects the intellectual capital of the John Jay community — our faculty, students and alumni. In the first article, law enforcement leaders,who are John Jay alumni, weigh in on the challenges that local law enforcement faces in immigration matters. Another story looks at the “Silent Genocide” that took place inGuatemala. The forensic science acumen of our students who have received grants for theirscholarship is highlighted in another article. The issue also details the “Justice in New York”Oral History Project, a one-of-a-kind research resource on the New York criminal justice system in the late 20th century as seen through the eyes of leaders who have been intimately involved in its evolution.

Throughout this issue, you will see the scholarship and commitment of the John Jay community. Your continuing support of our College is vital to our future as we continue toprepare future generations to meet the challenges of justice.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Travis

PresidentJeremy Travis

Vice President for Marketing and DevelopmentVivien Hoexter

Executive Director of Communications & EditorChristine Godek

Senior WriterJennifer Nislow

Contributing WritersPeter DodenhoffStephen HandelmanMarie Rosen

Photography CoordinatorDoreen Viñas

Alumni ContributorSharice Conway

Production CoordinatorKathy Willis

DesignerJRenacia

John Jay Magazine is a publication of Marketing and Development, published twice a year and distributedfree to alumni and friends of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

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Cover: A survivor holds aphotograph of his father,massacred in 1982. Nebaj, Quiché, Guatemala,2000Photo: Jonathan Moller

This Page:Top: Three women, themselves survivors of theviolence, watch as theremains of relatives andfriends who were killed in theearly 1980’s are exhumed.Nebaj, Quiché 2000Photo: Jonathan Moller

Middle: Illegal migrantsare placed in holdingfacilities before they arereturned to Mexico.Photo: Gerald L. Nino

Bottom: Forensic ComputingLaboratory

Enforcing Immigration Laws

John Jay Alumni Assess Local Law Enforcement’s DilemmaBy Marie Rosen

When a

police badge is

transformed

into an

immigration

badge in the

mindset of the

immigrant

community,

there will be

little

cooperation

with police.

We want people

to report

crime,

to bear witness

to crime.

And to

have that,

You have to

have a certain

level of trust.

Nearly 38 million immigrants (legal andillegal) reside in the United States, accordingto the Center for Immigration Studies. TheU.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)estimates that about 12 million of them areillegal — that’s nearly one in three.

The dilemma for local law enforcementacross the country is whether or to whatextent they should enforce federalimmigration laws.

For the most part, enforcement of thecountry’s immigration laws falls under thejurisdiction of the federal government.But, in the absence of clear national policyand limited federal resources, local lawenforcement agencies and the communitiesthey serve have been left on their own toform policies and practices.

It’s a complicated issue. Just being hereillegally is a civil, not a criminal, violation andacross the country there is wide variation inhow local law enforcement addresses thisproblem. Policies range from local police andsheriffs being trained and “deputized” tostrictly enforce federal law to localities that

serve as sanctuaries for illegal immigrants.Many departments check status only whena suspect is arrested for a serious crime.Some jurisdictions will check status duringa traffic stop. Others leave the status checkto the holding facility following an arrest.

To look at this issue more closely, the topicwas discussed with five John Jay alumni whoare in police leadership positions around thecountry:

• Lawrence Mulvey (BA ’75), Police Commissioner of Nassau County, NY

• Frank Straub (MA ’90), Commissioner of Public Safety for White Plains, NY

• John Timoney (BA ’74), Police Chief of Miami, FL

• Dennis Weiner (BS ’92), Police Chief of Juno Beach, FL

• Hubert Williams (BS ’70), Police FoundationPresident, Washington, DC

For them, these issues are not hypothetical,but critical challenges that affect thousandsof lives on a daily basis.

For police to do their job effectively, theymust have cooperation from the residents oftheir communities. “It’s the foundation, thebedrock, for policing. When a police badge istransformed into an immigration badge in themindset of the immigrant community, therewill be little cooperation with police,” saysWilliams. “I think it falls to the federalgovernment to enforce immigration law,”says Mulvey. “For us to enforce immigrationlaws, which we really don’t have the authorityto do, would break down all that hard workthat we have engaged in during the yearsdeveloping trust.” This trust, Mulvey believes,is in part responsible for the declining crimerates that his jurisdiction has beenexperiencing. “We want people to reportcrime, to bear witness to crime. And tohave that, you have to have a certain levelof trust.”

In Nassau County, all the years of earning thecommunity’s trust were tested in 2007 whenthe department assisted Immigration andCustoms Enforcement (ICE) in a series ofearly morning raids to purportedly apprehend131 gang members who were eligible fordeportation. “Only nine of the targets werelocated, meaning that at 122 locations therewas a consent search where agentsencountered only ordinary citizens andimmigrants, legal and illegal, who were notcriminals, not involved in crime,” Mulveynoted. He withdrew the department’s supportbefore the operation was completed.

In Miami, where 70 percent of the city isforeign-born and possesses real empathy and

sympathy toward immigrants, “There is areticence of people coming forward becausethere is fear of deportation,” Timoney notes.“And it’s interesting what crimes gounderreported. You see it in the serial sexcrimes.” He recalled that on a number ofoccasions there was a serial rapistvictimizing the Miami community. “Peoplegoing into bedrooms at night… and quite abit of it went unreported until I made pleas ontelevision. Strict enforcement of immigrationlaw would drive immigrants under the radarand there would be the underreporting ofcrime.”

Williams, who observed a focus group withthe immigrant community, says, “We foundthat there is a deep fear of deportation withinthe immigrant community that has a chillingeffect on their relationship with lawenforcement.” He recalled that oneparticipant was afraid to get groceries forher children when law enforcement wasaround. Straub also points out that, “If policeare required to question the suspect, theymay have to ask the status of the victim aswell. It’s not a conversation a victim wants tohave.”

Straub’s jurisdiction operates similarly to thatof a sanctuary. “I don’t think that local lawenforcement should enforce federalimmigration law. That being said, I don’t thinkthere is necessarily a problem with local lawenforcement participating in task forces thatmay look at serious offenders who areillegal.” In such areas as human trafficking,bank robbery investigations, drug trafficking

32

A CBP Border Patrol Agent investigates a potential landing area for illegal immigrants along the Rio Grande River in Texas. Photo: James Tourtellotte

Photo courtesy of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Policies range

from local police

and sheriffs

being trained

and “deputized”

to strictly

enforce federal

law to localities

that serve as

sanctuaries for

illegal

immigrants.

54

We found

that there is

a deep fear of

deportation

within the

immigrant

community

that has a

chilling

effect on

their

relationship

with

law

enforcement.

and gang investigations, both federal agentsand police have routinely worked togetherover the years. “There is a criminal elementwithin the immigrant community,” notedWilliams, “but it’s not a question of whetheror not they immigrated into the countryillegally, which is a federal responsibility, butwhether these people are committing heinouscrimes. So, I think such cooperation in thisarea can be very important for both federaland local authorities. But it must be donecarefully.”

The difficulty that police have with illegalimmigrants who engage in criminal activityhas a history, according to Timoney. Whileserving with the NYPD from the 1960sthrough the 1980s “we would lock up peoplewho were here illegally for serious feloniesbut we could never get immigration officialsto respond. That someone is here illegallyand is engaged in illegal activity is the criticaltest when it comes to enforcement.” ForWeiner, the central issue is why pass lawsthat cannot be effectively enforced. “Any lawthat is not uniformly and regularly enforcedloses its deterrent effect. I maintain that onereason so many people attempt to enter thecountry illegally is that if one is successful,there is little risk that that individual will everbe held accountable for violating ourimmigration laws.”

“As president of Police Executive ResearchForum (a professional organization of city,county and state law enforcementagencies),” Timoney says, “I’ve witnessedmore pressure from the federal governmentto get local police more involved and therehas been resistance on the part of localpolice, especially among the big city chiefs.”At present, local policies range from requiringthat police check the status of those withwhom they come in contact to expresslyforbidding it. To deal with the legal

jurisdictional issues, the federal governmentestablished a program called “Section 287(g)of the Immigration and Nationality Act” thatpermits designated officers, who have beentrained, to perform federal immigration lawenforcement functions. So far, a relativelysmall number of law enforcement agenciesare participating in the program.

COMMUNITY SENTIMENTJust how much local enforcement does in theway of checking status often reflectscommunity sentiment. In Juno Beach, forexample, the community wants vigorousenforcement of immigration laws and thepolice department assists ICE and the BorderPatrol whenever requested. In White Plains,it’s a different story. Straub noted that hiscommunity aggressively looks for people toassimilate. “We run a 10-week program fornew members of our community withoutasking for immigration status. We let themknow what services are available — schools,youth bureau, police, fire and health. We havea police officer who is assigned to daylaborers. The officer goes to their informalshape-ups and lets them know about theirrights when it comes to their employers suchas their right to be paid at the end of theday.” But even within the same geographicalarea, there can be differences in how locallaw enforcement deals with the issue. Forexample, in Maricopa County, which includesthe city of Phoenix, the sheriff and the policechief have sometimes been at odds in theirpolicies and practices.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITY — MYTH vs. REALITYThe extent to which illegal immigrants areinvolved in criminal activity depends on thespecific locality and numerous jurisdictionsreport that a significant portion of the crimein their communities is being committed byillegal immigrants. But such is not the case inNassau County. In the last 15 years, theHispanic population has risen by more than100 percent yet serious offenses havedecreased by 48 percent, which, for Mulvey,is an indication that immigrants (both legaland illegal) are not committingdisproportionate amounts of crime.

In times of economic stress, crimes likeburglary, robbery and theft traditionally go up.“In White Plains,” Straub notes, “we had aninflux of people coming as landscapers,doing masonry work and construction-likejobs. If these jobs disappear, you’ll have moreunemployment that could result in increased

continued on page 20

Photo courtesy of US Immigrationand Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Photo montage depicting the“Silent Genocide” of indigenousMayans in Guatemala.

