Last updated on: 8/29/2008 | Author: ProCon.org

Donald R. Cressey, PhD Biography

Title:
Late Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Position:
Not Clearly Pro or Con to the question "Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?"
Reasoning:

“[The] cost is not inherent in the penalty, but imposed by judges. It is not cheaper to keep a criminal confined, because most of the time he will appeal just as much causing as many costs as a convict under death sentence. Being alive and having nothing better to do, he will spend his time in prison conceiving of ever-new habeas corpus petitions, which being unlimited, in effect cannot be rejected as res judicata. The cost is higher.”

Cowritten with Edwin Sutherland, Criminology – Fifth Edition, 1974
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to death penalty issues. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to death penalty issues.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1967-1987
  • Visiting Fellow, University of Cambridge, 1961-1962 and 1971
  • Consultant, Organized Crime, President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, 1966-1967
  • Dean of the College of Letters and Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1962-1967
  • Professor, Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1959-1962
  • Acting Dean of Social Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 1960-1961
  • Chairman, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1958-1961
  • Lecturer, Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1949-1959
Education:
  • PhD, Criminology, Indiana University
Other:
  • Died in 1987
Quoted in:
  1. Does the Death Penalty Cost Less Than Life in Prison without Parole?