Department of Sociology & Crime, Law and Justice
Department of Sociology & Crime, Law and Justice
211 Oswald Tower
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: 814-865-2527
Fax: 814-863-7216
 |
Jeffrey Ulmer
Associate Professor of Sociology and Crime, Law, and Justice
906 Oswald Tower |
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Sociology, 1993, The Pennsylvania State University.
M.A. in Sociology, 1990, The Pennsylvania State University.
B.A., 1988, Sociology, Legal Studies, Susquehanna University.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
Jeffery Ulmer’s interests include the sociology of criminal justice, criminal and deviant behavior, social psychology, sociological theory, sociology of religion, organizations, and the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. Dr. Ulmer's recent research projects focus on sentencing and the social organization of federal courts, religiosity, prosocial behavior, and delinquency, race, ethnicity, and violence rates, and criminological theory. Dr. Ulmer teaches courses such as undergraduate courses such as Criminology, Sociology of Deviance, Social Psychology, and Criminal Justice, and graduate courses such as Criminological Theory, Sentencing and Corrections, and Symbolic Interactionism.
PROFESSIONAL AND SCHOLARLY AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2006-(with Darrell Steffensmeier) Michael Hindelang Book Award from the American Society of Criminology, for Confessions of a Dying Thief: Understanding Criminal Careers and Illegal Enterprise.
2005-present, Editorial Board, Criminology
2004 - 2006, Advisory Editor, Justice Quarterly
2002 - 2006, Editorial Board, Contemporary Sociology
1996-2002, Advisory Editor, The Sociological Quarterly
2007- Nonresident Fellow, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion.
2007-Darrell Steffensmeier and Jeffery Ulmer, Co-Principle Investigators, “Race, Ethnicity, and Violent Crime: An Analysis of Census Places in California, New York, and Pennsylvania.” National Science Foundation.
2007-Research Consultant, “The Role of Religion in Youth Prosocial Behavior.” Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (Byron Johnson, Principle Investigator).
2004- Jeffery Ulmer, James Eisentein, and John Kramer, Co-Principle Investigators, "A National Survey of Federal District Criminal Court Community Actors." National Science Foundation.
2001 - Distinguished New Scholar Award, American Society of Criminology, Division on Corrections and Sentencing
2001-2003 - Co-principal investigator (with James Eisenstein, John H. Kramer, and Lisa L. Miller), "Uncharted Territory: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Inter-district Variation in the Federal Criminal Justice System." National Science Foundation.
2001-2002 - Co-principal investigator (with John Kramer), "Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Pennsylvania Sentencing." The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias.
2001-2002 - Co-principal investigator (with John Kramer), "The Impact of Restrictive Intermediate Punishment Programs on Recidivism." The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing.
1997 - 2003 - Editor, Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, an annual series published by Elsevier Sciences, Oxford, UK.
1997-1998 - Principal Investigator, "Fear of Crime: Testing a Generic Model Among Koreans in Chicago Metropolitan Communities." Purdue Research Foundation Research Grant Award.
1996 - Purdue Research Foundation Summer Faculty Grant Award, "The Interaction of Race, Gender, and Age in Sentencing Decisions."
1993 - Francis Sim Award for Graduate Research, Penn State University.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Books
In Press-- Kramer, John H. and Jeffery T. Ulmer. Sentencing Guidelines: Lessons from Pennsylvania. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers (Fall, 2008).
Steffensmeier, Carrell and Jeffery T. Ulmer. 2005. Confessions of a Dying Thief: Understanding Criminal Careers and Criminal Enterprise. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Aldine.
Ulmer, Jeffery T. 1997. Social Worlds of Sentencing: Court Communities Under Sentencing Guidelines. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Articles
In Press (2008). Johnson, Brian, Jeffery T. Ulmer, and John Kramer. “The Social Context of Guideline Circumvention: The Case of Federal District Courts.” Criminology 46(3).
In Press (2008) Ulmer, Jeffery T., Christopher Bader, and Martha Gault. “Do Moral Communities Play a Role in Criminal Sentencing? Evidence From Pennsylvania.” The Sociological Quarterly 49(4).
In Press. Bradley, Mindy and Jeffery T. Ulmer. “Social Worlds of Stripping: Processual Order and Commitment in Exotic Dance Establishments.” The Sociological Quarterly.