Photo: Jonathan Moller

The origins of this violence go back to 1954when Guatemala became entrenched in anarmed civil conflict that pitted militarydictatorships against left-wing insurgents andprompted the overthrow of democraticallyelected President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.With his removal, land given to the country’srural poor under his administration wasreturned to its previous owners.

The repression of indigenous leaders and thereversal of social reforms led to theemergence of a left-wing guerrilla campaign.Aiming to deprive leftist forces of a ruralbase of support, the military governments inpower waged all-out war on the Mayan

people. In 1999, the United NationsHistorical Clarification Commission, or TruthCommission, found that “country agents ofthe Guatemalan state committed acts ofgenocide against groups of the Mayanpeople....”

When a precarious peace was forged in1996, the military was found by the U.N. tohave committed 93 percent of the atrocitiesand the leftists 3 percent. Overall, anestimated 200,000 people were killed,50,000 disappeared, 150,000 escaped overthe border to Mexico and 1.5 million weredisplaced during the course of nearly fourdecades of war.

The “scorched earth” policy of the Guatemalan government during the late 1970s and early 1980sresulted in the massacre of thousands upon thousands of Guatemala’s indigenous Mayan groups.A “Silent Genocide” is what human rights scholars would term this atrocity since the world communitygave little recognition, much less condemnation, to this wholesale decimation of a people by theirown government.

Preservingthe Memory

of Violence By Jennifer Nislow

7

Overall,

an estimated

200,000 people

were killed,

50,000

disappeared,

150,000 escaped

over the border

to Mexico and

1.5 million were

displaced

during the

course of nearly

four decades

of war.

6

Yet, the victims

of state-

sponsored

violence in

Guatemala are

still waiting

for the day

when those

responsible for

the torture,

murder and

disappearances

of their

friends and

families

will pay for

their crimes.

Yet, the victims of state-sponsored violencein Guatemala are still waiting for the daywhen those responsible for the torture,murder and disappearances of their friendsand families will pay for their crimes.

“There is a lack of recognition of violence inthe (Latin American) region,” said John JayProfessor Marcia Esparza, a recognizedGuatemalan scholar. “Within the field ofgenocide studies, there is no recognition ofwhat Guatemala suffered. There was noInternational Criminal Court. There wereInternational Criminal Courts for Rwanda andthe former Yugoslavia, but there was noInternational Criminal Court to try to bring theperpetrators in Guatemala to justice.”

Esparza’s InterestEsparza became involved with Guatemalaand its indigenous community through ahuman rights internship in 1992 that dealtwith the Network in Solidarity with the Peopleof Guatemala. Coincidentally, RigobertaMenchu Tum, the Guatemalan human-rights

activist and Nobel Prize Laureate, wasaffiliated with that organization as well.

On her own, Esparza visited the Guatemalanrefugee camps, visiting different communitiesthat had been displaced by the war. In 1997,she was hired as an international consultantand field researcher to the U.N. GuatemalanTruth Commission. During the three yearsshe spent in Guatemala, Esparza conductedhundreds of interviews with survivors.

“That’s when I realized the magnitudeof the violence,” she said.

Esparza spent 1997 to 2000 “vicariouslybearing witness” to the Guatemalan genocideby collecting testimonies from survivors livingin refugee camps. After joining John Jay in2000 as an assistant professor in theDepartment of Latin American and Latina/oStudies, she began creating the HistoricalMemory Project (HMP) as a way of“preserving the memory of violence in theregion as it affects vulnerable populations.”

The Historical Memory Project, that has sincegrown to include other Latin Americancountries, is unique. While there are similarprojects in the United States, none, shebelieves, pertain specifically to Latin Americaand the history of state-sponsored violence inthe region.

Memory PoliticsThe project is also a significant part of alarger global movement called “memorypolitics” that emerged from human rightsactivism in South Africa and the LatinAmerican countries of the Southern Cone —

Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. It refers to howsocieties that have suffered under repressiveregimes handle these legacies of brutalityonce they have made the transition fromauthoritarian rule to democracy. It is oftenaccomplished through truth commissions orthe passing of amnesty laws that giveperpetrators of human rights violationsimmunity from prosecution.

“My aim and the aim of peopleworking with me are to try topreserve this history as truthful,”said Esparza. “There are manytruths. Who is to say who has thetruth? But, we have a body ofevidence, pictures, oral testimoniesthat account for a specific truth.That’s the memory I’m trying to keepalive.”

Assisting Esparza in this work are severalJohn Jay students who come from other LatinAmerican countries, including Colombia andArgentina. The HMP was expanded to includethese and other nations, Esparza explained,because it was evident that there was apattern to the violence that stretched fromMexico down to the Caribbean.

While the extinction of indigenous peoples iscrucial to an understanding of how terror isinstitutionalized in Latin America, the HMPnow also examines violence directed at urbanpopulations, as well.

“When I compare what happened in Chile andGuatemala, of course there are differences

but there are also many similarities,” saidEsparza, who is Chilean. “I think the commondenominator, one common denominator, isthe role played by the United Statesintervening militarily in all these countries toprotect transnational economic interests.”

Students’ Research — A PersonalConnectionJenny Escobar, 28, moved to the UnitedStates from Colombia when she was nine.She graduated from John Jay in 2005 with adegree in forensic psychology and is nowpursuing a doctorate in social psychologywith a focus on social justice from theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz. Asone of Esparza’s mentees under theRonald E. McNair Post-BaccalaureateAchievement Program, Escobar spent twoyears researching the Guatemalan Truthand Reconciliation Commission from apsychological perspective. However, herdissertation is on collective memory inColombia.

Escobar’s family experienced little directviolence. Her mother and extended familycame to the United States for economicopportunities that were unavailable in theircountry.

Still, “my focus on Colombiadefinitely comes from my personalhistory. The more I learn aboutColombia and the history of the timemy mom emigrated,” said Escobar,“I think it has to a lot to do with theresult of the conflict.”

(L-R) Arie Braizblot, Professor Marcia Esparza and Lina Rojas. Walking through the mountains towards an exhumation site. Nebaj, Quiché, 2000 Photo: Jonathan Moller

The parents and wife of a man who had buried them during thenight after soldiers gunned them down as they were fleeing themountains. Nebaj, Quiché, 2000 Photo: Jonathan Moller


98

-It hasn’t happened yet, but John Jay’s LloydGeorge Sealy Library has come up with whatmay be the next best thing — “Justice in NewYork,” an Oral History Project that hascaptured the musings of former MayorEdward I. Koch, Brooklyn District AttorneyCharles J. Hynes, former PoliceCommissioner Patrick V. Murphy and manyothers on tape, preserving their insights andrecollections for posterity.

The Oral History Project aspires to nothingless than providing a one-of-a-kind researchresource on the New York criminal justicesystem in the late 20th century, as seenthrough the eyes of leaders who have beenintimately involved in its evolution. In the longrun, the project will take the form of volumes

of transcripts housed in the Sealy Library’sSpecial Collections, available to students,researchers, journalists and others interestedin seeing and hearing history come alive.

“This is a form of historic preservation,” saidthe project’s guiding hand, Professor JeffreyKroessler. “We’re generating historicaldocuments, and we think they’re of value,although the historians, political scientists,criminal justice investigators and otherresearchers who make use of them willultimately determine their significance.”

Kroessler came to John Jay in 2005 from theCollege of Staten Island, where he completedan 11-volume Oral History Project focusingon the politics of Staten Island and the

This is

a form of

historic

preservation.

“Justice in New York”

In Their Own WordsBy Peter Dodenhoff

(L-R) Robert Morgenthau,Manhattan District Attorney;

Judge Harold Baer, U.S. District Court,Southern District of New York;

(Ret.) Judge Milton Mollen, New YorkState Court of Appeals;

Jules Kroll, Chair of the John JayCollege Foundation,

Richard Brown, QueensDistrict Attorney

President Travis and retired JudgeMilton Mollen

Imagine having a handful of former New York City mayors,current district attorneys and assorted other public officials in the

same room, sitting around a table, all discussing their firsthandexperiences with criminal justice and other weighty issues.

Firsthand

accounts of

those who

were and are

involved in

ground-

breaking cases

and in the

formulation

of criminal

justice policy

and issues

are essential

to scholarly

work in the

field.

career of state Senator John J. Marchi.“I thought, ‘Okay, I’m done with oral history,I can get on with just being a librarian,’”Kroessler said. It wasn’t to be. Jules Kroll,Chairman of the John Jay Foundation Board,and President Jeremy Travis came up withthe idea of compiling an oral history ofcriminal justice in New York, and Kroessler,based on his background, was quickly tappedfor the job.

“When I came to John Jay, I did not have abackground in criminal justice or lawenforcement history, and it wasn’t even afocus of my research,” said Kroessler, whoholds a PhD in urban history from the CityUniversity Graduate Center and is the authorof New York, Year by Year: A Chronology ofthe Great Metropolis. “This is turning me intoa historian of criminal justice in New YorkCity, because I have to know the subjectwhen I’m talking to people.” A native NewYorker, Kroessler remembered Bernie Goetz,the Guardian Angels, the Central Park joggercase. “I lived through that, and I’m nowtalking to people about that. Still, eventhough something might be in the paperstoday, as a historian I have to think ‘What’sgoing to be significant about this 10, 20, 30years from now?’ That’s the tricky part.”

The oral history is slowly and steadily comingtogether, a fact that delights Chief LibrarianLarry Sullivan. “Firsthand accounts of thosewho were and are involved in groundbreakingcases and in the formulation of criminaljustice policy and issues are essential toscholarly work in the field,” Sullivan observed.“We are fortunate to have in New York someof the most prominent leaders in criminaljustice, and the goal of our project is to geton tape as many of their stories as possible.These materials will benefit researchers forgenerations to come.”

