Peter C. Moskos,
Assistant Professor
Dept. of
Law & Police Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Dept. of Sociology, City University of New York Graduate Center
899 10th Ave, Room 422-41;
New York, NY 10019
mail@petermoskos.com;
www.petermoskos.com
BIO
Peter Moskos was born in Chicago, graduated from Evanston Township High School, and lives in New York City in Astoria, Queens. He has worked as a movie theater usher, a Chicago Cubs usher, waiter, cook, bartender, bar manager, theater technician (lights and sound), boat captain, busboy, police officer, and professor.
While enrolled as a Harvard University graduate student, Moskos worked as a Baltimore City police officer from 1999 to 2001. He patrolled midnight shift in Baltimore’s high-crime Eastern District.
Cop in the Hood (Princeton University Press, 2008), Moskos’s first book, examines policing from a first-hand police perspective, focusing on the failure of the drug war and its impact on police culture and arrest decision in the ghetto. Cop in the Hood won the 2008 PROSE award for best book in Sociology.
Moskos is currently working on a book on punishment and alternatives to incarceration. More can be found at www.copinthehood.com.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. (2004) Harvard University, Department of Sociology
M.A. (2004) Harvard University, Department of Sociology
A.B. (1994) Princeton University, Department of Sociology (Magna Cum Laude)
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Police patrol and crime prevention; drug violence; police culture; police/minority relations; qualitative methods.
BOOKS
Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District. Princeton University Press. 2008.
Throw Away the Key: Rethinking Punishment and Prison. Basic Books. (In preparation for 2010)
PEER-REVIEW PUBLICATIONS
“Two Shades Of Blue: White and Black in the Blue Brotherhood” Law Enforcement Executive Forum. Vol. 8(5). September 2008.
“The Better Part of Valor: Court-Overtime Pay as the Main Determinant for Discretionary Police Arrests.” Law Enforcement Executive Forum. Vol. 8(4). May 2008.
Washington Post. “Old-School Cops in a New-School World.”August 5, 2003.
Reprinted: The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), August 7, 2003:“Changing the Police Culture.” The Albuquerque Journal, August 11, 2003: “Police Need New Kind of Diversity.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 11, 2003: “Traditional Cops Learning a New Method of Policing.” Law Enforcement News (John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY), October 15, 2005.
Washington Post. “Victims of the War on Drugs.”July 9, 2003.
Reprinted: Cannabis News, July 9, 2003. Drug Sense Weekly, July 11, 2003. Watertown Daily Times (New York), July 11, 2003: “Change Strategy in the War on Drugs.” Substance Abuse Newsroom, July 11, 2003: “Change Strategy in the War on Drugs.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida), July 13, 2003. Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), July 14, 2003. Sun-Sentinel (South Florida), July 15, 2003: “Don’t Form Drug Policy as a Moral War.” Hartford Courant (Connecticut), July 15, 2003: “Heavy-Handed Drug Enforcement Leads To Hate.” News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 16, 2003: “Lockups Won’t Win Drug War.” Detroit News, July 23, 2003: “Drug War Contributes to Riots in Benton Harbor.” Holland Sentinel (Michigan), July 25, 2003: “Tolerance Could Actually Lower Drug Use.” The New Times (Vicksburg, Mississippi), September 2003.
Baltimore Sun. “U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Sowed Confusion, Injustice.”April 27, 2001.
Cited: Petition for Rehearing (denied), submitted to US Supreme Court, 99-1408 Atwater, et al. v. Lago Vista, Texas, et al. June 2001.
RESEARCH GRANTS
$4,000 grant from the PSC-CUNY Research Award to study the relationship between drug policy, police culture, and arrests in the Netherlands and the United States.
$18,000 grant from the Niarchos Foundation to co-author the third edition of the book Greek Americans with the author of the first two editions, Professor Charles Moskos of Northwestern University.
PRESENTATIONS
"The Law-Enforcement Perspective." Safe Injection Facilities of New York Conference. John Jay College. May 22, 2009.
Killadelphia: A Panel Discussion. Part of the Gerald W. Lynch Theater’s Art of Justice Series: Integrating the Arts & Issues of Justice. April 29, 2009.
Northwestern University. Department of Sociology Colloquium Series. April 16, 2009.
Cornell University Center for the Study of Inequality Colloquium Series. Monday, April 13, 2009. 2:55pm - 4:10pm. Ithaca, NY.
