ASU’s doctoral program in criminology rose to No. 2 nationwide in the prestigious 2022 Best Graduate Schools Rankings announced today by U.S. News & World Report.
The program, in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (SCCJ) at the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, held the No. 5 position in 2021. The publication has ranked the program in the top five nationally since 2018.
Anthony “Tony” Bess effectively worked to make sure a student who was facing military deployment was able to complete class requirements. That go-between role, exceeding expectations in service to active military and veterans working toward degrees, helped place Bess on the ASU Pat Tillman Veterans Center Honor Roll.
In the United States, managing the tensions between the privileged, politically dominant classes of society and its politically, socially and economically disadvantaged classes, to which communities of color have disproportionately belonged, has always been a central concern of police and the criminal justice system. Some U.S. police agencies were explicitly established in the Civil War era to help preserve slavery and white supremacy.