William Wilbanks

Last updated

William Lee Wilbanks (May 30, 1940 - October 9, 2018) was an American criminologist and former professor of criminal justice at Florida International University. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Education

Wilbanks graduated from Belton High School in Belton, Texas in 1958. At Belton High, he was an all-state guard on the State AA Championship basketball team that won the Class 2A championship in 1958. [2] [5] He went on to receive his B.A. from Abilene Christian College in 1963, after which he received his M.A.'s from Abilene Christian College, Sam Houston State University, and the University at Albany, SUNY in 1965, 1972, and 1972, respectively. In 1975, he received his Ph.D. in criminal justice from University at Albany, SUNY. [2]

Career

Wilbanks taught at Florida International University from 1973 to 1999, and has written over 20 books and 70 journal articles. [2] [6] In 2001, he returned to Belton to build the Belton High School Athletic Wall of Honor, which honors 72 of the school's athletes and five of its championship teams. [5] [6] Texas Tech University's Department of English awards the William Wilbanks Technical Communication Scholarship to some of its undergraduates who are technical communication majors, and who have GPAs of 3.0 or higher. [6]

Media appearances

From 1981 to 1997, Wilbanks appeared on television over 30 times as a criminology expert. [2] These appearances included four on CNN's Crossfire and two on CBS' 60 Minutes . [7] He appeared on multiple televised debates in which he argued that Prentice Rasheed, a shopkeeper in Dade County, Florida, should be indicted for setting a booby trap that killed a suspected burglar. Despite this, Rasheed was not indicted by the grand jury. [3] After the jury made this decision, Wilbanks said, "People are thinking, if the police don't do the job, then I can do whatever I want. That's bad news. I don't think any of us wants to live in a booby-trapped society. A trap can't discriminate between a burglar, a fireman, a policeman or the Amway lady." [8]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act</span> U.S. law

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belton, Texas</span> City in Texas, United States

Belton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas on the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and Waco. Belton is the county seat of Bell County and is the fifth largest city in the Killeen-Temple metropolitan area. In 2020, the population of Belton was 23,054, and the metro region had a population of 450,051 according to US Census estimates.

Coramae Richey Mann (1931–2004) was a professor emeritus of criminal justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She argued vehemently that the United States criminal justice system was racist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leon Jaworski</span> American prosecutor

Leonidas "Leon" Jaworski was an American attorney and law professor who served as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal. He was appointed to that position on November 1, 1973, soon after the Saturday Night Massacre of October 19–20, 1973, which included the dismissal of his predecessor Archibald Cox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Houston State University</span> American university

Sam Houston State University is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and the first in Texas. It is named for Sam Houston, who made his home in the city and is buried there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James E. Ferguson</span> American banker and politician (1871–1944)

James Edward Ferguson Jr., known as Pa Ferguson, was an American Democratic politician and the 26th Governor of Texas, in office from 1915 to 1917. He was indicted and impeached during his second term, forced to resign and barred from holding further Texas office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Earle</span> American politician and judge (1942–2020)

Ronald Dale Earle was an American politician and judge who was, from January 1977 to January 2009, the District Attorney for Travis County, Texas. He became nationally known for filing charges against House majority leader Tom DeLay in September 2005 for conspiring to violate Texas' election law and/or to launder money. In Texas, Earle was known for his criminal justice reform efforts which focused on crime prevention, alternative sentencing, victim advocacy, and the reintegration of former offenders into society. In 1983, Earle - an Eagle Scout - prosecuted himself for an election law violation after missing a campaign finance filing deadline by one day; he was fined $212. Earle was a fixture in Travis County politics and served in public office there for more than 30 years, joking that he was asked if he was the "District Eternity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David M. Medina</span> American judge

David Michael Medina is a former Justice of the nine-member Texas Supreme Court. He served in the Place 4 position. He was appointed by Governor Rick Perry in 2004 and subsequently elected to a full-term in 2006. Medina was defeated in the Republican runoff election in 2012 by John P. Devine. His tenure ended on December 31, 2012. All members of the court are Republican.

The French M. Robertson Unit is a maximum-security state prison located on Farm to Market Road 3522 in Abilene, Texas, United States, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Downtown Abilene in Jones County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Lay</span> Founder of Enron Corporation (1942–2006)

Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in the eponymous accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the largest bankruptcy ever to that date. Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud at trial. Lay died in July 2006 while vacationing in his house near Aspen, Colorado, three months before his scheduled sentencing. A preliminary autopsy reported Lay died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. His death resulted in a vacated judgment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price Daniel Jr.</span> American politician

Marion Price Daniel III was a United States politician from Texas who served as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 to 1975.

Chris Thomsen is an American football coach. He is the tight ends coach at Florida State University. Thomsen was the head coach of the Wildcats football program at Abilene Christian University (ACU), from 2005 through 2011. Thomsen also served as the interim head football coach at Texas Tech University for one game in 2012, the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.

The Joe Horn shooting controversy occurred on November 14, 2007, in Pasadena, Texas, United States, when local resident Joe Horn shot and killed two burglars outside his neighbor's home. Recordings of Horn's exchange with emergency dispatch indicated that he was asked 14 times not to interfere with the burglary, because police would soon be on scene. The shootings resulted in debates regarding self-defense, Castle Doctrine laws, and Texas laws relating to use of deadly force to prevent or stop property crimes. The undocumented status of both burglars was highlighted because of the U.S. border controversy. On June 30, 2008, Joe Horn was cleared by a grand jury in the Pasadena shootings.

Universities, colleges, and seminaries currently affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention or affiliated with state conventions that are associated with the SBC.

A racial hoax occurs when a person falsely claims that a crime was committed by member of a specific race. The crime may be fictitious, or may be an actual crime.

John Dominick Colyandro is a Senior Advisor and Policy Director for Texas Governor Greg Abbott. He is a former executive director of the Texas Conservative Coalition and the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute. He is also the former executive director of the political action committee Texans for a Republican Majority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Pope</span> American judge

Andrew Jackson Pope Jr., known as Jack Pope, was an American judge, attorney, author and legal scholar who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.

Daniel Earl Georges-Abeyie is an American criminologist and professor in the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland School Of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.