About our authors
Harry E. Allen is Professor Emeritus in the Justice Studies Department at San Jose State University. Before joining San Jose State University in 1978, he served as director of the Program for the Study of Crime and Delinquency at The Ohio State University. Previously, he served as executive secretary of the Governor’s Task Force on Corrections for the State of Ohio after teaching at Florida State University in the Department of Criminology and Corrections.
Professor Allen is the author or coauthor of numerous articles, chapters in books, essays and textbooks, including the first 10 editions of Corrections in America with Clifford E. Simonsen, the 11th edition with Drs. Simonsen and Edward J. Latessa and the last four with Professor Latessa and Bruce S. Ponder. He also coauthored the first three editions of Corrections in the Community with Edward J. Latessa. He has been very active in professional associations and was the first criminologist to serve as president of both the American Society of Criminology (1982) and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (1994). He received the Herbert Block Award for service to the American Society of Criminology and the Founder’s Award for contributions to the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. He is a fellow in both the Western and the American Society of Criminology and was the most frequently cited criminologist in the field of correctional textbooks. He was a Humana Scholar at the University of Louisville (2001) and for the past 15 years has been designing and instructing online courses for the University of Louisville in the areas of corrections, ethics, substance abuse, community corrections, terrorism, alternatives to incarceration and capital punishment.
Edward J. Latessa received his PhD from The Ohio State University and is director of and professor within the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Latessa has published more than 170 works in the area of criminal justice, corrections and juvenile justice. He is co-author of eight books, including What Works (and Doesn’t) in Reducing Recidivism, Corrections in the Community and Corrections in America. Professor Latessa has directed more than 195 funded research projects, including studies of day reporting centers, juvenile justice programs, drug courts, prison programs, intensive supervision programs, halfway houses and drug programs. He and his staff have also assessed more than 1,000 correctional programs throughout the United States, and he has provided assistance and workshops in 48 states.
Dr. Latessa served as President of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (1989-90). He has also received several awards, including William T. Rossiter Award from the Forensic Mental Health Association of California (2017), Marguerite Q. Warren and Ted B. Palmer Differential Intervention Award presented by the Division of Corrections and Sentencing of the American Society of Criminology (2010), Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections (2010), Maud Booth Correctional Services Award in recognition of dedicated service and leadership presented by the Volunteers of America (2010), Community Hero Award presented by Community Resources for Justice (2010), the Bruce Smith Award for outstanding contributions to criminal justice by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (2010), the George Beto Scholar, College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University (2009), the Mark Hatfield Award for Contributions in public policy research by The Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University (2008), the Outstanding Achievement Award by the National Juvenile Justice Court Services Association (2007), the August Vollmer Award from the American Society of Criminology (2004), the Simon Dinitz Criminal Justice Research Award from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (2002), the Margaret Mead Award for dedicated service to the causes of social justice and humanitarian advancement by the International Community Corrections Association (2001), the Peter P. Lejins Award for Research from the American Correctional Association (1999), ACJS Fellow Award (1998), ACJS Founders Award (1992) and the Simon Dinitz award by the Ohio Community Corrections Organization.
In 2013, he was identified as one of the most innovative people in criminal justice by a national survey conducted by the Center for Court Innovation in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bruce S. Ponder grew up in part on the raj of the Maharaja of Dharbhanga and in Europe. He was a professional race car driver in the 1970s, winning major competitions, including the “12 Hours of Sebring” (1972). He was formally trained in political science, computer information systems and computer sciences. He also studied terrorism extensively and team-taught in-service training programs at the Southern Police Institute. Currently, he is Internet coordinator/online course developer and team instructor in a variety of courses at the Justice Administration Department at the University of Louisville, particularly in terrorism, intelligence and homeland security, and corrections.
Dr. Shelley Johnson received her PhD in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2001. Dr. Johnson is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. As an expert in best practices in corrections, she currently affiliates as a Research Fellow with the University of Cincinnati Institute for Corrections. She is currently the chair of the Division of Corrections and Sentencing with the American Society of Criminology. Her research focuses on the relationship between criminology and correctional rehabilitation, with an emphasis on individual level differences. She has authored numerous academic publications, including four books.
She has extensive expertise in large-scale evaluation research and best practices in corrections and has received external funding from federal, state and local agencies as both a principal investigator and co-principal investigator. Those projects include a multi-site evaluation of drug courts in Ohio and Idaho, an examination of diversionary programs in Ohio, and a highly competitive NIJ-funded study of the impact of victimization and trauma in prison on re-entry outcomes, an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant to examine the impact of a trauma-informed care model on youth outcomes, and an NIJ-funded study examining the impact of personality on use of force outcomes and a project to examine the impact of a strengths-based approach on community supervision practices. Finally, she is currently exploring the impact of the organizational coaching model on probation outcomes.
Dr. Brian Lovins is a principal at JSP. He earned his PhD in Criminology from the University of Cincinnati, and he is past-president of the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA). Prior to JSP, Dr. Lovins worked for Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD) as the Assistant Director and the University of Cincinnati’s Corrections Institute as the Associate Director. Dr. Lovins has been instrumental in introducing the referee/coach conversation to the field. In 2018, Dr. Lovins and colleagues published the initial article “Probation Officer as a Coach: Building a New Professional Identity” in Federal Probation as well as a series of articles around risk assessment, sexual offending and probation services.
Dr. Lovins has received the 2020 Edward J. Latessa Practitioner Research Award from the American Society of Criminology-Division on Corrections and Sentencing for his continued body of work in helping community corrections move forward. He has been honored with the David Dillingham Award, as well as with the Dr. Simon Dinitz Public Service Award for his work in and dedication to helping correctional agencies adopt evidence-based programs. He has also been recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus from the University of Cincinnati.