To date, more than 15 prominent figureshave been interviewed by Kroessler — insome cases more than once — with a list ofroughly two dozen more awaiting their turn.The collection already includes Mayor EdwardI. Koch, district attorneys Richard A. Brown ofQueens, Charles J. Hynes of Brooklyn, RobertT. Johnson of the Bronx and Daniel M.Donovan of Staten Island, former PoliceCommissioners William Bratton and PatrickMurphy, and retired Judge Milton Mollen, whochaired an anti-corruption commission thatbears his name.

The list of subjects to be interviewed is “aliving thing,” Kroessler noted. “To start with,we’re focusing on criminal justice leaders, butas this goes along, I would be interested intalking to some people further down in thesystem, someone who came in as an officer,retired as a sergeant and served 28 years.”

One of the people on Kroessler’s “wish list,”as he calls it, is Kroll, a prominent localcriminal justice figure in his own right and theman who provided the seed capital for theproject. The founder of a worldwide securityand risk-management firm, Kroll recalled howhe and his wife, Lynn, had attended agathering of New York City criminal justiceleaders hosted by President Travis. Surveyinga room that included Brown, ManhattanDistrict Attorney Robert Morgenthau, PoliceCommissioner Raymond Kelly and FireCommissioner Nicholas Scopetta, amongmany others, Lynn Kroll told her husband,“Boy, there’s a lot of history in this room. It’slike a criminal justice hall of fame.” From thatobservation, according to Jules Kroll, the ideafor the Oral History Project was born, as akind of starting point for something that couldbecome bigger over time.

“The idea here is to capture thethinking and the wisdom of peoplebefore they’re no longer around todo so. After all, so many of theissues we face today are oneswe’ve faced before,” said Kroll.“John Jay is a wonderfully neutralplace, the perfect place for a projectlike this that focuses on the nexus ofthe public sector, private sector andacademia.”

While the end-products of the interviews mayturn out to be as different as fingerprints, theactual process of creating the oral history isrelatively constant. Kroessler starts bycompiling a chronology of the subject’s lifeand career, using the Library’s prodigiousresources, including the New York Timesonline archive. “The chronology becomes aframework to start them talking about theirlives,” said Kroessler, “because naturally withmost oral histories you want it to be anarrative that starts at the beginning andkeeps going until it reaches the end. Eventhough there are incidents you want to talk

Imagine taking a device nobigger than a matchbook to acrime scene and using it toinstantly identify illicitsubstances in a drop of blood.This tool, like all of the projectsMarcel Roberts has worked onsince graduating from John Jayin 2002, he hopes will one dayhave a profound impact onforensic science.Roberts, a chemical biologist, is a post-doctoral fellow at McGill University inMontreal, Canada. He was part of John Jay’sCSTEP (Collegiate Science and TechnologyEntry Program), a New York StateDepartment of Education initiative that hasprovided mentoring, research training andfunding to promising forensic sciencestudents at John Jay for more than a decade.In 2006, the grant became one of fourfunding streams making up a new, expansiveprogram at the College called PRISM(Program for Research Initiatives forScience Majors).

According to Professor Anthony Carpi of theDepartment of Sciences, “PRISM tries topresent a seamless front to students. Whenstudents are looking to do undergraduateresearch, they talk to Professor Ron Pilette,who is the PRISM coordinator. He figures outwhether they’re eligible for any type offunding. So rather than having students dealwith that headache, Ron has the headache.”

At present, stipends are awarded only toupper-class students based on the researchproposals they submit. The awards rangefrom $500 to $1,500 per semester, and upto $2,500 for an academic year, with thepossibility of additional funds during thesummer.

PRISM students, who are selected based ontheir grades and interest in doing research,are exposed to professional conferences heldat colleges and universities around thecountry. They gain experience working withother researchers in a lab, learn how to meetwith professors and potential researchadvisors, and present their work.

“They (Pilette and Carpi) are just unbelievablementors,” said former PRISM student andfuture dentist Daniel Cocris, who graduated

1110

The collection

already includes

Mayor Edward I. Koch,

district attorneys

Richard A. Brown

of Queens,

Charles J. Hynes

of Brooklyn,

Robert T. Johnson

of the Bronx

and

Daniel M. Donovan

of Staten Island,

retired Police

Commissioners

William Bratton

and Patrick Murphy,

and retired

Judge Milton Mollen,

who chaired an

anti-corruption

commission that

bears his name.

PRISM students,

who are selected

based on their

grades and

interest in doing

research, are

exposed to

professional

conferences held

at colleges and

universities

around the

country.

about, you want to do it in the context of theirentire career.”

Careers may be long, but Kroessler explainsto his subjects that he has a 90-minutecassette ready to roll, with a second oneas backup. If an interviewee wants to keeptalking, Kroessler will sometimes arrangefor a follow-up visit. The degree to whichinterviewees tend to be cooperative cameas a pleasant surprise to Kroessler. “It’ssurprising because we’re talking aboutsubject matter where people don’t bare theirentire souls and tell everything, because theyjust can’t,” he said. “A public figure has tocontrol his or her persona, so you’re notnecessarily going to get all of the revelationsor confessionals that you think you’re goingto get. If they don’t want to talk aboutsomething, they won’t. There are difficultthings to bring up, and you don’t necessarilyget the complete chapter-and-verse storyfrom them.”

Still, Kroessler hastens to add, the projectis not about producing “gotcha!” moments.“It’s not a deposition. It’s intended to be‘what’s your story that you want people tocome away with?’”

To that end, Kroessler takes some extrasteps to insure a quality end-product. Thetapes are transcribed by a specializedtranscription service at the University ofConnecticut, whereupon Kroessler edits thedocument, cleaning up sentence fragments,taking out “ums” and similar interjections, andamending inadvertent misstatements of fact,such as incorrect dates. The transcript isthen forwarded to the interviewee.

“The agreement I have with them is that theycan make whatever changes they want,”Kroessler said. By and large the subjects aresatisfied with the record of what they said.

“Very rarely have I gotten someone who’s X’dout entire sections.” Kroessler’s exactingmethod isn’t one to which oral historyspecialists universally subscribe. “Somepeople do the verbatim approach, while Iprefer the edited approach. It’s an approachthat I think makes for a more accessible end-product, meaning the transcript.” Kroessleralso prepares an index of each transcript, sothat a researcher looking for, say, informationon the Rockefeller drug laws will be able tosee whether the district attorneys in thecollection made any comments on thesubject.

It can take months to complete the work on asingle person — “with some people you sendthem the transcript and it doesn’t come backfor a while,” Kroessler said — and there’s notelling when the project as a whole mightconclude. “We look at it as a long-termproject of the Library and John Jay College,”he noted, “because we have a growingarchive here, that’s going to become part ofour collection.”

Yet with all the attention to detail that is goinginto the project, Kroessler admits that thetoughest thing about this or any oral historyis knowing how incomplete it is. “No matterhow much preparation you do, no matter howmany times you talk to a person, you realizethat it is a discussion about a life or an event,but it is not the complete story. There aregaps, there are mistakes, there are things Iforget to ask that I know I should have asked,there are things that the person refuses tosay. That’s the most frustrating thing, I think,the natural limit of oral history. It is anindividual telling his or her story, with all thepluses and minuses that are entailed in that.”

Peter Dodenhoff is editor of @ John Jay.

See excerpt on page 22

Donations to support the Oral History Projectare greatly appreciated and are tax deductible.

Please make your check payable to:John Jay College Foundation, Oral History Project

Please send your check to:John Jay College Foundation, Inc.899 Tenth AvenueNew York, NY 10019

PRISM Shines Light on

Students’ Scientific Curiosity By Jennifer Nislow

See excerpt on page 22

(L-R) Professor Anthony Carpi, Daniel Cocris, Anthony Ho, Stacey-Ann Mano.

12 13

from John Jay in 2006. Cocris, 35, came tothe U.S. from Romania in 1995. In January,he interviewed at Columbia University Collegeof Dental Medicine and at New YorkUniversity College of Dentistry.

Anthony Ho and Stacey-Ann Mano are bothseniors and forensic science majors whobegan as CSTEP students but are continuingtheir studies under PRISM. While the stipendsthey received helped, money is not what drewthem to the program. Both joined for theopportunity to do research.

Since 2005, the Department ofSciences has offered anundergraduate research course asan alternative to the traditionalcapstone project all science majorsare required to complete. In theirsenior year, students may take eithera traditional externship at an outsidelab, or complete the same 400hours doing research in-house. WhilePRISM students may select eitheroption, most, like Ho and Mano,choose the undergraduate researchclass where they — in effect —receive stipends for fulfilling theirinternship.

Carpi’s own research is on the ability ofelemental mercury to vaporize into theatmosphere repeatedly after being depositedin soil or water through coal combustion,metal smelting and trash incineration. All ofhis PRISM students are investigating differentaspects of this ecological problem.

Joining CSTEP as a sophomore, Ho, 21,began working with Carpi in his junior year.Ho became interested in science as a sixth-grader when he was accepted into a magnet

program for students who showed talent inthat subject. As a sophomore at BrooklynTechnical High School — where students arerequired to declare a major — Ho enrolled inthe school’s bio-medical program. But, he didnot “fit the mold” of a medical student, hesaid. Looking around for a program thatwould provide him with the classes heneeded to be pre-med, but not a traditionalpre-med program, he became a forensicscience major.

“I had never done anything withenvironmental science,” said Ho. “With Dr.Carpi, I’m working on a new theory he has forthe emission of mercury. I am also doing aproject with Dr. [Nathan] Lents that is wildlydifferent,” he said. “We mutate fibroblastsand investigate how a certain gene, thedifferent members of the CCN family, affectsthe growth. Two crazily different projects, butI like both.”

