Abstract

Richard (“Rick”) Rosenfeld was a Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri—St. Louis. A key member in establishing the university's doctoral program in criminology and criminal justice, he was internationally-known for his expertise in crime trends, macro-criminology, and statistics. Rosenfeld completed his PhD in sociology at the University of Oregon and then pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at Carnegie-Mellon University’s School of Urban and Public Affairs. In 1989, after three years as assistant professor of sociology at Skidmore College, Rosenfeld returned to his hometown to join UMSL’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. He had a significant influence on the field, serving as president of the American Society of Criminology and receiving the Edwin H. Sutherland Award. He contributed extensively to the criminological literature, authoring numerous articles and books. These include the modern-classic with Steve Messner, Crime & the American Dream, which introduces their institutional anomie theory. (Visit Rick’s profile on Google Scholar here and his page on Wikipedia here.)

Keywords: USA, violent crime, crime statistics, crime control policy, institutional anomie theory, crime trends.