Diana Gordon was trained as a lawyer (J.D., Harvard Law School, 1964) but soon left private practice to work for government (the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity, 1965-1966; City of New York, 1967-1971) and non-profit organizations (Citizens’ Inquiry on Parole and Criminal Justice, 1973-1978; National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 1978-1983). After resigning as President of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency she began teaching political science at The City College of New York, first as a visiting professor, then as a tenure-track Associate Professor, with an interest in the politics of crime and criminal justice. In that capacity she wrote two books on criminal justice policy—The Justice Juggernaut (Rutgers U.P., 1990) and The Return of the Dangerous Classes (Norton, 1994)—and several peer-reviewed articles, as well as journalism for publications like The Nation and The New York Times. She also taught in the CUNY graduate programs in both criminal justice and political science. On retirement from City College in 2001 she came to John Jay/The Graduate Center as Senior Research Scholar in the Ph.D. program in criminal justice and has continued to teach courses in criminal justice policy and practice to the present. Her current interests include comparative criminal justice, the politics of U.S. criminal justice, and participatory justice initiatives in democratizing countries. |