Ho is still considering medical school. Afterhe graduates, he will take a year off to studyfor the MCATs and GREs.

“We’ll see which one I do better at,” said Ho.“From there, we’ll see what happens.”

Mano admits to being one of those whosefascination with the program “CSI” led her toenroll in John Jay’s forensic science program.But forensic science in practice was not whatit seemed like on TV. So, Mano has decidedto go to medical school; she is planning tobecome a forensic pathologist. In addition toPRISM, the 23-year-old participates in amedical mentoring program at Albert EinsteinCollege of Medicine.

According to Mano, her work in Carpi’s labhas helped her to overcome “stage fright”when presenting before faculty and peers. Ithas also taught her to work on her own in thelab without a partner or instructor.

“Dr. Carpi is there as a mentor,” she said,“but he is not on your back. I am there

sometimes by myself and can think logicallyto get through a problem if I have one, or justbe able to work on an experiment frombeginning to end, all by myself.”

While PRISM teaches students how to doresearch, from note-taking, to presentations,to handling instruments and all of the othernuts-and-bolts components that comprise theendeavor, Carpi also tries to instill in them thebroader concept: that science is more thanjust the memorization of facts and is, in fact,a way of thinking, an “epistemology” —something that he considers hard to conveyin a conventional classroom. “As a forensicscientist, you’re actually trying to understandall the different possible ways that somethingcould have happened, investigating each one,and then eliminating them to find the one truepossibility,” said Ho. “In research science…the approach really shouldn’t be so concrete.I hate to use the word abstract, but in away it is.”

Said Cocris: “I learned that youcannot be rigid in your thinking. Youalways need to adapt. You start outwith one thing and you end up withanother thing altogether.”

The undergraduate research he did as aCSTEP student, according to McGillUniversity’s Roberts, made him aware of“how big science really is.”

Roberts, 29, was born in New York City, butgrew up in France where his father workedfor the United Nations. He discovered JohnJay while researching colleges anduniversities at an American library. Forensicscience, Roberts explained, combined twofavorite subjects: science and law.

In his freshman year, Roberts attracted theattention of Carpi, Pilette and (retired)Professor Morris Zedek, who all becameinvaluable mentors. They gave Roberts and alab partner the opportunity to do research ona project involving photoremediation, that isusing plants — in this case, barley — toleach cadmium and other heavy metals fromthe soil.

“It was an extremely cool idea,” said Roberts.

The project won a McNair Fellow, CSTEP NYResearch Award in 2002.

“When I was in John Jay, my initial idea was tojust get my forensic science degree and thenstart working in a forensic lab…I thought thebest-case scenario would be working for the

science

is more than

just the

memorization

of facts and

is, in fact,

a way of

thinking.

“Dr. Carpi is

there as a

mentor,” she

said, “but

he is not on

your back.

I am there

sometimes

by myself and

can think

logically to

get through

a problem

if I have one,

or just be able

to work on

an experiment

from

beginning

to end,

all by myself.”

Mano admits to being one of those whose fascinationwith the program “CSI” led her to enroll in John Jay’s forensicscience program. But forensic science in practice wasnot what it seemed like on TV.

Professor Carpi and PRISMstudents conduct an experiment.


1514

the pattern

of

murder of

young black

and brown

Americans

simply

hasn’t

been

a “story.”

the annual

John Jay Prize

for Excellence

in Criminal Justice

Journalism

recognizes the

best journalists

in the country

whose stories

advance a deeper

understanding of

key criminal justice

issues and lead to

change —

a prize now

regarded as the

“Pulitzer” of

crime reporting.

The missing child, in fact, was one of 34Chicago school kids who had fallen victim togun violence — either accidental or targeted— during the 2006–2007 school year.Similar stories could have been found inPhiladelphia, Baltimore, Los Angeles or any ofa dozen U.S. cities where guns and youthcrime have made a combustible mix.

Most ordinary Americans, however, areunaware that this is going on in theirbackyards. The reason is not hard to find: themedia have not focused on the problem. At atime when national homicide figures aresteadily declining, the pattern of murder ofyoung black and brown Americans simplyhasn’t been a “story.”

What does it take to change thisstate of affairs?

Bob Herbert, the New York Times columnistwho told the story of the Chicagoschoolteacher at a recent luncheon forprogram officers and journalists sponsoredby John Jay’s Center on Media, Crime andJustice (CMCJ), believes it requires aprofound transformation of the media’sapproach to what is “news” in traditionalcriminal justice reporting.

The media, he said, need to get beyondstereotypical views of crime that relegateevery-day violence against poor people orvictims of color to the back pages. Reportersneed to report on the multi-dimensional roots

of crime and injustice in U.S. society. “This,”he argued, “is one of those times when thepress should be sounding the alarm.”

The Center on Media, Crime and Justice wasestablished to help the press do exactly that.Since 2007, led by working journalists, it hasbeen connecting reporters with the tools,skills and background knowledge crucial togenerating the kind of public debate thatdrives change in a democracy.

With funding support from sponsors thatinclude the Open Society Institute, theHarry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, PewCharitable Trusts and the New York TimesCompany Foundation, the Center has broughttogether hundreds of working journalists fromaround the country with criminal justiceprofessionals, students, scholars (includingfrom John Jay) and policymakers forconferences, fellowship programs andworkshops.

It organizes the annual John Jay Prize forExcellence in Criminal Justice Journalism,which recognizes the best journalists in thecountry whose stories advance a deeperunderstanding of key criminal justice issuesand lead to change — a prize now regardedas the “Pulitzer” of crime reporting.

It is developing new curricula, workshops andcourse materials aimed at helping bothjournalists and criminal justice studentsunderstand the crucial intersection betweencommunications, practice and research.

And in February, it launched the country’s firstcomprehensive website on criminal justice, incollaboration with one of its partners,Criminal Justice Journalists. The CrimeReport (www.thecrimereport.org ) featuresdaily news, reports of new research and aunique Criminal Justice Resource Directoryfor journalists and criminal justiceprofessionals.

Journalists across the country already knowJohn Jay as a premier source of informationand knowledge on criminal justice. Now,thanks to the Center, John Jay has becomeone of the nation’s key sounding boards forthe challenges facing criminal justicejournalism.

But the question you might ask is:why bother?

The media industry is going through a crisis— perhaps the worst in living memory.Newspaper and broadcast jobs are dwindlingaway. Even major newspapers themselvesare on the chopping block.

The turmoil in the industry predates thecurrent economic crisis, but it certainly hasn’tbeen helped by it. The most recent annualAmerican Society of Newspaper Editors(ASNE) job survey, published in April, 2008,found that newsrooms around the countrylost an estimated 2,400 journalists in 2007alone. That may not sound like much,compared to job losses, say, in automanufacturing. But that represents a 4.4percent decline — the largest decrease in 30years. And things have gotten even worsethis year. So why spend time and resourcesimproving a “failing” industry?

You could ask Melissa Grima.

Melissa, 33, works for the Coos CountyDemocrat, a small weekly in northern NewHampshire. Far from her counterparts in theNew York Times and the Washington Post,Melissa covers the daily stories that areimportant to her neighbors, from schoolboard meetings to fires. But America’s smalltowns aren’t immune from the criminal justiceproblems of the big city, and in her regular

Reporters need to report on the multi-dimensionalroots of crime and injustice in U.S. society.

Panel Discussion on Sentencing and Corrections -- (L-R) Beryl Howell, Commissioner of U.S. Sentencing Commission; Judge NancyGertner, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts; Todd Clear, Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice, John Jay College.

The Write Stuff Changing the Paradigm of Criminal Justice Journalism By Stephen Handelman

Not long ago, a Chicago inner-city elementary schoolteacher noticed that one of her students had beenmissing for a couple of days in her daily attendancecount. She asked her class if anyone knew where hewas. The answer came back from a small voice atthe back of the room: “he’s dead.”

1716

At least one

of the Fellows

lost his job in the

interval between

his acceptance of

the Fellowship

and his arrival at

John Jay.

But try to

tell them —

or their

readers and

viewers —

that what

they do

doesn’t

count.

Judge Judith S. Kaye,retired Chief Judge of the

State of New York,gives keynote address at the

Symposium luncheon.

Winners’ Circle (L-R) President Jeremy Travis;John Jay Journalism Awardswinners — Christine Johnson, Times Herald-Record,Middletown, NYand Eric Nalder,Seattle Post-Intelligencer;Steve Brill, guest speaker,founder and former CEO ofCourt TV; andStephen Handelman,Director of the Centeron Media, Crime and Justiceat John Jay College.

The 2009

John Jay

journalism

awards,

announced

at the

Harry Frank

Guggenheim

Conference,

were further

proof

of the

potential of

criminal justice

journalism to

change lives.

rounds with local police, Melissa graduallybecame aware of a dramatic rise inprescription drug abuse in her area.

She decided to investigate further.“One of the big questions is…whynow?” she wondered. “What hasmade the factors right for this rise inprescription drug abuse?” Her editor,Eileen Alexander, gave Melissa carteblanche to investigate the story.But what this enterprising journalistneeded first was the kind ofbackground knowledge and nationalperspective that could help informher reporting — resources thatweren’t easily available or affordablenearby.

This year, Melissa was selected by theCenter on Media, Crime and Justice as oneof 15 Journalism Fellows to attend the fourthannual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposiumon Crime in America at John Jay on February2 and February 3. The symposium is theCMCJ’s signature event, now a landmark onthe calendar of criminal justice conferencesaround the country — and the only nationalgathering that brings together journalists withcriminal justice professionals and scholars forcandid discussions on criminal justice topics.

