Influential Women in Criminal Justice From the Last 10 Years
From an FBI criminal profiler to a White House cybersecurity specialist to an editor-in-chief of a top criminal justice journal, our list of influential women in criminal justice highlights a group of professionals whose intellect, understanding of human behavior and law, and innovative problem-solving skills have served to better protect us all.
Top 10 Women in Criminal Justice From the Last 10 Years
Those who pursue careers in criminal justice often have a knack for good communication, a love of research, a passion for understanding the inner workings of human behaviors, and an appreciation for the law. Careers in this field are both broad and specific, with some going on to become professors, police officers, and private investigators and others serving as criminal profilers, crime prevention specialists, niche authors, and forensic scientists. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth in this field is promising. For example, career opportunities for forensic scientists are expected to grow at a rate of 16% between now and 2030, much faster than the average for all jobs, and private investigators can expect a 13% rate of growth between now and 2030.
A bachelor’s degree in criminal justice educates students on the primary components of the justice system: the courts, policing, and corrections. Students also spend time refining their researching skills, studying criminal psychology, and familiarizing themselves with theories of criminal justice. Many programs also offer specializations, like law enforcement or forensic science. Although the number of women and men who hold a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice is comparable, far more women hold master’s-level degrees than men in areas like forensic science and technology, police science, and criminology.
With so many women in criminal justice holding graduate degrees, organizations like the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) are striving to ensure career opportunities for female professionals are ample. The IAWP envisions a world where police reflect the diversity of the communities they serve and where human rights are protected
and therefore are steadfast in their work to strengthen, unite, and raise the capacity of women in policing internationally.
It’s clear too, by the trailblazers on our list, that given the opportunity, female professionals in this field can and do excel in leadership roles. Colleen M. Fitzpatrick is a PhD holder and a forensic genealogist who co-founded the DNA Doe Project, which identifies unidentified deceased individuals through genetic genealogy. Candice DeLong is a bestselling author and former FBI profiler who has helped crack cases like the Unabomber and has worked undercover in a variety of roles. Freda Adler has put her skills to use as a criminologist and professor and is the former President of the American Society of Criminology. Melissa Hathaway is best known for her expertise in cybersecurity and her service to the White House under both President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush. Also on the list is Mary Francesca Bosworth, an Australian criminologist, author, professor, and the UK editor-in-chief of the journal Theoretical Criminology.
Influential Women in Criminal Justice From the Last 10 Years
- #1
Freda Adler
1934 - Present (90 years)Freda Adler is a criminologist and educator, currently serving as professor emeritus at Rutgers University and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She was President of the American Society of Criminology in 1994-1995. She has acted as a consultant to the United Nations on criminal justice matters since 1975, holding various roles within United Nations organizations. A prolific writer, Adler has published in a variety of criminological areas, including female criminality, international issues in crime, piracy, drug abuse, and social control theories. - #2
Xanthé Mallett
1976 - Present (48 years)Xanthé Danielle Mallett is a Scottish forensic anthropologist, criminologist and television presenter. She specialises in human craniofacial biometrics and hand identification, and behaviour patterns of paedophiles, particularly online. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. - #3
Colleen M. Fitzpatrick
1955 - Present (69 years)Colleen M. Fitzpatrick is an American forensic scientist, genealogist and entrepreneur. She helped identify remains found in the crash site of Northwest Flight 4422, that crashed in Alaska in 1948, and co-founded the DNA Doe Project which identifies previously unidentified bodies and runs Identifinders International, an investigative genetic genealogy consulting firm which helps identify victims and perpetrators of violent crimes. - #4
Candice DeLong
1950 - Present (74 years)Candice DeLong is an American former FBI criminal profiler and bestselling author. DeLong was the lead profiler in San Francisco, California, and worked on the Unabomber case. Currently, she hosts the Investigation Discovery programs Deadly Women and Facing Evil with Candice DeLong, the Wondery podcast Killer Psyche, and the Discovery+ program The Deadly Type with Candice DeLong. - #5
Carol Smart
