The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
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List of the most influential people in Criminology,
#51
Philip J. Cook
#19734
Overall Influence
1946 - Present (78 years)
Philip Jackson Cook is the ITT/Terry Sanford Professor of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University in the United States. He also holds faculty appointments in Duke's departments of sociology, and economics. His research has focused on crime and criminal justice policy; weapons and violent crime; health and safety regulation including alcohol taxation and the societal costs of drinking; the economics of state lotteries; and income distribution.
Go to Profile#52
Mary Francesca Bosworth
#94913
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
#53
Frank Schmalleger
#30875
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
#54
Biko Agozino
#51445
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
#55
Robert D. Keppel
#6410
Overall Influence
1944 - 2021 (77 years)
Robert David Keppel was an American law enforcement officer and detective. He was also an associate professor at the University of New Haven and Sam Houston State University. Keppel was known for his contributions to the investigations of Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway, and also assisted in the creation of HITS, the Homicide Investigation Tracking System.
Go to Profile#56
Joan Petersilia
#69012
Overall Influence
1951 - 2019 (68 years)
Joan Ramme Petersilia was an American criminologist and the Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, as well as the faculty co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. Education Petersilia received her B.A. from Loyola Marymount University in 1972 in sociology, her M.A. from Ohio State University in 1974, also in sociology, and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine in criminology, law & society in 1990.
Go to Profile#57
Menachem Amir
#87900
Overall Influence
1930 - 2015 (85 years)
Menachem Amir is an Israeli criminologist. He spent most of his career as a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was the Benjamin Berger Chair Professor of Criminology until he retired in 1999. Amir received the Israel Prize from the Israeli government in 2003 for his work, one of the first two criminologists to do so alongside Shlomo Giora Shoham.
Go to Profile#58
Nicole Hahn Rafter
#62585
Overall Influence
1939 - 2016 (77 years)
Nicole Hahn Rafter was a feminist criminology professor at Northeastern University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, achieved her Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University, and obtained a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from State University of New York in Albany. She began her career as a high school and college English professor and switched to criminal justice in her mid-thirties.
Go to Profile#59
Patricia Mayhew
#56801
Overall Influence
Patricia Mayhew is a British criminologist and civil servant. She was formerly the Deputy Head of the Crime and Criminal Justice Unit at the Home Office in the United Kingdom, as well as the director of the Crime and Justice Research Centre at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand from 2004 to 2008. Her other positions include working at the National Institute of Justice in Washington, D. C., United States and the Australian Institute of Criminology in Canberra, Australia. She was one of the designers of the original International Crime Victims Survey in 1982, and managed the survey until 2000.
Go to Profile#60
Linda M. Williams
#48761
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Linda Meyer Williams is an American sociologist and criminologist. She is senior research scientist at Wellesley Centers for Women and director of the Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative. She is also professor emerita of criminal justice and criminology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on child maltreatment, research methods, and gender, race and crime. Williams has researched in the field of psychology on topics including child abuse, family violence and violence against women, and trauma and memory .
Go to Profile#61
David Gordon Scott
#34109
Overall Influence
1971 - Present (53 years)
David Gordon Scott is a British criminologist, abolitionist and author. He is a criminologist at The Open University in Milton Keynes. Scott's research interests span the field of criminology, particularly focusing on socialist ethics, abolitionism, social harm, liberative justice, harms of capitalist states, and state-corporate harm.
Go to Profile#62
Raymond Paternoster
#61306
Overall Influence
1952 - 2017 (65 years)
Raymond "Ray" Paternoster was an American criminologist who taught at the University of Maryland from 1982 until his death in 2017, spending some of this time as a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice there.
Go to Profile#63
Per-Olof H. Wikström
#85449
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Per-Olof Helge Wikstrӧm is Professor of Ecological and Developmental Criminology at the University of Cambridge, Professorial Fellow of Girton College and Principal Investigator of the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study , a major ESRC funded longitudinal study of young people in the UK which aims to advance knowledge about crime causation and prevention. His main research interests are developing a unified theory of the causes of crime , testing it empirically and applying it to devising knowledge-based prevention policies. His work is internationally acknowledged, as d...
Go to Profile#64
Scott Decker
#84945
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
#65
Sandra Walklate
#92173
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Sandra Walklate is a British criminologist. She is the Eleanor Rathbone Chair of Sociology at the University of Liverpool and President of the British Society of Criminology. In January 2014, she became the Editor in Chief of The British Journal of Criminology.
Go to Profile#66
Frank Vitaro
#113332
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
#67
Manuel Eisner
#97752
Overall Influence
1959 - Present (65 years)
Manuel Eisner is Wolfson Professor of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, and Deputy Director of the Cambridge Institute of Criminology. He researches the history of interpersonal violence, and has conducted a study on levels of homicide throughout Europe over a period of 800 years. His research has highlighted the ways in which cultural models of conduct of life, embedded in social institutions, have shaped patterns of daily behaviour among adolescent and young adult men, which in turn have influenced the likelihood of frictions leading to aggressive behaviour. He is also recognised f...