Along with the other 2009 Fellows, Melissaparticipated in two days of intense seminars

and workshops on subjects ranging from theimpact of the economic crisis on crimeissues to the future of forensics. Theconference theme — “A New Beginning:Exploring the Criminal Justice ChallengesOver the Next Four Years” — fit well with herneed for practical research. As a result, shehas returned home with a notebook full ofideas and resources — and contacts — thatwill help her complete her reporting. At thefinal closing session for Fellows, hercolleagues peppered her with so manysuggestions and leads for more reportingthat she couldn’t resist a smile. “There areideas here I never thought of before,”she said.

Melissa and her colleagues were well awarethat their industry is in danger. At least one ofthe Fellows lost his job in the interval betweenhis acceptance of the Fellowship and hisarrival at John Jay. But try to tell them —or their readers and viewers —- that whatthey do doesn’t count.

As it happens, some of the most successfuland thriving news outlets today are smallweeklies like the Coos County Democrat,along with community and independentnewspapers (and ethnic press) in urbanneighborhoods and rural territories, whosereaders are often neglected by their big-citycounterparts. Add to that the growingnumber of online news outlets and bloggers,and the picture of American journalismlooks a little more encouraging than theheadlines portray.

What these new media outlets andsmaller publications often lack,however, is the access toinformation and knowledge, alongwith the mentoring experience andbackground, enjoyed by theircounterparts in larger newspapers.Of course, even those larger outletsare now suffering, as buyouts takeaway the veterans who could steeryounger reporters through the courtsystem or local police; and the strainon resources reduces trainingopportunities.

The Center on Media Crime andJustice emerged to fill that“knowledge gap.” Even in theshort time since the Center wasestablished, there have been results.

Last June, the CMCJ brought 24 Fellows fromU.S. ethnic and community media togetherfor two days of intense briefings and fieldreporting with experts and policymakers onthe “criminalization of immigration.” Some ofthe stories that emerged from the conferencehave shed new light on dark corners: agroundbreaking examination of immigrationmarriage fraud by City Limits weeklymagazine; an exposé of backroomimmigration lawyers who prey onundocumented immigrants by Nowy Dziennik,a Polish community weekly in New York; anda chilling look by The Indian Express at howSikh youth, many of them first-generation

immigrants, are victimized in New Yorkschools. The CMCJ, in partnership with theNew York Community Media Alliance (withover 200 members in the New York region) issponsoring a new Community and JusticeReporting Award to encourage journalists todo more of this kind of work.

The 2009 John Jay journalism awards,announced at the Harry Frank GuggenheimConference, were further proof of thepotential of criminal justice journalism tochange lives. This year’s two winners wereEric Nalder and the Seattle Post-Intelligencerteam for a multi-part series that exposedracial bias by Seattle police in obstructionarrests and the handling of complaintsagainst police. And, Christine Young, areporter for the Times Herald-Record ofMiddletown, New York, for her investigationinto what she considered the wrongful 1989conviction of Lebrew Jones, who spent 20years in prison on charges of murdering aManhattan prostitute. As a result ofChristine’s article, the Manhattan DistrictAttorney opened a new investigation into thecase. Losing the opportunity to do suchstories would be a tragedy for ourcommunities and the nation as a whole. Inthis time of turmoil, the CMCJ and John Jayare now at the forefront of helping journalistsfind the resources and the tools they need tofulfill journalism’s highest mission — in BobHerbert’s words, of “sounding the alarm.”

Stephen Handelman is director of the Center on Media,Crime and Justice at John Jay. He has been aprize-winning journalist, author and journalism educatorover the past 25 years.

1918

The program

prepares its

students to

fill an

unequivocal,

unmet need.

You have to

have the

mindset of a

digital

detective. forensics

is a field

where you get

your hands

dirty.

The

one-semester

internship

we require for

most students

helps them do

just that.

You don’t want your employer to know whatyou’ve been doing with your work computeron company time, so you delete potentiallyincriminating e-mails and dump the trash,erase your browser history and empty thecomputer’s recycling bin.

Problem solved, right? Don’t bet on it.

The meteoric rise of computer usage,computing power and digital technology ingeneral, has transformed society, and withthat transformation an arguably predictableincrease in computer misuse and criminality.Ready to tackle this challenge are the facultyand students in John Jay’s Master of Scienceprogram in Forensic Computing.

The problem of computer crime isvast, and getting bigger and morecomplex all the time. It involves farmore than just misappropriation ofwork computers for personal use,whether legal or not. Elaboratecriminal schemes can be embeddedin hard drives. Cell phones,Blackberries and other similarelectronic devices can reveal a trailof digital breadcrumbs that leads toan elusive criminal. Even theubiquitous E-Z Pass found in millionsof cars has played a role in crimesand criminal investigations.

Staying on top of such a rapidly changingfield is no easy feat, but John Jay can layclaim, without fear of challenge, to havingcreated the nation’s first graduate program inforensic computing. The program, now in itsfifth year, is unique in the way it deftly meldsboth the technological and criminal justiceaspects of forensic computing. ProfessorRichard Lovely traces the hybrid nature ofthe curriculum to the very inception ofthe program and the man who initiallysuggested it.

“Bob Weaver was the head of the SecretService’s Electronic Crimes Task Force[ECTF] at the time,” said Lovely, one of thegraduate program’s founding directors. TheECTF was operating out of an office suiteprovided by John Jay, and Weaver “pointedlyasked to have a meeting with the Provost,and he made the pitch that this wassomething we should be doing. And from theoutset, the intent was for it to be a hybridprogram.”

Lovely, a member of the Department ofSociology was asked to work with ProfessorSamuel Graff of the Department ofMathematics and Computer Science, whichalready had an undergraduate computerscience program, to begin designing themaster’s program. The idea from thebeginning, Lovely said, was that thecurriculum would be “evenly distributedbetween technical classes and criminaljustice classes.”

The program prepares its students to fill an“unequivocal, unmet need” in the field, both inthe diverse nature of its curriculum and thedemanding prerequisites for admission.“Given the availability of off-the-shelfcommercial software and commercial trainingprograms, you can do digital forensicswithout any computer science background atall, but we are unique in requiring a solid basein computer science,” said Lovely. At aminimum, applicants to the graduateprogram in forensic computing are expectedto have undergraduate coursework orequivalent experience in object-orientedprogramming, data structures, algorithms,operating-system fundamentals, calculus andcalculus-based statistics and probability.

“You have to have the mindset of a digitaldetective,” Lovely said, noting that “CSI”-typetelevision shows have helped boost theappeal of the forensic computing master’sprogram. At the same time, however, Lovelyis quick to point out that graduates of themaster’s program emerge as leaders in thefield not “your garden variety forensicanalysts.” They are prepared to becomelaboratory administrators, directors oftraining, agency heads and more. Students

come from around the world — hailing fromsuch places as Canada and Turkey — and inturn go far upon graduation.

District attorneys in New York havesought out John Jay graduates torun their digital forensic labs, whileothers have gone on to work forfederal agencies or in top private-sector firms.

Lovely believes that the forensic computingprogram is more than equal to the task ofkeeping up with constant changes in bothhigh technology and relevant law. He is alsounshakable in his view that the program’sfocus is the correct one. “Let’s face it,” hesaid, “forensics is a field where you get yourhands dirty. The one-semester internship werequire for most students helps them do justthat.

“There are other models we could havefollowed in crafting this program,” he said,“but we believe that the ability to train peoplein network forensics is going to be our breadand butter.”

Peter Dodenhoff is editor of @ John Jay.

MS in Forensic Computing Prepares

Future CybercrimeSleuths

By Peter Dodenhoff

Graduates of the master’s program emerge asleaders in the field not “your garden variety forensicanalysts.”

Professors Richard Lovely and Samuel Graff giving a presentation.

2120

Photo courtesy of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

domestic violence, larceny, etc. Or you couldsee a movement from one area to anotherwhere there are jobs.” “The economicdownturn will magnify the problem as moreand more citizens and resident aliens seekjobs that have been held by illegalimmigrants,” says Weiner. Timoney is afraidthat the economic downturn will result in abacklash against immigrants. “Historically,during bad economic times people likescapegoats,” a sentiment echoed by Williams.

Economic troubles don’t just affect residents,however. They also affect police departmentbudgets as well. “I think the question is wherecan local law enforcement resources best beutilized,” says Straub. Mulvey and Timoneyboth feel that police already have enough ontheir plate and checking for status,particularly when no criminal infraction hasoccurred, would put an undue burden onpolice departments that are already strappedfor resources.

ENFORCEMENT & REFORMAccording to Department of HomelandSecurity (DHS), an average of 470,000 illegalimmigrants primarily from Mexico, Central andSouth America enter the country each year.Weiner thinks an argument can be made thatlocal law enforcement is in a good position tohandle immigration law enforcement sincethey routinely meet illegal immigrants. “Itdoesn’t seem economically viable to fundenough federal officers to adequately enforceour immigration laws.” He believes there aretwo basic choices. “Empower local law

enforcement to enforce immigration laws, orlower the barriers to legal immigration…which would provide for better identificationand documentation of those that are enteringthis country.”

Timoney notes the irony of the situation.“I think we have an untenable position rightnow. We have 12 million people that are innether land. It’s unrealistic to deport them all.If we were to do what they are asking us todo, there isn’t enough federal immigrationdetention capacity to handle it. They’ve gotabout 30,000 beds and they’re all filled. Thereneeds to be concrete immigration reform.”

Some reform seems to be in the works withthe appointment of Janet Napolitano asSecretary of Homeland Security. She isviewed by many police chiefs as wellexperienced in the issues surrounding illegalimmigrants. As Timoney points out, “She wasthe governor of a border state and a statethat is divided on the issue.” In January, shetold reporters that she wants “criminal aliens”off American streets. ICE deported about113,000 criminals who were in the countryillegally last year and the agency estimatesthat there are currently some 450,000 suchcriminals in federal, state and local detentioncenters. Napolitano’s goal is for federalimmigration officials to be notifiedimmediately when an inmate is processed intoa detention facility and deported after thecriminal serves his or her sentence.