1948 - Present (76 years)Carol Christine Smart is a feminist sociologist and academic at the University of Manchester. She has also conducted research about divorce and children of divorced couples. Smart is an important figure within the feminist criminology world. Her book titled Women, Crime and Criminology, written in 1976, remains a key feminist critique of criminology. Smart was also the co-director of the Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life at Manchester. - #6
Mary Francesca Bosworth
1971 - Present (53 years) - #7
Susanne Karstedt
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. - #8
Sandra Walklate
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. - #9
Catrien Bijleveld
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. - #10
Cassia Spohn
2000 - Present (24 years) - #11
Julissa Villanueva
1972 - Present (52 years)Semma Julissa Villanueva Barahona is a Honduran public servant, who is the Director of the Honduras Public Prosecutor’s Office Forensic Medicine Department. Education Julissa Villanueva was born in Tegucigalpa in 1972. She studied medicine after seeing her father suffering from tetanus, and is now a doctor who specialises in pathology. She chose to specialise in pathology when she heard about the shortage of skilled forensic scientists in Honduras. - #12
Sofía Espinoza Álvarez
1989 - Present (35 years)Sofía Stefani Espinoza Álvarez is a Mexican–American author, researcher, and advocate. As a researcher and criminologist, she has participated in an intensive program of research aimed at providing readers with evidence-based information and analysis of the issues of Latinos in the United States. - #13
Joan Petersilia
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. - #14
Janet Lauritsen
2000 - Present (24 years)Janet Lynn Lauritsen is an American criminologist and the Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Education and career Dr. Lauritsen received her B.A. , M.A. , and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After serving as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois , she joined the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis as an Assistant Professor in 1990. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1996 as well as to ... - #15
Lorraine Mazerolle
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 Experimenta... - #16
Melissa Hathaway
1968 - Present (56 years)Melissa Hathaway is a leading expert in cyberspace policy and cybersecurity. She served under two U.S. presidential administrations from 2007 to 2009, including more than 8 months at the White House, spearheading the Cyberspace Policy Review for President Barack Obama after leading the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative for President George W. Bush. She is President of Hathaway Global Strategies LLC, a Senior Fellow and member of the Board of Regents at Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Canada, ... - #17
Karlene Faith
1938 - 2017 (79 years)Karlene Faith was a Canadian writer, feminist, scholar, and human rights activist. She was a professor emerita at the Simon Fraser University School of Criminology. Early life and career Karlene Faith was born in Aylsham, Saskatchewan in 1938. She was the oldest of six children and her father was a United Church Minister. After moving to a small town in Montana near a jail, Faith often witnessed police brutality. - #18
Anne Piehl
1964 - Present (60 years)Anne Morrison Piehl is an American economist and criminologist. She is a professor of economics at Rutgers University, the director of Rutgers’ Program in Criminal Justice, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She joined Rutgers as an associate professor in 2005, and became a full professor there in 2012. Also in 2012, she became a fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. In 2020, she was named to the James Cullen Chair in Economics, where she will serve a five-year term. She served on the New Jersey Committee on Government Efficiency and Reform Correct... - #19
Ruth Peterson
1900 - Present (124 years)Ruth Delois Peterson is an American sociologist and criminologist known for her work on racial and ethnic inequality and crime. She earned her PhD in sociology from University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1983. Peterson is emerita professor of sociology at the Ohio State University, former director of the Criminal Justice Research Center , and former president of the American Society of Criminology . She is the namesake of the American Society of Criminology’s Ruth D. Peterson Fellowship for Racial and Ethnic Diversity. - #20
Letizia Paoli
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. - #21
Nicole Leeper Piquero
- #22
Patricia Mayhew
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 s... - #23
Nicole Hahn Rafter
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. - #24
Terrie E. Moffitt
1955 - Present (69 years) - #25
Maureen Cain
1938 - Present (86 years)Maureen Cain received her bachelor’s degree from London School of Economics in 1959, and she attained her PhD from the London School of Economics in 1969. After graduating from LSE, Cain became a professor.
Image Credits:
Top row, left to right: Patricia Hill Collins, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Malala Yousafzai, Shafi Goldwasser, Jennifer Doudna, Fabiola Gianotti, Michiko Kakutani, Lauren Underwood.
Bottom row, left to right: Fei-Fei Li, Esther Duflo, Kathy Reichs, Nancy Fraser, Brené Brown, Judith Curry, Jill Lepore, Zaha Hadid.