Go to Profile#68
Gilbert Geis
#94543
Overall Influence
1925 - 2012 (87 years)
Gilbert Lawrence Geis was an American criminologist known for his research on white-collar crime. He is particularly recognized for his paper "The Heavy Electric Equipment Antitrust Case of 1961", originally published in the 1967 book Criminal Behavior Systems: A Typology.
Go to Profile#69
John Paul Wright
#42603
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (74 years)
John Paul Wright is an American criminologist and proponent of biosocial criminology. He is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services. He is also the director of the graduate program in criminal justice there. Among the students whose Ph.D. theses he has overseen is Kevin Beaver, a professor at Florida State University.
Go to Profile#70
David S. Wall
#63172
Overall Influence
1956 - Present (68 years)
David S. Wall FRSA FAcSS is Professor of Criminology at the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, School of Law, University of Leeds, England, where he researches and teaches cybercrime, policing, organised and transnational crime and intellectual property crime. He rejoined the University of Leeds in August 2015 from Durham University, where he was Professor of Criminology. Between 2011 and 2014 he was Head of the School of Applied Social Sciences . Before moving to Durham in 2010 he was Professor of Criminal Justice and Information Society at the University of Leeds, where he also held the position of Head of the School of Law and Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies .
Go to Profile#71
Mariana Valverde
#60056
Overall Influence
1955 - Present (69 years)
Mariana Valverde is a Canadian criminologist and sociologist. She is currently a professor in the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto. Her research mainly focuses on the sociology of law. She is also an occasional contributor to Spacing magazine.
Go to Profile#72
Jerome Skolnick
#72039
Overall Influence
1931 - Present (93 years)
Jerome Herbert Skolnick is a professor at New York University and a former president of the American Society of Criminology. He is also affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley. Skolnick has a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University.
Go to Profile#73
Anthony Braga
#94793
Overall Influence
1969 - Present (55 years)
Anthony Allan Braga is an American criminologist and the Jerry Lee Professor of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. Braga is also the Director of the Crime and Justice Policy Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously held faculty and senior research positions at Harvard University, Northeastern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California at Berkeley. Braga is a member of the federal monitor team overseeing the reforms to New York City Police Department policies, training, supervision, auditing, and handling of complaints and discipline regarding sto...
Go to Profile#74
Matthew Barnett Robinson
#33763
Overall Influence
1970 - Present (54 years)
#75
Travis Pratt
#82376
Overall Influence
Travis Cameron Pratt is an American criminologist and fellow at the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed papers on topics such as prison policy and theoretical criminology. He is particularly known for his research on private prisons.
Go to Profile#76
Letizia Paoli
#79897
Overall Influence
1966 - Present (58 years)
Letizia Paoli is a criminologist, originally from Prato. Since 2006 she has been a professor of the Law Faculty at Leuven/Louvain University. She served, between 2009 and 2016, as chair of the sometimes troubled "Freiburg Sports Medicine Commission" at Freiburg University.
Go to Profile#77
Herman Goldstein
#32364
Overall Influence
1931 - 2020 (89 years)
#78
Stuart Henry
#89355
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Stuart Henry is professor emeritus, Criminal justice and former director of the School of Public Affairs, San Diego State University . He has also been visiting professor of criminology at the University of Kent's School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research from 2008 to 2013 and visiting research scholar in sociology at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, 2017.
Go to Profile#79
Ted Chiricos
#97495
Overall Influence
1942 - 2022 (80 years)
Ted Chiricos was an American criminologist and the William Julius Wilson Professor of Criminology at Florida State University. Early life and education Chiricos received a bachelor in Sociology from Merrimack College in 1963, a masters in sociology from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1965 and a Ph.D. in sociology from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1968. Chiricos died of cancer on November 7, 2022.
Go to Profile#80
Susanne Karstedt
#62370
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (75 years)
Susanne Karstedt is a German criminologist. She is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. Biography A native of Germany, Kartstedt trained in sociology at the University of Hamburg. Prior to joining Griffith University, she held positions at the University of Leeds, Keele University, Bielefield University, and the University of Hamburg.
Go to Profile#81
Terence Thornberry
#114179
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
Terence Patrick Thornberry is an American criminologist who has been a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland since 2012. Before he joined the faculty of the University of Maryland in 2009, he was a professor of sociology at the University of Colorado and the director of their Problem Behavior Program from 2004 to 2009. Before that, he was a professor at the University at Albany, SUNY from 1984 to 2001, and a Distinguished Professor there from 2001 to 2004. He served as the dean of the University at Albany, SUNY Sc...
Go to Profile#82
Marc Gertz
#58703
Overall Influence
Marc G. Gertz is an American criminologist and professor at the Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. His research includes an influential 1995 survey he conducted with his Florida State University colleague, Gary Kleck, on the frequency of defensive gun use.
Go to Profile#83
Marvin Krohn
#87924
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (77 years)
Marvin Donald "Marv" Krohn is an American criminologist who has been a professor at the University of Florida since 2008. He was formerly the director of the Division of Criminology, Law and Society there until 2011.
