Expertise

Research Methods: Program Evaluation, Risk Assessment, Measurement, Survey Design, Time Series Analysis, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs

Biography

Peter Jones is Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University. He joined Temple in 1985. From 2004 to 2017 served as Senior Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Studies. Dr. Jones is co-author of the book Personal Liberty and Community Safety: Pretrial Release in the Criminal Courts, has more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals, over 100 published research monographs and many authored and co-authored book chapters. He has received a ‘Best Practices Award’ from the American Correctional Association and was a finalist in the ‘Innovations in American Government Awards Program’ administered by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  

Dr. Jones has conducted research for Federal, State and Local agencies on a range of issues including risk assessment,  drug abuse monitoring, police corruption, juvenile justice program development and evaluation, pretrial decisionmaking, community based corrections and sentencing patterns. He has also engaged in funded research on topics such as child welfare, police traffic and pedestrian stops and foster care for non-governmental agencies such as the ACLU. 

Dr. Jones is a Lindback Foundation Distinguished Teacher (2004). In his role as Senior Vice-Provost of Undergraduate Studies Dr. Jones lead a portfolio of programs focused on student success.  Developments within his portfolio included:

• Temple University’s risk-based retention and ‘critical paths’ (on-time graduation) initiatives which produced increases in both student retention and 4-year graduation rates.
• Transformation of the University honors program from a 2-year certificate program with ~300 students to a 4 year Honors program with over 2,400 students.
• University investment in undergraduate research, scholarship and creative works – which increased from several thousand dollars in 2004 to over $2.5 million in 2014.  
• Expansion of academic advising across the university and the development of the Temple advising professional ladder.
• Re-development of career services at Temple – focusing on the career network and the strengthening of the university career center.
• Development of the Center for Learning and Student Success, a comprehensive student support center focused on discipline based tutoring, academic coaching and supplemental instruction. 
• Development of a new General Education curriculum that focuses on student skills and abilities as well as breadth of academic content

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Publications

• Taylor, R.B., Harris, P. W., Jones, P. R., Garcia, R. M., and McCord, E.S. (2011)  Ecological origins of shared perceptions of troublesome teen groups: Implications for the basic systemic model of crime, the incivilities thesis, and political economy. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. Vol. 48 Issue 2, p298-324.
• Schwartz, I. M., Jones, P.R., and Schwartz, D.  (2010) Juvenile Probation and Youth Corrections Trends in the United States and the Implications for Social Work, Korean Journal of Correctional Social Work Vol. 1 (4) pp. 151-169.
• Taylor, R. B., Harris, P. W., Jones, P. R., Weiland, D., Garcia, R. M., & McCord, E. S. (2009). Short-term changes in adult arrest rates influence later short-term changes in serious male delinquency prevalence: A Time-dependent relationship. Criminology, 47(3), 201-241.
• Jones, P.R. and Wyant, B. (2007) Target Juvenile Needs To Reduce Delinquency Criminology and Public Policy Vol. 6 (4) pp. 763-772.
• Jones, P.R., Schwartz, D., Schwartz, I. M., Obradovic, Z. and Jupin. J. (2006) Risk Classification and Juvenile Dispositions: What is the State of the Art? Temple Law Review Vol. 79 (2) pp. 461-498.
• Jones, P. R., (2006) Quality Matters: for Program Development and Evaluative Research, Criminology & Public Policy (Invited Senior Editorial Review) Criminology and Public Policy Vol. 5 (3) pp.571-574.
• Jones, P. R.., Harris P. W., Fader J. J. and Grubstein, L. (2001) Identifying Chronic Juvenile Offenders.  Justice Quarterly. Vol. 18 (3)  pp. 479-508
• Fader, J. J., Harris, P. W., Jones, P. R. and Poulin, M (2001)  Factors Involved In Juvenile Judges’ Decision-Making For First Time Offenders. Justice Quarterly  Vol. 18 (2)
• Poulin, M., Harris, P. W., and Jones, P. R. (2000) The Significance of Definitions of Success in Program Evaluation. Evaluation Review, Vol. 24 (5)
• Jones, P. R., Harris P. W. and Fader J. J. (2000) Outcome Measurement in Juvenile Justice: The ProDES information System. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference on Outcome Measures in Child Welfare Services, American Humane Association and National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, pp. 37-42.
• Jones, P. R. and Harris P. W. (1999) Developing an Empirically Based Typology of Delinquent Youths, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Vol. 15 (3), pp. 251-276.
• 12. Harris P. W. and Jones, P. R. (1999) Differentiating Delinquent Youths for Program Planning and Evaluation, Criminal Justice and Behavior Vol. 26 (4) pp.403-434.
• Rengert, G F., Piquero, A. and Jones, P. R. (1998) Distance Decay Re-examined, Criminology, 37 (2), pp. 427-445. Reprinted in David Canter and Donna Youngs, eds. 2008. Principles of Geographical Offender Profiling. Ashgate Publishing.
• Jones, P. R. (1994) Its not what you ask, it's the way that you ask it: Question format and attitudes to the death penalty, The Prison Journal, 73(1), pp.32-50.

Courses Taught

Undergraduate

• Introduction to Criminal Justice
• Criminal Courts/Criminal Justice
• Research Methods in Criminal Justice
• Introduction to Law Enforcement
• Urban Crime Patterns
• Criminal Justice Practicum (Internship program)

Graduate

• Criminal Courts (Masters)
• Advanced Statistics (Ph.D.)
• Advanced Research Methods (Ph.D.)
• Graduate Teaching Seminar (Ph.D.)
• Survey Research and Measurement (Ph.D.)