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. April 8, 2009.
Yale University Urban Ethnography Project mini-conference, "The Urban Ghetto: Then and Now." Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting. Baltimore MD. March 20, 2009.
SUNY Stoney Brook. February 12, 2009
New York University. February 10, 2009.
Brown University. February 10, 2009.
Philoctetes Society Roundtable. "Aggression." New York City. February 7, 2009.
University of Pennsylvania Urban Ethnography Workshop. February 6, 2009.
Harm Reduction Coalition. New York City. January 29, 2009.
New York Academy of Medicine and Drug Policy Alliance. "New Directions for New York: A Public Health and Safety Approach to Drug Policy: Harm Reduction Pillar - Coordinating Strategies." New York City. January 23, 2009.
“Closing Plenary: Race, Inner Cities, and the Drug War.” Students for Sensible Drug Policy Tenth Annual Conference. College Park, Maryland. November 2008.
“The Better Part of Valor: Court-Overtime Pay as the Main Determinant for Discretionary Police Arrests.” The American Society of Criminology Conference Annual Meeting. St. Louis. November 2008.
“The Wire: Drugs, Prison and Community Survival.” John Jay College of Criminal Justice. New York City. September 2008.
“Police Officers' Attitude Toward Drugs and Arrest Decision: the United States and the Netherlands.” International Conference: Justice and Policing in Diverse Societies. San Juan, Puerto Rico. June 2008.
“Rapid Response in High-Drug Areas: a misuse of police patrol.” Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security. Istanbul, Turkey. June 2007.
“Bloods, Crips, and Beyond: Anti-Gang Initiatives from Cities to Suburbs.”
Princeton University. April 2006.
“Hell Freezing Over: Broken Windows and Police Action Reclaiming NYC’s Port Authority Bus Terminal.” The American Society of Criminology Conference Annual Meeting. Toronto. November 2005.
“Police Training for Effective Counter-Terrorism.” Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security. Istanbul, Turkey. June 2005.
“Participant P.O. Field Work.” Philadelphia Ethnography Conference.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 2005.
“Police, Drugs, and Arrest Discretion.” Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting. Chicago. March 2005.
“Police in the ’Hood.” The Millsaps Faith and Work Initiative. Sponsored by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. and the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology.
Millsaps College. Jackson, Mississippi. April 2004.
“Public Health, Policing, and Law Enforcement: The Case of HIV/AIDS Prevention.” The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA). Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Yale University. November 2003.
“Police and Race in Baltimore.” The Aage Sørensen Memorial Conference.
Stockholm University. March 2003.
“The Failure of 911 Rapid Police Response.” Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting. Boston. March 2003.
“Two Shades Of Blue: Racial Distinctions within a Common Police Identity.” The American Society of Criminology Conference Annual Meeting.
Chicago. November 2002.
“Vaksurveillance en Ordehandhaving [Beat Patrol and Order Maintenance],”
translated into Dutch by Sjaak Aussems. Politieburo Prinsengracht.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. October 1998.
“Community Policing and Crime Prevention in America and Holland.” The Center for Police Studies, Departments of Criminal law and Criminology of the Law,
Vrije Universiteit. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. December 1997.
“Changes in the Racial Differential in Imprisonment in the U.S. from the 1920s to the 1990s” (with Chris Winship and Steve Morgan). IRP Summer Research Workshop: Problems of the Low-Income Population. Madison, Wisconsin. June 1996.
Drug Legalization. “The Drug Truth Network: Cultural Baggage.” KPFT. August 20, 2008.
Drug Legalization. “Kicking the Anthill.” KLUP. August 16, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. WYPR (Baltimore Public Radio) “Midday with Don Rodricks.” August 11, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. WBAL “Ron Smith Show.” August 11, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. KPHX “Jeff Farias.” July 30, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. WHFS “Ed Norris Show.” July 29, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. WNYC (New York Public Radio) “Leonard Lopate Show.” July 22, 2008. Rebroadcast October 13, 2008.
Wall Street Journal. "A Close Look at Mean Streets." Book review by Daniel Horan. July 14, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. WBAL “Ron Smith Show.” June 17, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. WBAL “Ron Smith Show.” May 13, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. National Public Radio “On Point” with Tom Ashbrook. April 30, 2008.
