Drexel University
Quick Links
  • Apply Now
Search

Robert J. Kane, Ph.D.

Director and Professor, Criminal Justice Program

Robert J. Kane

Office: PSA 204
Phone: (215) 895-2571
Email: rjk72@drexel.edu

Education

  • Ph.D., Temple University, 2001

Research and Teaching Interests

  • Police Authority and Accountability
  • Urban Ecology and Sociology
  • Violence and Public Health
  • Police Strategies and Practices

Biography

Professor Kane’s teaching and research interests center around police authority and accountability, the ecology of urban policing, and the intersections among neighborhood violence, justice, and urban health. Kane has conducted field research in Philadelphia, New York City, Phoenix, and the District of Columbia; and he has worked with the police and other justice authorities in the Netherlands, England, and Ireland. Among other scholarly activities, he has recently written a book for NYU Press based on research he conducted in the New York City Police Department on career-ending misconduct. To date, this was the largest and most comprehensive study of misconduct ever conducted in an American police department. He co-authored the book with former ASU colleague, Michael White. He is currently co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Police and Policing with Michael Reisig.

Professor Kane is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety at Arizona State University, where he is co-Principal Investigator on a nationally funded project that examines the effects of the Taser (conductive energy device) on cognitive functioning. This project represents the first time that the use of the Taser has been submitted to a randomized control trial.

Kane is a member of the American Society of Criminology, the Western Society of Criminology, as well as the Environmental Crime and Crime Analysis group. In addition to his scholarship and teaching activities, he enjoys taking student groups overseas for criminal justice-themed tours.

Selected Publications

  • Kane, R. (2012). Policing Unhealthy Places: Drug Enforcement and Health Behaviors in Structurally Disadvantaged Communities. Presented at the annual meetings of the Environmental Crime and Crime Analysis group. Oslo, Norway.
  • Kane, R., and White, M. (2012). Jammed Up: Bad Cops, Police Misconduct, and the New York City Police Department. New York: NYU Press.
  • Kane, R., Gustafson, J., and Bruell, C. (2011). Racial Encroachment and the Formal Control of Space: Minority Group-Threat and Misdemeanor Arrests in Urban Communities. Justice Quarterly. DOI:10.1080/07418825.2011.636376
  • Kane, R. (2011). The Ecology of Unhealthy Places: Violence, Birthweight, and the Importance of Territoriality in Structurally Disadvantaged Communities. Social Science & Medicine, 73, 1585-1592
  • Kane, R., and Cronin, S. (2011). Maintaining Order under the Rule of Law: Occupational Templates and the Police Use of Force. Journal of Crime and Justice, 34, 163-177.