Cathy Spatz Widom Wins Sutherland Award from ASC

Distinguished Professor Cathy Spatz Widom (John Jay, Criminal Justice, Psychology), a renowned scholar on child abuse and neglect and its consequences, is the recipient of the 2013 Edwin H. Sutherland Award from the American Society of Criminology. Widom is one of only five women to receive the award since it was established in 1960. In November, Widom will present a plenary address, titled "Varieties of Violent Behavior," at the ASC's 69th Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Sutherland Award "recognizes outstanding contributions to theory or research in criminology on the etiology of criminal and deviant behavior, the criminal justice system, corrections, law, or justice." The award committee noted, "Dr. Widom's study set a new standard by utilizing a prospective research design that followed youth officially identified as maltreated over a long period of time, and comparing them to a normative sample of those not identified as having been maltreated. This rigorous design provided more valid evidence of the effects of maltreatment, as well as the opportunity to study the myriad effects of victimization that may unfold over the life course."