Criminal Justice

News Archives - 2004

Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange ( GILEE ). The 12th delegation of GILEE has returned from Israel after a successful education and training mission. Thirteen law enforcement executives from Georgia and Tennessee traveled to Israel with Dr. Robert R. Friedmann, Professor of Criminal Justice at Georgia State University and the Founding Director of the GILEE program, where the delegation observed how a society responds to the threat of terrorism and how law enforcement and public safety agencies operate. The delegation was headed by Lou Dekmar, Chief of LaGrange Police Department, and the delegation also included Memphis Director of Police James H. Bolden and Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington. Delegation members were provided peer-to-peer training by their Israel Police counterparts on strategies, tactics, and techniques and for responding to terrorism, preventing crime, and infusing community policing practices into neighborhoods by relying on a high ratio of volunteers. Delegation members have now returned to their communities in the U.S. with a better understanding of the challenges they face in the 21st century and have developed professional contacts with colleagues in Israel, which helps accomplish GILEE's mission of law enforcement executive development and international cooperation to improve the quality of law enforcement around the globe.

Effective July 1, 2004, Dr. Mary A. Finn, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, is Senior Faculty Associate for the Advancement of Women at Georgia State University. The Advancement of Women (AofW) at Georgia State University was established in December of 1999 by President Carl Patton and Provost Ron Henry. Its mission is to enhance collective efforts to improve the status of women at the University. For more details and information on current initiatives, please visit their website at: http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwaow/

Dr. David Holleran will be joining the GSU Department of Criminal Justice faculty fall semester 2004. Dr. Holleran received his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice in 2001 from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and has been since September 2001 an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at East Tennessee State University. Dr. Holleran has published in Criminology and Justice Quarterly and is well known for his research on prosecutorial discretion and judicial decision-making. Click here for Dr. Holleran's faculty page.

G8 Summit Police Receives Training from Israel Police. The police providing security at the G8 Summit in Sea Island, GA in June have received training assistance from the Israeli Border Guard. G8 security officials are preparing for any demonstrations that may take place at the high security event, which is bringing government leaders from the most industrialized countries in the world to Georgia's Atlantic coast. The training between G8 officials and Israeli police is being coordinated by the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE), a joint project between Georgia State University and international law enforcement agencies. GILEE is administered by Dr. Robert R. Friedmann, Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Georgia State.

Dr. Michael S. Vaughn Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Criminal Justice will receive the 2004 Georgia State University Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award at the May 15, 2004 Graduation Ceremonies at 6:00 p.m. in the Sports Arena. Dr. Vaughn joined the faculty at Georgia State in fall 1993 as an Assistant Professor. In 1998, Dr. Vaughn was granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor. Since 2002, he has served as Department Chair.

Dr. Mary A. Finn received a Research Team Grant from the GSU Office of Research and Awards Administration for her project entitled, "A Community Coordinated Response to Family Violence."A collaboration with Drs. Ptlene Minick and Sandra Hewell from GSU's Byrdine F. School of Nursing, the project will collect data that describes the current operation of a coordinated community intervention for the victims of family violence in Gwinnett County (Family Intervention Response and Support or F.I.R.S.T).

Drs. Sue Carter Collins, Dean A. Dabney, and Volkan Topalli received a Research Team Grant from the GSU Office of Research and Awards Administration for their project entitled, "Impact of Social Organization & Social Control on Drug Use Promotion and Mitigation in a Drug-Ridden Neighborhood."This project will investigate how various members of a drug-ridden neighborhood interact with one another to influence vulnerability to drug abuse, drug addiction, and drug crime within the confines of an inner city neighborhood.

Dr. Terrance J. Taylor (mentee) received a Faculty Mentoring Grant with Dr. Volkan Topalli (mentor) from the GSU Office of Research and Awards Administration for their project entitled, "Using the National Incident-Based Reporting System to Examine the Extent to Which Police Clearance Rates of Violent Offenses Vary by Victim Race." Drs. Taylor and Topalli will collaborate in a quantitative assessment of the role that victim race plays in the clearance of crime by police.

Former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan will be teaching a legal course for the Department of Criminal Justice at Georgia State University fall semester 2004. The course CRJU 3710 (CRN 80667) Legal Issues in Law Enforcement meets Tuesday nights at 7:15 pm - 945 pm. Mr. Morgan served as District Attorney in DeKalb County from 1992 to 2003. The DeKalb DA's Office consists of more than 120 employees, including 41 lawyers, 19 investigators, and 7 paralegals. The Office is responsible for prosecuting more than 5,000 defendants charged with felony crimes each year. As District Attorney, Mr. Morgan was the lead prosecutor in the trial and ultimate conviction of former DeKalb Sheriff Sidney Dorsey in the ambush shooting death of Sheriff Derwin Brown. In January 2004, Mr. Morgan joined the law firm of Balch and Bingham as a partner in the litigation section.