David Pyrooz is a criminologist. He received his PhD from Arizona State University in 2012 and joined the sociology faculty in 2015. He also works in the Institute of Behavioral Science's Prevention Science Program. He is interested why people violate laws, norms, and rules, what happens to them when they do, and ways to increase safety and justice in our communities. Most of his research is aimed at the criminology of social groups, particularly gangs. He studies how and why people organize themselves into groups, the criminal and non-criminal consequences of these groups for individuals and communities, and the legal and non-governmental responses to them. His current research projects involve advancing the science of gang intervention in the Denver area. He is the Principal Investigator on a randomized controlled trial that uses a family-based intervention to improve the livelihoods of youth on pretrial or probation supervision in the 2nd, 17th, and 18th judicial districts of Colorado. He is also the Principal Investigator evaluating Aurora SAVE, which uses a focused deterrence strategy to reduce gun violence among young people involved in gangs and groups. He recently completed a randomized controlled trial with the City and County of Denver's Office of Community Violence Solutions, which used multidisciplinary teams and street outreach workers to promote disengagement from gangs and desistance from crime. The six books he has authored or edited include On Gangs (Temple University Press, 2022) and Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons (Cambridge University Press, 2019), the latter of which received the Outstanding Book Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. He has written opinion editorials that have appeared in outlets such as the Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. In 2016 he received the Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology.
keywords
gangs and criminal networks, crime trends and the life course, incarceration and reentry, violent offending and victimization, quantitative methods
SOCY 2044 - Crime and Society
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2024
Explores issues related to crime, the criminal justice system, and crime-related public policy. It addresses what we know about crime and how we know it, how our society responds to crime, how the institutions designed to address crime (police, courts, corrections) function, and diversity in experiences with the criminal justice system. Same as ETHN 2044.
SOCY 4004 - Advanced Topics in Criminology
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
Variety of courses in criminology. See current departmental announcements for specific content. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours for different topics. Recommended prerequisite: SOCY 1001 or SOCY 1004 or SOCY 2044.
SOCY 4014 - Criminology
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Examines the scientific study of types of criminal behavior and explanations for criminal behavior, with special attention to social factors affecting criminal behavior.
SOCY 5031 - Research Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Principles and practice of quantitative sociological research, including the nature of scientific explanation, the relationship between theory and research, research design, measurement issues, sampling, questionnaire construction, and statistical analyses. A key aspect of the course will be developing a quantitative research proposal that addresses a key empirical sociological question.
SOCY 6004 - Topics in Criminology
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2018
Variety of courses in criminology to be taught by visiting lecturers. See current departmental announcements for specific content. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours for different topics.