Marie Rosen is a senior editor at John Jay College ofCriminal Justice.

Frank Straub ((MA ‘90), Commissionerof Public Safety for White Plains, NY

John Timoney (BA ’74), Police Chiefof Miami, FL

Lawrence Mulvey (BA ’75), PoliceCommissioner of Nassau County, NY

Dennis Weaver (BS ’92), Police Chiefof Juno Beach, FL

Hubert Williams (BS ’70), PoliceFoundation President, Washington, DC

continued from page 4

Enforcing Immigration Laws

Were it not for “neo-liberal policies,” like free-trade agreements, “we wouldn’t be poor,”said Escobar. “There is a lot of exploitationfrom transnational companies; not only in theU.S., but around the world. I see my mother’smoving [to the U.S.] in a larger politicalcontext.”

As part of a human rights delegationto Colombia last year, JennyEscobar found that while the familiesof those who disappeared mayultimately want perpetratorspunished, for now, they are seekinga more personal sort of justice.

“It’s a first step,” she said. “Trying to find outwhat happened, and trying to find the bodiesof those who disappeared has given them alot of strength to get together and get thisdone, as opposed to waiting for the criminaljustice system to bring them justice from thetop down.”

Another of Esparza’s HMP students, LinaRojas, is specifically researching Colombia.She is a junior in her first year as a McNairScholar. Unlike Escobar, Rojas, who is 20,was born in the United States. Her extendedfamily remains in Colombia.

“I basically grew up hearing about all theviolence that went on there because it is a

war that has been going on for about 40years,” she said. “That’s all I’ve known of theplace.”

As recently as October 2008, the BBCreported that 7,763 people disappeared inColombia between January 1, 2007 andOctober 21, 2008. The figures come from astudy by the country’s National Commissionfor the Search for Missing Persons. Of thosemissing, the Commission has establishedthat 1,686 were forced disappearances.

Arie Braizblot, 23, another student, focusedhis research on Chile and Argentina.However, unlike Escobar and Rojas, whoemigrated from Colombia out of economicnecessity, his family escaped from Argentina.Braizblot’s father left Poland one step aheadof the Nazis during the 1930s, then wasforced to leave Argentina in the 1970s whena military junta took over the country.

Now, enrolled in an international affairsgraduate program at Brooklyn College,Braizblot is planning to join the StateDepartment as a Foreign Service Officer oranother government agency as a politicalscientist and expert on Latin America.

It is not surprising these students want toparticipate in the HMP, observes Esparza.Coming from countries that have beendevastated by war, they are seekinganswers. “They want to understand.”

Preserving the Memory of Violence



As recently as

October 2008,

the BBC

reported that

7,763 people

disappeared in

Colombia

between

January 1, 2007

and

October 21, 2008.

Two sisters watch the exhumationof their mother and four smallsiblings. The sisters were presentthat day in August 1982 whensoldiers shot their relatives, butthey managed to escape.They spent 14 years in hiding inthe mountains, before resettlingin a new community and laterrequesting the exhumation.Nebaj, Quiché, 2000

Photo: Jonathan Moller

2322

Concluding ThoughtsAccording to Esparza, “Violence in LatinAmerica is often ‘ghetto-ized’ by scholars andpolicymakers who believe it only pertains tothe study of the region. And, there may beeven darker reasons for that.”

An entire chapter of her upcoming bookState Violence and Genocide in Latin America:The Cold War Years is devoted to why therehas never been an international tribunal toinvestigate the Guatemalan genocide, as therehas been for Cambodia and other countries.

“I attribute the invisibility to A) it’s CentralAmerica and B) it relates to indigenouspeople,” says Esparza. “To my eyes, it’s a bigdose of racism, of rendering indigenouspeoples’ genocide invisible.”

Esparza speculates th at discrimination wasalso behind the lack of extensive mediacoverage as thousands upon thousands ofMayan people in Central America weretortured, murdered and conscripted intoparamilitary squads against their will.

Jennifer Nislow is senior writer at John Jay College.

On AtticaThe toughest part, aside from going into theprison, was telephoning Rockefeller on thatSunday afternoon, urging him to come toAlbany. Curiously, my chief of staff came toAttica with me. And he was in the warden’soffice and there was Kunstler calling toRockefeller in Pocantico Hills. My guy wasreally very smart. They had dial phones at thattime and so he made note of Rockefeller’snumber, and he gave it to me. I’m sure ifRocky ever knew how we got his number, hereally would have been ticked. … I’m a greatadmirer. I’m a Rockefeller Republican. But,let’s see, it was Wicker, Badillo, the editor ofthe Amsterdam News and I were the fourpeople who spoke to him that afternoon. Iwas the last one to speak with him. And hejust wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t come. See, mythought was this, “Come and be there. I don’twant you going in D Yard. Come, be there.Meet with, so you’re symbolically involved.”Because we had agreed on, I think, 29 of the32 or 33 demands. And what those guysinside were worried about was, “once we laydown our arms, they’re not going to honorany of these conditions.” So we wanted to get

him to put his stamp on it. Now, people say tome, “Gosh, do you think it would have made adifference?” I don’t know if it would havemade a difference. But when you consider thestakes that we were facing, and I had a verygood idea of what was going to happen,should have tried it.

Jeff Kroessler — Did you really think therewas a chance he would come?

JD — Oh, sure. This was no charade. It washis responsibility. I mean, it was very clearthat they were going to use lethal force toretake the facility. You had guards who werethere who were targets. The likelihood, as itturned out, was correct, were going to meettheir death. He was the man; he was incharge. You know, the Sunday after the Atticariot I was on one of those Sunday morningprograms. You know, they asked me straightout, “Do you think he should have come?” AndI said, “Yes.” To this day, I think it couldhave made a difference. Could have.

John R. DunneAssistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division,U. S. Department of Justice, 1990-1993NYS Senate, 1966-89Negotiator at Attica State Prison, 1971

DEA or the FBI,” said Roberts. “The idea ofgrad school had never really crossed my minduntil they ([Carpi, Pilette and Zedek) said itwas actually possible.”

After graduating from John Jay, he earneda doctorate in chemistry from Boston College.His work there was in electrochemical andspectroscopic studies of biomolecularcomplexes. As a fellow at McGill, he isworking on the development of a digitalmicrofluidic device that can detectbiomolecules in a small sample of liquid.The idea is to be able to detect multiplecomponents in a single droplet. The chipwould be approximately 2-inches by3-inches big.

Theoretically, Roberts explained, the devicecould be taken to a crime scene where itcould detect specific proteins and enzymesin an amount as small as six microliters ofblood.

“All of my projects have always had potentialfor use in forensic science, since John Jay,”he said.

A number of National Science Foundationreports, noted Carpi, have found that publicly-funded institutions with a predominantlyminority student body generally do not have

the resources to offer science students thekind of research opportunities provided bywell-funded science programs at upper-tierschools.

PRISM not only offers that chance to John Jaystudents, but also gives them a means offorging those personal relationships withfaculty that prove helpful later on, when goodletters of recommendation are needed forpost-baccalaureate programs and jobs.

“It’s really beneficial, especially with studentswho may not have that type of environment athome, or may have that environment, but justnot in science,” said Carpi. “That’s why we’vebeen pushing it so hard,” he said. “When welook at success as measured by post-graduate education, it is the students who aredoing undergraduate research that arepursuing graduate school.”

Through PRISM, Mano recently went on a tourof Yale University.

“It kind of opened my eyes to a bigger school,to the kind of things they were doing,” shesaid. “I don’t think as many people takeadvantage of PRISM as they should. It’s beenvery, very useful.”

Jennifer Nislow is senior writer at John Jay College.

PRESERVING THE MEMORYcontinued from page 21 PRISM

Shines Light on Students’ Scientific Curiosity


PRISM (Program forResearch Initiatives forScience Majors) is an“umbrella” that allowsthe College to poolfunding receivedthrough:• CSTEP (Collegiate

Science and Technology Entry Program)

• LSAMP (Louis StokesAlliance for Minority Participation), a CUNY-wide initiative funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)

• Title V, U.S. Department of Education grant

• CCRAA (CollegeCost Reduction and Access Act), a collaborative grant between John Jay and the Borough of Manhattan Community College

Professor Carpi (far right)discusses use of lab instrumentswith PRISM students.“I attribute the invisibility to A) it’s Central America

and B) it relates to indigenous people,” saysEsparza. “To my eyes, it’s a big dose of racism, ofrendering indigenous peoples’ genocide invisible.”

Within the field of

genocide studies,

there is no

recognition of what

Guatemala suffered.

There was no

International

Criminal Court.

There were

International

Criminal Courts for

Rwanda and

the former Yugoslavia,

but there was no

International

Criminal Court

to try to bring the

perpetrators in

Guatemala to justice.

“Justice in New York” In their own wordsExcerpt from one of the completed oral histories, continued from page 10

2524

Not only did

the night shift

give him the

foundation

for his career,

it also gave him

the opportunity

to attend

John Jay during

the day.

He is now

vice president of

Global Security

for Prudential

Financial.

My John Jay

education

required me to

see beyond what

was immediately

in front of me.

he manages five

enforcement

groups who

conduct

domestic and

international

drug

investigations,

money

laundering and

narco-terrorist

cases.

Alumni Worth NotingAlumni Worth Noting

John H. Austin, Jr. (MA ’01)In the late 1980s, at the zenith of the violentcrack epidemic, John H. Austin, Jr. was amember of the Philadelphia PoliceDepartment’s Narcotics Unit. His concernabout the level of violence across the countryled him to join the Drug EnforcementAdministration (DEA) in 1988 where heachieved the rank of assistant special agentin charge (ASAC) in the New York Division.

