Daniel Earl Georges-Abeyie (born April 6, 1948) is an American criminologist and professor in the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland School Of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.

Early life and education

Born in New York City, Georges-Abeyie is of West Indian and African American ancestry. His father was from the island of Tortola in the British West Indies, and his mother was a U.S. citizen from the Atlantic coast in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

. Both of his parents were escaped slaves, and his last name refers to both the plantation that his father's ancestor escaped from ("Georges") and the Fante word meaning "return when the time is right" ("Abeyie"). He has traced his lineage back to the Lumbee tribe of Native Americans. He received his B.A. in sociology from Hope College in 1965, his M.A. in sociology from the University of Connecticut in 1971, and his Ph.D. in cultural and political geography from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

in 1974. As a Ph.D. student, he was heavily inspired by the geographer James L. Newman, who remains his closest mentor and a personal friend.

Academic career

Georges-Abeyie's first teaching position was at the University of Connecticut, where he began working as an instructor the summer after graduating from there with his master's degree in 1971. He later held tenured positions at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, California State University, Bakersfield, and

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

before joining the faculty of

Arizona State University West Arizona State University at the West Campus is a public university in Phoenix, Arizona. It is one of five university campuses that compose Arizona State University (ASU). The West campus was established by the Arizona Legislature in 1984, and is ...

in 1992. His most important mentor as a professor was

Hans Toch Hans Herbert Toch (April 17, 1930 – June 18, 2021) was a Vienna, Austrian-born social psychologist and criminologist. He was Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the School of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany, SUNY. He was a fellow ...

. In 2001, he joined the faculty of San Jose State University, where he was a tenured professor and chair of African-American studies until 2004. He joined the faculty of

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learnin ...

in 2004 as a professor of psychology, and left it in 2005 to become a tenured professor at Texas Southern University.

Consulting and activism

In addition to his academic positions, Georges-Abeyie has been a consultant to criminal justice agencies in California and Florida, including the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...

's Racial and Ethnic Bias Study Commission. He is also known for working with

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

(AI) in support of their efforts to abolish capital punishment. In the 1990s, he was the Arizona coordinator for AI's campaign to abolish capital punishment. A 1996 '' Phoenix New Times'' article described him as "...a world expert and walking encyclopedia on capital punishment", adding that "because of his cool and reasoned manner, his ability to maintain a low and level tone in an argument that raises voices and blood pressures, he has become AI's point man in the western United States." He received multiple awards for his work for AI, including the first Bruce Collmar Award in October 1997 and the Outstanding Amnesty Volunteer Award for the Western Region in 1996. In 2004, he was honored by Pete McHugh, the supervisor of Santa Clara County, California, for his work with AI. McHugh praised Georges-Abeyie for "his commitment to the civil and human rights of all people, and for his untiring efforts to promote peace and harmony in Santa Clara County".

Research

Georges-Abeyie's research focuses on a wide variety of topics, including

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

race and crime Race is one of the correlates of crime receiving attention in academic studies, government surveys, media coverage, and public concern. Research has found that social status, poverty, and childhood exposure to violent behavior are causes of the r ...

, and terrorism. He was also one of several researchers who disputed the "nondiscrimination thesis" posited by criminologist

William Wilbanks William Lee Wilbanks (May 30, 1940 - October 9, 2018) was an American criminologist and former professor of criminal justice at Florida International University. Education Wilbanks graduated from Belton High School in Belton, Texas in 1958. At B ...

in the late 1980s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Georges-Abeyie, Daniel Earl 1948 births Living people Texas Southern University faculty African-American sociologists American sociologists American criminologists Educators from New York City American people of West Indian descent Hope College alumni University of Connecticut alumni Syracuse University alumni Southern Illinois University Carbondale faculty Florida State University faculty Arizona State University faculty Prairie View A&M University people American anti–death penalty activists Amnesty International people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people San Jose State University faculty