Sean Bell Verdict May Deepen Mistrust of Police. National Public Radio “Talk of the Nation” with Neal Conan. April 29, 2008.
Cop in the Hood. “Bloggingheads TV.” April 14, 2008.
The Militarization of Police. “Fox News Live” with Jamie Colby. May 12, 2007.
Examining the Causes of Witness Intimidation. National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation” with Neal Conan. May 1, 200.
Stop Snitching? WNYC (New York Public Radio) “Brian Lehrer Show.” February 24, 2006.
The Case for Drug Legalization. WRMN “Freedom Rings.” October 31, 2005.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Issues in Criminal Justice: Corrections and Police (CRJ 711). Fall 2005, Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Fall 2008, Spring 2009.
Seminar in Police Problems (PSC 401). Fall 2004 (2 sections), Spring 2005, Fall 2007 (2 sections), Spring 2008 (2 sections), Fall 2008 (2 sections), Spring 2009 (2 section).
Introduction to Criminal Justice (CRJ 101). Spring 2005, Fall 2006.
Police Ethics (CRJ 742). Spring 2006.
Police and the Community (CRJ 757). Fall 2005, Fall 2007.
Introduction to Policing (PSC 101). Fall 2004, Spring 2005.
Introduction to Sociology (SOC 101), Teaching Fellow, Harvard University. Fall 1998.
COLLEGE AND PUBLIC SERVICE
Departmental Committees: Grades Appeal Committee (2006–)
Reexamination and Formation of Strategic Plan for the Police Studies Program (2007)
Ad hoc subcommittee to formulate departmental bylaws (2008)
College Committees: Predictive Validity of the GRE for Admissions Subcomittee (2009)
Faculty Technology Committee (2004–)
Library Committee (2007–2008)
Police Studies Coordinator for the Department of Law & Police Science (2006-2008)
Lectures Organized: Joseph Poss, Spring 2008
Ad Clarijs, Fall 2007
Derrick Parker, Fall 2006
Barry Gibbs, Spring 2006
David Klinger, Spring 2005
Volunteer speaker for LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (2002–)
Speaker/liaison for the New York Academy of Medicine. Authored and presented to Harlem Police Precincts on the Expanded Syringe Access Demonstration Program (ESAP). Spring 2003.
HONORS
Cop in the Hood awarded the 2008 PROSE Award (the American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence) for Sociology & Social Work.
CUNY “Salute to Scholars” Certificate of Recognition. December, 2008.
CUNY Graduate Program in Anthropology Colloquia Series. October 17, 2008.
“The Wire: Drugs, Prison and Community Survival.” John Jay College. September 25, 2008.
Goldstock Criminal Law Luncheon. NYU. September 9, 2008.
Invitation and travel grant to attend the Aage Sørensen Memorial Conference.
Stockholm, Sweden. March 2003.
Baltimore Sun op-ed cited in Petition for Rehearing (denied), submitted to US Supreme Court, 99-1408 Atwater, et al. v. Lago Vista, Texas, et al. June 2001.
Baltimore Police Department Special Service Commendation Medal. March 2001.
City of Baltimore Citizen Citation. April 2000.
Harvard University Scholarship. 1995 - 1997.
Isadore Brown Thesis Award for Best Sociology Thesis, Princeton University. 1994.
Magna Cum Laude, Princeton University. 1994.
Princeton University Hellenic Studies’ Seegar Grant for study in Greece. 1993.
Chicago Cubs Award in Recognition of Outstanding
Achievement in Crowd Management. 1988.
RESEARCH AND WORK EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Department of Law,
Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration. 2004 – present.
Baltimore City Police Officer. October 1999 – July 2001, Eastern District, uniformed patrol (April 2000 – July 2001). Baltimore City Police Academy (October 1999 – April 2000), Certified in Less Lethal Weaponry and as a Maryland Medical First Responder.
Vera Institute of Justice. Consultant on New York Police Department
community relations memo. December 2002.
Baltimore City Police Academy and Eastern District Police Station. Participant-observation field work, interviews, and panel-study questionnaire. August 1999 – July 2001.
Pieter Aertszstraat Police Station, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Participant-observation field work and evaluation of the program,
“Cops Without Cars” (Blauw uit Blik). October 1997 – August 1998.
Prinsengracht Police Station, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Participant-observation field work and analysis of police strategy towards controlling
weekend crowds on a busy nightlife square (Rembrantplein). May – June 1998.
