Diversity matter by rudy

We provide information related to activities that Ruth D. Peterson and others are engaged in to facilitate diversity and inclusion of underrepresented individuals and their research in the study of crime and criminal justice. 

The site includes information on Ruth and her career; and, participants in two diversity and inclusion programs: The American Society of Criminology’s (ASC) Ruth D. Peterson Fellow’s Development Program (PFDP); and, the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network (RDCJN), and its Summer Research Institute (SRI).

Peterson fellows development program

The PFDP focuses on the professional develop of young scholars in doctoral programs who are recipients of ASC’s Ruth D. Peterson Fellowships for Racial and Ethnic Diversity (Peterson Fellows). The PFDP offers a set of activities for Peterson Fellows, including an annual development workshop to enhance their academic success. 

Information on the Peterson Fellowship Award can be found on the ASC's website. Information on the charges of the Peterson Fellowship and Peterson Fellows Development Program committees can also be found there. ASC’s website does not provide information on the ongoing activities of the PFDP, the accomplishments of Peterson Fellows, or resources beyond those ASC provides. We attempt to fill these voids on this website.

racial democracy crime & justice network

The RDCJN is housed at Rutgers University under the auspices of Jody Miller and Rod Brunson, and has been continuously funded by grants from the National Science Foundation’s Sociology and Law and Social Sciences Programs since 2003. Its twofold purpose is to: help improve understanding of how race/ethnicity, crime and justice are related; and facilitate the academic success of junior faculty from underrepresented groups studying crime and justice issues. The latter is achieved in part through the provision of a Crime and Justice Summer Research Institute. You can visit the primary RDCJN site here. On the current page, we provide supplemental information. 

Ruth D. Peterson

Rudy is the nickname given to Ruth D. Peterson by some of her family members. Her nickname is used here to draw attention to activities that are among the more informal aspects of her academic career. 

Ruth D. Peterson is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Ohio State University (OSU). Formerly she held positions as Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Criminal Justice Research Center at OSU. She is also a Past President (2016) of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), and served for five years as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Besides teaching and university service, Rudy’s career has had two main foci: (1) research on the social contexts of inequality in crime and criminal justice, with contributions to understanding punishment and deterrence, inequality in criminal justice sentencing, and differences in rates of street crime across neighborhoods of various colors; and, (2) developing activities and structures to advance the broader impact of academic work: enhancing and showcasing participation in crime and justice research by scholars from underrepresented groups; and, facilitating a better understanding of crime and justice through integration of the perspectives and approaches of underrepresented scholars into the mainstream of research on crime and justice. 

This website provides information on Rudy’s biography and the particulars of her research contributions. However, the site is primarily devoted to information on two on-going collaborative programs (the “Peterson Fellows’ Development Program” and the “Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network”) that she and her colleagues are undertaking to broaden participation of scholars of color in crime and justice research, and to enhance the impact of their work for understanding crime and justice.