National Awards

Dr. Blount-Hill is a graduate of Tuskegee University (B.A.), Emory University (J.D.), and the City University of New York (Ph.D.). He studies the influence of social group identity on justice issues and the value of inclusive science and practitioner-researcher collaboration. His work has been published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Justice Quarterly, Race and Justice, the Journal of Trust Research and Biological Conservation, among others. His work has earned several awards, including the 2025 Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology (ASC), the 2026 Academy New Scholar Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS), and the 2026 W.E.B. DuBois Award from the Western Society of Criminology (WSC). Dr. Blount-Hill is an affiliate of ASU’s Center for Biodiversity Outcomes and Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety, John Jay College’s Research and Evaluation Center and Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies, and University of Louisville’s Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky. Collaboration is a hallmark of his career, and his accomplishments reflect the contributions of a community of loved ones, friend-colleagues and supporters, including from the Racial Democracy Crime and Justice Network and the ACJS Doctoral Summit.
 

Beth M. Huebner is Director and Watts Professor of Community Safety in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. She is a nationally recognized scholar whose research focuses on punishment, corrections, and community safety, with particular attention to jail and prison practices, monetary sanctions, community supervision, and racial and socioeconomic inequality in the criminal legal system. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University and her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. 
Dr. Huebner’s work is deeply engaged with policy and practice. She has led or co-led numerous large-scale, community-engaged research projects funded by organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation, Arnold Ventures, the National Institute of Justice, and state agencies. Her scholarship appears in leading journals including Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, Justice Quarterly, and Criminal Justice and Behavior, and she has authored or edited several influential books on sentencing, punishment, and corrections 
A Fellow of the American Society of Criminology, Dr. Huebner has received multiple national awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division on Corrections and Sentencing. She is widely sought as a policy advisor, public speaker, and collaborator committed to advancing equitable and evidence-based approaches to community safety.
 

Michael D. Reisig is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He earned his PhD from Washington State University. Prior to joining the Arizona State University faculty, Reisig held faculty appointments at Michigan State University and Florida State University.
His research examines the nature and influence of social control, the neighborhood context of crime and justice, the generality of crime causation theories, and the measurement of criminological concepts. Reisig’s work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Criminology, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Criminology & Public Policy. His research has been supported by external funding and has contributed to discussions of criminal justice policy and reform at the local, state, and national levels.
Reisig has served in a variety of professional roles, including editorial appointments, participation on technical review panels, and leadership on service committees for major professional organizations. He has received recognition for his contributions to research, teaching, and mentorship.
At Arizona State University, he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in criminology and mentors graduate students, many of whom have pursued careers as academics, researchers, and criminal justice professionals.

Cody Telep is an Associate Professor and Senior Associate Director in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He is also an Associate Editor of Criminology & Public Policy. He received his Ph.D. in 2013 from the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University, where he worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. Cody’s research focuses on synthesizing research evidence to assess what works in policing, collaborating with police agencies and community organizations to examine the impact of place-based practices on crime and perceptions of legitimacy, and examining receptivity to research and evidence-based practice in policing. He has worked on multiple externally funded projects that bring together researchers, community residents, government stakeholders, and police to address pressing questions surrounding fairness and effectiveness. Cody received the 2024 Community and Catalyst Distinguished Alumni Award for Criminology, Law and Society from George Mason University and the 2025 June Morrison-Tom Gitchoff Founders Award from the Western Society of Criminology. 

Cassia Spohn is a Regents Professor and Foundation Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. She served as the school director for 7 years. She received her master's and doctoral degrees in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the author or co-author of seven books, including "Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault: Inside the Criminal Justice System,". Her research interests include prosecutorial and judicial decision making, the intersections of race, ethnicity, crime, and justice, and sexual assault case processing decisions. She received ASU’s Award for Leading Edge Research in the Social Sciences and was selected as a fellow of the American Society of Criminology. She is a fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the Western Society of Criminology. In 2017, she was appointed to the Department of Defense Advisory Board on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces. She currently serves on the National Academies of Sciences panel on Sexual Assault at Sea and on the United States Sentencing Commission's Research and Data Practices Advisory Group