Glenn L. Pierce

Last updated
Glenn L. Pierce
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNortheastern University (Ph.D., 1989)
Known for Gun violence research using gun tracing data
Scientific career
Fields Sociology, criminology
Institutions Northeastern University
Thesis Gun control: the long-term impact of the Bartley-Fox law on violent crime in Massachusetts: a dissertation  (1989)

Glenn L. Pierce is an American criminologist and principal research scientist at Northeastern University's College of Social Sciences and Humanities. He is also the director of the Institute for Security and Public Policy at Northeastern. He is known for his research that uses gun tracing data to track the sources and movement of guns used in crimes. [1] [2] [3] With William J. Bowers, he has also studied the putative deterrent effect of capital punishment in the United States, [4] [5] [6] and the effect of the Bartley-Fox Law on violent crime rates. [7]

Pierce has been criticized for receiving $7.8 million from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for doing dual-use technologies research through Northeastern University. [8]

Related Research Articles

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Murder Unlawful killing of a human with malice aforethought

Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as manslaughter. Manslaughter is killing committed in the absence of malice, brought about by reasonable provocation, or diminished capacity. Involuntary manslaughter, where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated guilty intent, recklessness.

Racial profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity or religion, rather than on individual suspicion. Racial profiling often involves discrimination against minority populations and builds on any negative stereotypes of the targeted demographic. Racial profiling, however, is not limited only to an individual's ethnicity, race or religion and can also be based on the individual's nationality. In European countries, the term ethnic profiling is also used instead of "racial profiling".

York University University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Gun control Laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms

Gun control is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.

John Lott American economist, political commentator, and gun rights advocate

John Richard Lott Jr. is an American economist, political commentator, and gun rights advocate. Lott was formerly employed at various academic institutions and at the American Enterprise Institute conservative think tank. He is former president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, a nonprofit he founded in 2013. He worked in the Office of Justice Programs within the U.S. Department of Justice under the Donald Trump administration from October 2020 to January 2021. Lott holds a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA.

Criminal justice Justice to those who have committed crimes

Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have committed crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims. The primary institutions of the criminal justice system are the police, prosecution and defense lawyers, the courts and prisons.

Right to keep and bear arms Right to possess weapons for self defense

The right to keep and bear arms is a right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. Only a few countries recognize an individual right to keep and bear arms and protect it constitutionally, with more classifying it as a statutory privilege granted to some segment of the population.

Gary Kleck is a criminologist and the David J. Bordua Professor Emeritus of Criminology at Florida State University.

Capital punishment in the United States Overview of capital punishment in the United States

Capital punishment in the United States is a legal penalty in 27 states, American Samoa, the federal government, the military and is abolished in 23 states. Capital punishment is, in practice, only applied for aggravated murders committed by mentally competent adults. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, only 21 states have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other 6, as well as the federal government, being subject to different types of moratoriums. The existence of capital punishment in the United States can be traced to early colonial Virginia. Along with Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore, the United States is one of four advanced democracies and the only Western nation that applies the death penalty regularly. It is one of 54 countries worldwide applying it, and was the first to develop lethal injection as a method of execution, which has since been adopted by five other countries. The Philippines has since abolished executions, and Guatemala has done so for civil offenses, leaving the United States as one of four countries to still use this method. It is common practice for the condemned to be administered sedatives prior to execution, regardless of the method used.

Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon in public in a concealed manner, either on one's person or in close proximity. CCW is often practiced as a means of self-defense. Almost every state in the US allows for concealed carry either permitless or with a permit, although permits may be difficult to obtain in some areas.

Capital punishment in China Overview of capital punishment in China

Capital punishment in China is a legal penalty. It is commonly applied for murder, drug trafficking and financial crimes, although it is also a legal penalty for various other offences. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. The majority of Chinese people support capital punishment.

Gun violence in the United States Overview of the topic

Gun violence in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually. In 2018, the most recent year for which data are available as of 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Center for Health Statistics reports 38,390 deaths by firearm, of which 24,432 were by suicide. The rate of firearm deaths per 100,000 people rose from 10.3 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12 per 100,000 in 2017, with 109 people dying per day or about 14,542 homicides in total, being 11.9 per 100,000 in 2018. In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S. In 2010, 358 murders were reported involving a rifle while 6,009 were reported involving a handgun; another 1,939 were reported with an unspecified type of firearm.

Gun violence Overview of the topic

Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm. Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, and suicide, or attempted suicide, depending on jurisdiction. Non-criminal violence includes accidental or unintentional injury and death. Also generally included in gun violence statistics are military or para-military activities.

The debate over capital punishment in the United States existed as early as the colonial period. As of June 2021, it remains a legal penalty within 27 states, the federal government, and military criminal justice systems. The states of Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, Virginia, and Washington abolished the death penalty within the last decade alone.

James Alan Fox

James Alan Fox is the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy and former dean at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Fox holds a bachelor's degree in sociology (1972), a master's degree in criminology (1974), a master's degree in statistics (1975), and a Ph.D. in sociology (1976), all from the University of Pennsylvania.

There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four deaths due to gun violence, although an Australian study from 2006 prescribed a minimum of five; and added a requirement that the victims actually died as opposed to being shot and injured but not necessarily killed.

Mass shootings in the United States Incidents involving multiple victims of firearm-related violence

Mass shootings are incidents involving multiple victims of firearm-related violence. The precise inclusion criteria are disputed, and there is no broadly accepted definition. One definition is an act of public firearm violence—excluding gang killings, domestic violence, or terrorist acts sponsored by an organization—in which a shooter kills at least four victims. Using this definition, one study found that nearly one-third of the world's public mass shootings between 1966 and 2012 occurred in the United States. Using a similar definition, The Washington Post records 163 mass shootings in the United States between 1967 and June 2019.

The Bartley-Fox Law is a Massachusetts law that sets a one-year mandatory minimum sentence for anyone found to be illegally carrying a firearm. It was passed by the Massachusetts General Court in 1974 and took effect in April 1975. Studies on its effectiveness have been mixed, and its strict provisions have been subject to criticism.

References

  1. Butterfield, Fox (1999-07-01). "Gun Flow to Criminals Laid To Tiny Fraction of Dealers". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  2. Leber, Rebecca (2014-12-24). "How Did the NYPD Killer Get His Hands on a Gun From Georgia? Because Our Laws Are Insane". New Republic. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  3. Taylor, Marisa (2014-12-22). "Gun law loophole could have provided Brinsley's murder weapon, say experts". Al Jazeera America. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  4. Zorn, Eric (1995-04-27). "Bombing, Executions Share A Disregard For Sanctity Of Life". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  5. Press, Robert M. (1983-12-20). "Studies show racial bias may be factor in use of death penalty". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  6. McCombs, Phil (1982-06-15). "America's Inability to Resolve the Capital Punishment Dilemma". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  7. Times, Michael Knight, Special To The New York (1981-01-21). "Studies of Gun Law Divided on Impact". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  8. Gluckman, Nell (2018-07-03). "Yes, Northeastern U. Has Done Research for ICE. No, It's Not About Border Patrol". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2018-08-01.