Faculty
Richard Spano
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., State University of New York at Albany, 2002
:Link to Dr. Spano's curriculum vitae
Richard is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice. He received his Ph.D. from SUNY-Albany in 2002. His main research interests are policing, life-course explanations of violence and victimization, and field research methodology. He has also received grants from the National Institute of Justice and the Center for Disease Control. His research is interdisciplinary and has been published in leading journals in the field of criminology/criminal justice (Criminology, Journal of Criminal Justice), Sociology (Sociological Methods & Research, Rural Sociology), as well as interdisciplinary journals (Social Science Research, Journal of Youth and Adolescence).
Recent Publications
EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
First time gun carrying and the primary prevention of youth gun violence Spano, R. & Bolland, J. (In press). Disentangling the effects of violent victimization and violent behavior on gun carrying for minority inner city youth living in extreme poverty. Crime & Delinquency. (DOI: 10.1177/0011128710372196). Spano, R. & Bolland, J. (In press). Is the nexus of gang membership, exposure to violence, and violent behavior a key determinant of first time gun carrying for urban minority youth living in extreme poverty? Justice Quarterly. (DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2010.547868). Spano, R., Pridemore, W.A., & Bolland, J. (In press). Specifying the role of exposure to violence and violent behavior on initiation of gun carrying: A longitudinal test of three models of youth gun carrying. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. |
Parenting as adaptation to exposure to violence in the community
Spano, R., Rivera, C., Vazsonyi, A., & Bolland, J. (In press). Specifying the interrelationship between exposure to violence and parenting for children versus adolescents: A five year longitudinal test. American Journal of Community Psychology. (DOI: 10.1007/s10464-011-9456-8)
Spano, R., Rivera, C., & Bolland, J. (2011). Does parenting shield youth from exposure to violence during adolescence? A five year longitudinal test in a high poverty sample of minority youth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 26, 930-949.
Spano, R., Vazsonyi, A., & Bolland, J. (2009). Does parenting mediate the effects of exposure to violence on violent behavior? An ecological-transactional model of community violence. Journal of Adolescence. 32, 1321-1341.
Spano, R., Rivera, C., Vazsonyi, A., & Bolland, J. (2008). Does exposure to violence undermine parental monitoring over time? A partial test of the ecological-transactional model of community violence. Criminal Justice & Behavior. 35, 1411-1428.
Exposure to violence and violent behavior
Spano, R., Rivera, C., & Bolland, J. (2010). Are chronic exposure to violence and chronic violent behavior closely related developmental processes during adolescence? Criminal Justice & Behavior. 37, 1160-1179.
Spano, R., Rivera, C., & Bolland, J. (2006). The impact of timing of exposure to violence on violent behavior in a high poverty sample of inner city African American youth. Journal of Youth & Adolescence. 35, 681-692.
LOGICAL INCONSISTENCIES IN ROUTINE ACTIVITIES THEORY
Spano, R. & Freilich, J. D. (2009). An assessment of the empirical validity and conceptualization of individual level multivariate studies of lifestyle/routine activities theory published from 1995 to 2005. Journal of Criminal Justice. 37, 305-314.
Spano, R., Freilich, J. D. & Bolland, J. (2008). Gang membership, gun carrying, and employment: Applying routine activities theory to explain violent victimization among inner city youth living in extreme poverty. Justice Quarterly. 25,381-410.
Spano, R. & Nagy, S. (2005). Social guardianship and social isolation: an application and extension of lifestyle/routine activities theory to violent victimization of rural adolescents. Rural Sociology. 70, 414-437.
REACTIVITY IN POLICE OBSERVATIONAL DATA
Spano, R. (2007). How does reactivity affect police behavior? Describing and quantifying the impact of reactivity as behavioral change in a large scale observational study of police. Journal of Criminal Justice. 35, 453-465.
Spano, R. & Reisig, M. (2006). “Drop the clipboard and help me!”: The determinants of observer effects in police encounters with suspects. Journal of Criminal Justice. 34, 619-629.
Spano, R. (2006). Observer behavior as a potential source of reactivity: describing and quantifying observer effects in a large-scale observational study of police. Sociological Methods & Research. 34, 521-553.
** Reprinted in Wogt, W.P. (ed.) (2010). Data Collection. SAGE Benchmarks in Social Research Methods Series. London: Sage Publications.
Spano, R. (2005). Potential sources of observer bias in police observational data. Social Science Research. 34, 591-617.
Spano, R. (2003). Concerns about safety, observer sex, and the decision to arrest: reactivity in a large-scale observational study of police. Criminology. 41, 909-32.