As a new agent, he was assigned tothe New York Field Division where heorchestrated numerous high-volume arrestsand seized millions of dollars in proceeds.With success comes added responsibilityand in 1995 he became the executiveassistant to the associate special agent incharge of the New York Drug EnforcementTask Force, a collaboration among the DEA,the New York City Police Department and theNew York State Police, where his dutiesincluded managing intelligence initiatives.After a stint as supervisory special agent, in1998, Austin became the group supervisorfor the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areathat dismantled a notorious drug traffickingorganization that was plaguing public housingdevelopments. Further promotions led to hiscurrent position where he manages fiveenforcement groups who conduct domesticand international drug investigations, moneylaundering and narco-terrorist cases. His sub-division has been responsible for the seizureof over $50 million in cash and financialinstruments as well as over 3,500 kilogramsof cocaine.

Austin says that much of the work done byDEA agents requires the ability to anticipate.“We don’t’ react to a crime, we have toanticipate and prepare for it. We have to staytwo steps ahead of the traffickers.” That’swhere his master’s degree from John Jaycomes in. “My John Jay education requiredme to see beyond what was immediately infront of me. It required me to think throughproblems and it allows me to address issueswith a much more critical thought process.Being in a management position, when youhave so many things coming across yourdesk, you have to be able to quickly assesswhat is important and what is not. I think that

my experience at John Jay not onlydeveloped those skills, but honed them.”Last November, Austin came back to theCollege for a brown-bag lunch where he metwith more than 30 graduate and under-graduate students, providing them with arare, first-hand glimpse of professionalopportunities in the DEA.

During his time with the DEA, he haswitnessed the evolution of numerous drugstrends. “When I first came on the job, thegroups we were investigating were involvedin crack-cocaine. Now I don’t think crack-cocaine is the problem that it used to bealmost a generation ago. I also believe thatthere were offenders who matured out. Butthe crack-cocaine laws also had an impact.”

Austin looks at the drug problem from a“macro level.” “Heroin and cocaine fromColumbia and South America continue to bea major focus in this office,” he said. “Wehave less of an issue with meth than theyhave in the west, but we’re always on thelookout. Money laundering over the last fiveyears has received greater attention than inmy entire career.” Still another troublingproblem is the misuse of prescription andover-the-counter drugs. “DEA has diversioninvestigators whose primary responsibility isinvestigating the abuse of prescription drugs.We realize that the Internet has redefined theaccessibility of prescription drugs and wehave done a number of major cases in theNew York Office.” Since September 11,narco-terrorism is a high priority. Austinnoted, “Because we operate internationally,DEA was global before the word ‘global’ wasfashionable. We have agents in 87 offices in63 foreign countries. We even have agentspermanently assigned to Afghanistan.”

Joseph Billy, Jr.Joseph Billy, Jr. started his career in themailroom of the FBI’s Newark Office in 1978.Really! Thirty years later, he retired from theBureau as assistant director in charge of theCounterterrorism Division in Washington, DC.He is now vice president of Global Securityfor Prudential Financial.

Starting out as a support employee,especially when working nights, became the“grounding” of his career as a special agent.“I was able to handle all the duties after hoursincluding taking complaints and handlingsome investigative matters on behalf of theagents.” Not only did the night shift give himthe foundation for his career, it also gave himthe opportunity to attend John Jay during theday. “It was a full life for me commuting backand forth from Jersey, taking classes duringthe day, going to work at night.” He majoredin criminal justice and graduated in 1982.Reflecting back on his college years, Billysays, “It was a great experience, absolutelytops. I particularly remember the courses Itook with Professors of History Eli Faber andBlanche Cook, and [retired] Professor ofEnglish Arthur Pfeffer. I was very fortunate tobe taught by them.”

The Bureau requires a college education forits special agents and after Billy graduated,he became eligible as a candidate. His firstassignment was in a small three-person officein New London, CT at a time when thesavings and loan scandal was underway. “Itwas a tremendous learning experience. Youwere really out there by yourself and you hadto work relationships with other lawenforcement agencies.” His next stop wasthe New York Office where he developed hisnational security expertise. He then joined thesupervisory ranks in Washington. AfterSeptember 11, he was called back to NewYork to lead the Counterterrorism Division.After a few years, he became the specialagent in charge (SAC) of the Newark Office, aposition he describes as “the greatestexperience of my 30- year career. There Iwas back in same office where I deliveredmail to some of the agents that I was now incharge of.”

After only one year in his “dream” job, FBIDirector Robert Mueller called him back toWashington where he was first the deputyassistant director for counterterrorism andthen assistant director — what somedescribe as the toughest job in the Bureau.“It was the most difficult, yet satisfying threeyears. Throughout my 30 years with the FBI, Ihad the most constant feeling ofaccountability that I’ve ever experienced.Every minute I was accountable for thethousands of investigations that were goingon around the U.S. and overseas.” Hisworkday almost daily began at 3:00 AM andended at 10:00 PM. “The President and theNational Security Council were very muchengaged with what we were doing. It wasboth challenging and enjoyable.”

Billy believes that disrupting and dismantlingterrorism begins with the beat officer and thecurious citizen. He points to the JointTerrorism Task Force as “one of the realcrown jewels in the United States. It’s amarvelous platform that furnishes bothconnectivity and partnership. Countriesaround the world wish they had the kind ofsystems we have here.” New York City, henotes, “is a great example of collaborationwith local police. That’s why I think we are soadvanced when it comes to prevention.”

At Prudential, a financial services leader withoperations in the United States and overseas,Billy’s responsibilities are similar to what hedid in the FBI. The transition to the privatesector presented “no difficulty whatsoever.When you step from one organization that ismission-focused to another that has highethical values and standards, it makes thetransition easy.”

2726

Babatunde I. Akowe, MPA ’07, is currently enrolled atThurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.He expects to graduate in 2011.

Omar U. Alaji, BA ’95, received his master of science degree in systemsand network management from Golden Gate University in San Franciso, CA.

Alicia Aldrich, BA ’91, is currently living in Charleston, SC and working asa registered nurse on the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit at the Ralph H. JohnsonVA Medical Center.

Laura Alegre, BA/MPA ’08, obtained a position with the Social SecurityAdministration as a legal administrative specialist (benefit authorizer).

Elaine (Cantaves) Barry, BA/MA ’82, recently completed her clinicalpastoral education training, with a specialization in hospice. She anticipatescertification as a clinical pastoral counselor and clinical chaplain this spring.

Bridget Bayliss, MA ’98, is now living in Northern Virginia and working forthe American Correctional Association in Alexandria, VA.

Antoinette E. Blackman, AS ’07, is working as an inclusionparaprofessional with the New York City Department of Education at theBronx High School for the Visual Arts.

Julie Ann (Jimenez) Boyle, MA ’99, recently became a vocationalrehabilitation counselor for the New Jersey Department of Labor, Division ofVocational Rehabilitation Services.

Joseph “Joe” Capobianco, BA ’98, was promoted to national salesmanager at the YES Network. Prior to joining the YES Network, he was anaccount executive at WPIX-TV in New York.

Juan C. Carreras, BA ’07, is a territory manager responsible for themarketing plans of over 100 accounts at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.

Diana M. Castro, BA ’08, is currently attending graduate school at theHenry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Science,University of New Haven, CT.

Davita J. Cook, BS ’05, is an entrepreneur and inventor. She started herown soft drink company, created “Topplez,” a fruit drink; invented andpatented a special beverage container; conducted nutritional analyses ofthe fruit juices; and even designed the product labels. Proud of heraccomplishment, she says, “thanks to my degree, the analytical approachto problem solving helped me complete this project.”

Carl E. Cruz, BA ’04, is currently working for the New York CityAdministration for Children Services (ACS).

Germain Dearlove, BA ’07, is serving as a police officer for the City ofAtlanta, GA.

Aleksandr Dvoskin, MA ’08, recently joined the ranks of the U.S.Department of Justice.

Denise Elkin-Andrews, BS ’75, attended John Jay from 1972–1975 andworked in the library during that time. She says, “I am very grateful to theteachers, my peers and the library staff.” She became a police officer inFlorida and retired after 25 years at the age of 46.

Angel M. Espinal, BA ’08, completed the John Jay CO-OP program andgraduated from the U.S. Marshals Service Basic Training Academy in May2008. He is currently working in the District of Kansas.

Alan Feinstein, BS ’79, has spent 34 years in the law enforcementprofession. For the last 29 years, he has been with the Suffolk CountyPolice Department where he is currently a detective sergeant. He hasserved in robbery, narcotics, fugitive-missing persons and precinctdetective squads as a supervisor. He is a graduate of the 203rd Session ofthe FBI National Academy.

Leslie Gee, BS ’82, retired as a senior special agent with the Bureau ofAlcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He assisted in the investigationof both attacks on the World Trade Center and served as an instuctor at theATF Academy.

Kristin E. (Reskow) Girardo, BA ’94, subsequently obtained a BS innursing and is now working for a large litigation firm as a legal nurseconsultant. She is currently based in Atlanta, GA.

Aviva Twersky Glasner, MA ’01, went on to earn a PhD in criminal justiceat the Graduate Center of CUNY in April of 2006. She is currently anassistant professor of criminal justice at Bridgewater State College inMassachusetts.

Luz E. Gonzalez, BA ’06, a second-year evening law student at HofstraUniversity School of Law, was named a 2008–2009 Executive Lt. Governorfor the 2nd Circuit of the American Bar Association.

Elizabeth A. Gray, BA ’85, graduated from Brookdale Community Collegein Lincroft, NJ with an AAS degree in nursing. She is now a registered nurse .

Candi N. Green, BA ’02 & MPA ’07, whose specialization was criminaljustice policy and analysis while attending John Jay, started a new positionas a legal assistant in the United States Attorney’s Office.

Alexandra D. Hampton, MA ’04, joined the United Nations after 10 yearswith the New York City Department of Investigation and is currently workingin the Congo conducting investigations of crimes committed by U.N.personnel.