Ulmer, Jeffery T., Megan Kurlychek, and John Kramer. 2007. “Prosecutorial Discretion and the Imposition of Mandatory Minimums.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 44(4):427-458.
Steffensmeier, Darrell and Jeffery T. Ulmer. 2006. “Black and White Control of Numbers Banking in Black Communities, 1970-2000.” American Sociological Review 71(1).
Ulmer, Jeffery T. and Darrell Steffensmeier. 2006. “Is there No Place for Culture in a Sociology of Illegal Enterprise? A Reply to Lee” American Sociological Review 71(1).
Ulmer, Jeffery and Mindy S. Bradley. 2006. “Variation in Trial Penalties Among Serious Violent Offenses.” Criminology 44(3):631-670.
Ulmer, Jeffery T. 2005. "The Localized Uses of Federal Sentencing Guidelines in Four U.S. District Courts: Evidence of Processual Order." Symbolic Interaction 28 (2):255-279.
Ulmer, Jeffery and Brian D. Johnson. 2004. "Sentencing in Context: A Multilevel Analysis." Criminology 42(1): 137-177.
Ulmer, Jeffery and Christine Van Asten. 2004. "Restrictive Intermediate Punishments and Recidivism in Pennsylvania." Federal Sentencing Reporter 16(3): 1-6.
Ulmer, Jeffery T. and Mindy S. Wilson. 2003. "The Potential Contributions of Quantitative Research to Symbolic Interactionism." Symbolic Interaction 26(4):531-552.
Kramer, John and Jeffery T. Ulmer. 2002 "Downward Departures for Serious Violent Offenders: Local Court ‘Corrections’ to Pennsylvania’s Sentencing Guidelines." Criminology 40(4):601-636.
Ulmer, Jeffery T.. 2001. "Mythic Facts and Herbert Blumer's Work on Race Relations." The Sociological Quarterly 42(2):289-296
Ulmer, Jerffery T. 2001. "Intermediate Sanctions: A Comparative Analysis of the Probability and Severity of Recidivism" Sociological Inquiry 71 (2):164-193
Ulmer, Jeffery. T. 2000. "Commitment, Deviance, and Social Control." The Sociological Quarterly 41(3):315-336. (Reprinted in Deviant Behavior, 6th and 7th editions, 2002, edited by D. Kelly and E. Clarke. New York: Worth).
Ulmer, Jeffery T. 2000. "The Rules Have Changed--So Proceed With Caution: A Comment On Engen and Gainey’s Method for Modeling Sentencing Outcomes Under Guidelines." Criminology 38(4):1231-1243.
Lee, Min Sik and Jeffery T. Ulmer. 2000. "Fear of Crime Among Korean Americans in Chicago Communities." Criminology 38(4):1173-1206.
Ulmer, Jeffery T. and J. William Spencer. 1999. "The Contributions of an Interactionist Approach to Research and Theory on Criminal Careers." Theoretical Criminology 3(1):95-124.
Ulmer, Jeffery T. and John H. Kramer. 1998. "The Use and Transformation of Formal Decision Making Criteria: Sentencing Guidelines, Organizational Contexts, and Case Processing Strategies." Social Problems 45(2):248-267. (Reprinted in Criminal Courts, 2007, edited by J. Dixon, A. Kupchik, and J. Savelsberg. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate).
Steffensmeier, Darrell J., Jeffery T. Ulmer, and John H. Kramer. 1998. "The Interaction of Race, Gender, and Age in Criminal Sentencing: The Punishment Costs of Being Young, Black, and Male." Criminology: 36(4):763-797.
Ulmer, Jeffery T. and John H. Kramer. 1996. "Court Communities Under Sentencing Guidelines: Dilemmas of Formal Rationality and Sentencing Disparity." Criminology 34(3):306-332.
Maines, David R., Jeffrey Bridger, and Jeffery T. Ulmer. 1996. "Mythic Facts and Park's Pragmatism: On Predecessor Selection and Theorizing in Human Ecology." The Sociological Quarterly 37 (3): 1001-1029
Ulmer, Jeffery T. 1995. "The Organization and Consequences of Social Pasts in Criminal Courts." The Sociological Quarterly 36(3):901-919.
Ulmer, Jeffery T. 1994. "Revisiting Stebbins: Labeling and Commitment to Deviance." The Sociological Quarterly 35(1):135-157.