Faculty and Staff

Christopher Salvatore, department chair and associate professor, has a PhD in criminal justice from Temple University. His research interests include: Emerging Adulthood, Youth Offending, Program Evaluation, and Perceptions of the Criminal Justice System. He teaches courses including: Gangs in America, Statistics for Social Research, and the Senior Seminar and Internship. He is the author of Sex, Crime, Drugs, and Just Plain Stupid Behaviors: The New Face of Young Adulthood in America published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018.

Amanda Choo is the Internship Coordinator for the Department of Justice Studies.

Nicole A. Fackina is the Director of the Paralegal Studies Program for the Justice Studies Department.  She is the academic advisor for all Paralegal Studies students. Prof. Fackina has been an Adjunct Professor teaching in the Department since 2004.

Elenice De Souza Oliveira, assistant professor, received a PhD in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University. Her research interests include: analyzing crime, policing and prevention strategies in the United States and developing countries. She teaches courses including Criminology and Police and Society. She has published in British Journal of Criminology as well as peer-reviewed publication in Brazil (Teoria e Sociedade, Revista de Administracao, Analise Criminal e o Planejamento Operacional). Most recently, she published an article in Crime Science journal on street drug markets in Brazil.

Cary Federman, associate professor, received a PhD from the University of Virginia, Department of Government & Foreign Affairs. His research interests include: law and jurisprudence, free speech, democratic theory, prisons and prisoners’ rights, psychology and law, ancient and modern political philosophy and the history of the social sciences. Federman teaches courses on Theories of Justice, Serial Killers, and Prisons and Punishment. He is the author of The Assassination of William McKinley: Anarchism, Insanity, and the Birth of the Social Sciences (Lexington Books, 2018) and The Body and the State: Habeas Corpus and American Jurisprudence (SUNY Press, 2006) and is the recipient of two Fulbright scholarships.

Jessica Henry, associate professor, has a JD from New York University School of Law. Her research interests include wrongful convictions, severe sentences (including the death penalty and life without parole), and hate crimes. Her work has appeared in prestigious academic journals including the American Criminal Law Journal, Criminology and Public Policy, and the Criminal Law Bulletin. She teaches a wide-range of courses including Wrongful Convictions, Criminal Law and Procedure, Death Penalty Perspectives, and Hate Crimes. In 2015, Henry received the University Distinguished Teacher award. She is a frequent blogger for The Huffington Post and the Wrongful Convictions Blog. In addition, she is a national media commentator on criminal justice issues, contributing to national, state and local news outlets. Before joining the academy, Henry served as a public defender in New York City for nearly a decade.

Kirk Johnson, assistant professor, teaches courses in Justice Studies, Medical Humanities, Bioethics, Global Issues, and Religion. Preferred pronouns are he/him/his. He received his Masters of Divinity (MDiv) from Drew Theological School and his Doctorate in Medical Humanities (DMH) from Drew University. He is a member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities and The New York Academy of Medicine. He serves as a member of the Atlantic Health Systems Bioethics Committee, former Assistant Director of the Medical Humanities program at Drew University, and fellow emeritus of The American Heart Association’s Multicultural Initiatives Leadership Fellowship Program.

Reginia Judge, associate professor, has a JD from Seton Hall University. Her research interests include the impacts of technology and popular culture on the justice system. She teaches courses including Cybercrime, Computer Applications in the Legal Environment, Introduction to Criminal Justice, and Technology and the Criminal Justice System.

Arnaud Kurze, assistant professor, has a PhD in Political Science from George Mason University. His research interests include transitional justice in the post-Arab Spring world focusing particularly on youth activism, art and collective memory. He teaches courses including: International Justice, Research Methods in Justice Studies, Selected Topics in Justice Studies, and Theoretical Issues in Justice Studies. Kurze was appointed a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, from 2016-2018, studying youth resilience in North Africa and the Middle East. He has published widely in academic journals, contributed to edited volumes and is author of several reports on foreign affairs for government and international organizations. He is the co-editor of the forthcoming book New Critical Spaces in Transitional Justice: Gender, Art & Memory.

Francesca Laguardia, assistant professor, has a JD from the New York University School of Law and a PhD in Law and Society also from New York University. Her research interests include terrorism, the legal system, counterterrorism policies, culture of national security, and civil liberties. She teaches courses including Criminology, Perspectives in Justice Studies, and Rights, Liberties and American Justice. She served as the Director of Research at the Center for Law and Security at New York University.

Dr. Sheetal Ranjan is a Professor of Justice Studies & Sociology at Montclair State University, USA. For the past few years, she has been exploring healthcare approaches to criminal justice issues and has supported programs, policy and research at this intersection. Since 2019, Dr. Ranjan has worked with Jersey Shore Medical University to secure Federal and State grant funding totaling 6.9 million dollars to establish hospital based and community based violence intervention programs. Dr. Ranjan has led the participation of the American Society of Criminology at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). She has organized thematic panels at UNCSW each year and co-edited journal special issues based on research and policy presentations that promote gender equality and the empowerment of women around the world. More about her at this link.  

Gabriel Rubin, associate professor, has a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests include: Terrorism, Political Theory, Civil War, Middle East and African Politics. He teaches courses including Intro to International Justice, Perspectives in Justice Studies I, International Justice II, Statistics for Social Research, Research in Justice Studies, Theories of Justice, Terrorism and Social, Rights, Liberties and American Justice, and International Civil Conflicts. He is the author of Freedom and Order: How Democratic Governments Restrict Civil Liberties after Terrorist Attacks–and Why Sometimes They Don’t by Lexington Books (2011). Rubin is the faculty coordinator for the International Justice program.

Marshall Schmidt, assistant professor, has a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Oklahoma. Marshall’s research interests include criminology, white-collar crime, social psychology, the family, and intersections between these topics. He currently teaches Introduction to Criminology, White-collar Crime, and Environmental Crime.

Jason Williams, assistant professor, received a PhD in Administration of Justice from Texas Southern University. His research interests include: race, ethnicity and crime, criminological/criminal justice theory, critical criminology, critical policing, social control, criminal justice policy, qualitative methods, and the sociology of knowledge. He teaches courses including Current Issues in Policing, Perspectives on Justice Studies, and Selected Topics in Justice Studies. He has two books forthcoming with Routledge: Policing and Race: A Criminological Conception of #BlackLivesMatter and Black Males and the Criminal Justice System.

Lisa Anne Zilney, associate professor, has a PhD from the University of Tennessee. Her research interests include sex crimes legislation; environmental crime; the human-animal bond; and the link between animal cruelty and domestic violence. She teaches courses including: Perspectives on Justice Studies, Sex Crimes, Wildlife Trafficking, and Women and the Environment.