Stephen J. Heavey, BS ’05, a member of the New York City FireDepartment, was promoted to captain in November 2008.

Luisa A. Hernandez, BS ’90, majored in legal studies. She worked as aSpanish language court interpreter for eight years before becoming ajuvenile probation officer in Florida. She then earned a master’s degree incounseling and psychology. After working several years as a counselor, shedecided that she preferred working in the criminal justice field and is nowworking as a probation officer in New Jersey and “really enjoys it.”

Hyda D. Hernandez, BS ’87, a decorated New York City police officer,retired after 20 years on the force. She is the mother of five and is currentlya financial consultant with First Investors Corporation.

Cassandra Jean-Baptiste, MA ’08, is working full-time as a appliedbehavioral science specialist with an agency that serves the mentallychallenged.

Alumni Worth Noting

Jeanique Green’s

passion for

public service

began

when she

took a

Government 101

course at

John Jay.

She is on track

to becoming

commissioner

with the New

York State

Liquor

Authority.

Jeanique Green (BS ’93)Jeanique Green’s passion for public servicebegan when she took a Government 101course at John Jay. “It was the mostinteresting class I had taken.” More coursesin government followed. But the decisivefactor was her internship with the Black andPuerto Rican Caucus of the New York StateLegislature in Albany. That experience puther on the track to becoming commissionerwith the New York State Liquor Authority.

“The internship enabled me to put intopractice what I had learned in mygovernment courses.” Through theinternship, she met then Senator, nowGovernor David Patterson who nominatedher to the New York State Liquor Authoritylast June. “I would not have met himotherwise.” She worked for him as an internand he subsequently hired her after shegraduated in 1993. She went on to receive alaw degree from Albany Law School of UnionUniversity, but realized that being a trialattorney was not for her.

“After the internship, I knew that I wanted tobe in government, particularly with the statelegislature. I preferred to make an impact onthe largest number of people I could and I feltthat government work would give me thatopportunity.” Working with David Pattersongave her that opportunity. Greene served ashis legislative director for seven years,working on a whole range of legislationincluding health care, crime, transportationand housing. “You start with nothing but anidea. It could begin with a community groupwho met with the senator concerning aproblem they were encountering with a stateagency. I would do a lot of research,including legal research. Once the“legaleeze” was correct, I was responsiblefor introducing it on behalf of the senator soother members could sign on to it.Unfortunately, we were in the minority at thetime, but luckily, some members of themajority picked it up. Not all the time was the

senator’s name attached to the legislation.The important thing was that it was passedfor the greater good. Since I’ve known him,he has always had an overall policy of beinginclusive and it’s something I’ve tried toemulate throughout my career” — a careerthat included working in the New York StateAttorney General’s Office and the New YorkCenter for Alternative Sentencing andEmployment Services (CASES).

The New York State Liquor Authority isresponsible for overseeing the licensing of allestablishments that sell or serve alcohol inNew York State. “Right now we have about170 different types of licenses. New York lawis very specific and we do this licensingacross the state for bars, taverns,restaurants, clubs, grocery stores,breweries, liquor stores, etc. We have officesin New York City, Buffalo, Albany andSyracuse. Not only do we determine whogets licenses, we also determine civilpenalties for those establishments that are inviolation of their license such as anestablishment that is serving or sellingalcohol to someone who is underage.”

With thousands of establishments and only200 enforcement officers statewide, it’s abig task. But, the Authority does get helpfrom local police throughout the state. “It’s agreat relationship, especially in New York Citywhere officers from the precincts are outthere all the time. They often refercomplaints to us and serve as witnesses.”

Alumni Class Notes

28 29

Meghan M. Lennon, BA ’04, recently transitioned from working as avictim advocate for the YWCA to a forensic interviewer position with theChild Advocacy Center of Rockingham County in Portsmouth, NH.

Edith Linn, MA ’82, has written a new book, Arrest Decisions: WhatWorks for the Officer? (Peter Lang Publishing). It is based on her doctoralresearch (PhD 2004 from CUNY) about how the personal lives of NYPDofficers affect their arrest decisions. She is currently a professor of justicestudies at Berkeley College in Manhattan and would love to hear from oldJohn Jay friends!

Gregory I. Mack, MA ’91, retired from NYPD in December 2007 and nowworks with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Mack recently led aworkshop, “Hero or Malingerer: The Forensic Evaluation of Police OfficersInvolved In Critical Incidents,” at the 115th Annual International Associationof Chiefs of Police Conference and Exposition in San Diego, CA.

Amy S. Mangione, BA ’04, received a JD from Quinnipiac UniversitySchool of Law in Hamden, CT in May 2008. She successfully passed thebar exams in both Connecticut and New York in July.

Liz Martinez, BA ’97, has two anthologies coming out this year that sheco-edited with award-winning writer Sarah Cortez. One is Hit List: TheLatino Mystery Reader (Arte Publico Press), a collection of mystery shortstories by Latino writers. The other is Indian Country Noir (Akashic Books),a collection of short stories about Native Americans, (Akashic Books) inwhich her own short story, “Prowling Wolves,” appears. Since 2007, shehas been working as a senior investigator with the New York StateDepartment of Education’s Office of Professional Discipline.

Delana K. Mendes, BS ’08, is currently employed with Target Corporationas a protection specialist working in the Asset Protection Department. Shecredits her criminal justice background from John Jay for the position. “Theywere ecstatic to hire me and I look forward to continued promotion.”

Gary Miller, BA ’82, a photographer for the New York Post, was awardedthe 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in Photography by the New YorkAssociation of Black Journalists.

Daniel V. Minor, BS ’08, is currently working as a police officer for theRichmond, VA Police Department.

Melinda S. Molina, BS ’98, joined St. John’s University School of Law as aresearch professor. She teaches criminal law and a seminar on “Latinos inthe Law.” She is also conducting research on the lives of Latino lawyers.

Albert Noa, BS ’75, is retired from law enforcement and the privateinvestigation field.

Celide Ortiz, BS ’06, was promoted to the executive ranks after workingone year at Montefiore Medical Center. She has also been accepted into theMPA program at Marist College.

Rebecca E. Paul, BA ’07, is a court liaison and case manager workingwith felony drug offenders. In April 2008 she gave birth to a “beautiful babygirl named Chloe Jade who is happy, energetic, and bouncy!” She hopes toevenually pursue a master’s degree.

Hillary Potter, MA ’96, has written Battle Cries: Black Women and IntimatePartner Abuse (New York University Press.) She is currently an assistantprofessor of sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO.

Irma Ramos, BA ’03, obtained a position as secretary to several FamilyCourt judges in Bronx County with the New York State Unified CourtSystem. One of the many benefits, she says, “is being able walk to work!Dreams do come true when you are an alumna!”

Michael A. Reddington, AS ‘04, is a 20-year veteran of the NYPD wherehe is a detective investigator in the Organized Crime Control Bureau in theBronx. He is also an active Navy reservist who was called to active duty lastJune and is serving as a master-at-arms 2nd class with the 1st Army inBagram, Afghanistan.

Tony Reed, BS ‘86, a Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPPO), nowserves as assistant director of construction in the Office of Contracting andProcurement (OCP) for the District of Columbia. He was appointed to thisposition in October 2008.

Damon E. Rice, BS ‘99, is a special agent with the U.S. Department ofState, Diplomatic Security Service. From 2005 to 2007 he worked as anassistant regional security officer at the American Embassy in Nairobi,Kenya. Currently, he is working at the American Embassy in Dhaka,Bangladesh.

Kelly Root, MA ’05, is a substance abuse counselor with a non-profitorganization in Detroit, Michigan. She conducts group, didactics, andindividual therapy sessions for recovering addicts and alcoholics. She says,“I love it! I would recommend John Jay to anyone interested in psychology,law, or criminal justice. I hope to one day return for my PhD.”

Jermel L. Singleton, BS ’05, is a financial representative forNorthwestern Mutual in New York.

Carmen R. Velasquez, BA ’84, was inducted as a Judge for the CivilCourt of Queens County last December.

Dennis L. Weiner, BS ’92, retired as police chief in May 2008 from theCentre Island Police Department in Nassau County, NY. He then acceptedthe chief of police position with the Town of Juno Beach, FL in July 2008.

Philip B. Weiss, MPA ’05, was promoted to captain in the EmergencyMedical Service Bureau of the New York City Fire Department.

Jermaine Wright, MPA ’06, was recently named as associate director ofthe City University of New York Black Male Initiative (CUNY BMI). Prior tobecoming the CUNY BMI associate director, she worked at the NationalUrban League as a program manager for the Urban Youth EmpowermentProgram.

Marvin S. Yearwood, BA ’04, recently completed more than two years inthe U.S. Navy and is now stationed on the USS John C. Stennis (CVN74) asa qualified air warfare specialist.

Alesia Yezerskaya, BA ’06, is working at the Bank Street College ofEducation.

Jay L. Zwicker, BS ’77, was recently promoted to assistant director ofpublic safety at New York University.

Alumni Class Notes

PLANNED GIVINGEveryone can play a part in the future of the College, especially in ensuring the success of future programsand activities.

A bequest to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Foundation, Inc. will contribute significantly and forever,either toward the John Jay Endowment Fund or in support of a particular program, lectureship or scholarship fund.

When formulating your bequest, the following wording is suggested:

I give and bequeath to John Jay College of Criminal Justice foundation,inc., New York, NY, $________ to be added to the principal of the John Jay Endowment Fund, the income to be credited each year in my name.

It is as simple as that, and just imagine what your gift will provide for future generations of students who followin your footsteps.

John Jay CollegeT h e C i T y U n i v e r s i T y o f n e w y o r k

of Criminal Justice899 TenTh AvenUe new york, ny 10019 www.jjay.cuny.edu

Campus expansion project (Phase II) construction site on March 13, 2009.

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