Go to Profile#84
Sanford Kadish
#40734
Overall Influence
1921 - 2014 (93 years)
Sanford "Sandy" H. Kadish was an American criminal law scholar and theorist. He specialised in criminology and criminal law theory, and was one of the drafters of the American Model Penal Code. Biography Sanford Harold Kadish was born in 1921 in New York City, and grew up in the Bronx. He graduated from City College of New York, Phi Beta Kappa, and then attended a Japanese language school in Colorado.
Go to Profile#85
Peter Reuter
#89798
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
#86
Kjersti Ericsson
#84634
Overall Influence
1944 - Present (80 years)
Kjersti Ericsson is a Norwegian psychologist, criminologist, writer, poet and former politician. She is professor of criminology at the faculty of law of the University of Oslo. Ericsson obtained her cand.psychol. degree in 1969, and was a research assistant and lecturer at the department of psychology at the University of Oslo from 1969 to 1978. Since 1978, she has been employed with the department of criminology and sociology of law . She became an associate professor in 1981 and a professor in 1997.
Go to Profile#87
Cassia Spohn
#28471
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
#88
Darrell Steffensmeier
#87472
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (82 years)
Darrell John Steffensmeier is an American criminologist and Liberal Arts Research Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Pennsylvania State University. Education After receiving his bachelor's degrees in philosophy and history from St. Ambrose University, Steffensmeier received his M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Iowa in 1970 and 1972, respectively.
Go to Profile#89
William Wilbanks
#73627
Overall Influence
1940 - 2018 (78 years)
William Lee Wilbanks was an American criminologist and former professor of criminal justice at Florida International University. Education Wilbanks graduated from Belton High School in Belton, Texas in 1958. At Belton High, he was an all-state guard on the State AA Championship basketball team that won the Class 2A championship in 1958. He went on to receive his B.A. from Abilene Christian College in 1963, after which he received his M.A.'s from Abilene Christian College, Sam Houston State University, and the University at Albany, SUNY in 1965, 1972, and 1972, respectively. In 1975, he received his Ph.D.
Go to Profile#90
Lorraine Mazerolle
#112222
Overall Influence
1964 - Present (60 years)
Lorraine Green Mazerolle is an Australian criminologist and professor at the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland, where she is also an affiliate professor at the Institute for Social Science Research. She is also a chief investigator in the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, as well as a former Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow. She is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Experimental Criminology. She is also a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Academy of Experimental Criminology.
Go to Profile#91
John Winterdyk
#91541
Overall Influence
1954 - Present (70 years)
John Winterdyk is a Canadian criminology professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. He is the university's Centre for Criminology and Justice Research chair. He has spent much time in Sub-Saharan Africa studying local beliefs about violence and honour. He was the first person to receive a PhD in Criminology from the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. He later served as visiting scholar to the Max Planck Society in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. In 2010, Winterdyk conducted a study with fellow Mount Royal University professor Kelly Sundberg as well as with scholars...
Go to Profile#92
Jonathan Caulkins
#57273
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (59 years)
Jonathan Paul Caulkins is an American drug policy researcher and the H. Guyford Stever Professor of Operations Research and Public Policy at Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University. Education Caulkins received his B.S. and M.S. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1987, and his S.M. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
Go to Profile#93
Catrien Bijleveld
#75043
Overall Influence
1958 - Present (66 years)
Catharina Christina Johanna Hermina "Catrien" Bijleveld is a Dutch criminologist. She is a professor of Research Methods in Criminology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Since August 2014 she is director of the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement.
Go to Profile#94
Graeme Newman
#101871
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (85 years)
Graeme R. Newman is an American scholar of criminal justice and Distinguished Teaching Professor at University at Albany. He is a recipient of J. Francis Finnegan Memorial Prize in Criminology. Newman is the vice president of Center for Problem Oriented Policing and pioneered the establishment of the United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network. He is known for his research on crime prevention.
Go to Profile#95
Peter Kirby Manning
#139033
Overall Influence
#96
Michael White
#104103
Overall Influence
1951 - Present (73 years)
Michael Douglas White is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, where he is also the associate director of the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety and director of the doctoral program in criminology and criminal justice. He is known for his research on the effects of police use of body-worn cameras. He produced a report for the United States Department of Justice summarizing the arguments for and against the use of such cameras.
Go to Profile#97
Geoffrey Alpert
#69257
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (76 years)
Geoffrey Philip Alpert is a professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina. Education Alpert received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Oregon in 1969 and 1970, respectively. For one year he attended the University of Oregon School of Law. In 1975, he received his Ph.D. from Washington State University.
Go to Profile#98
Katheryn Russell-Brown
#50710
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (63 years)
Katheryn Russell-Brown is an American social scientist, professor of law and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at University of Florida Law School. Her main areas of expertise are race and crime, sociology of law and criminal law.
Go to Profile#99
Richard L. Berkowitz
#142144
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (24 years)
#100
Malcolm Mark. Feeley
#149934
Overall Influence
