Hot Town, Summer in the City
There were a series of terrorist bombings, a brutal heat wave, a blackout followed by a pandemic of looting, a frenzied mayoral campaign, a short handed police department that had born massive layoffs during a continuing fiscal crisis, and to top it off, a serial killer was on the loose in the city. He had killed six and wounded seven more. It was 1977 and that summer amid all the difficulties, the Son of Sam dominated the headlines. A group of experts, some of whom played pivotal roles in the manhunt, gathered at John Jay in August for a symposium titled "A City Looks Back: The 30th Anniversary of the Arrest of Son of Sam." The panelists included Sam Roberts, a reporter for the New York Times, former Mayor Edward Koch, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and reporter Jonathan Mahler, the author of Ladies and Gentlemen: The Bronx is Burning. They described a city that was grimy, unsafe and in turmoil. Providing a thirty year perspective, Kelly noted that in 1977 there were 42,000 Index Crimes compared to 26,000 in 2006. A similar investigation today would be able to tap into the NYPD's wide array of data sharing capabilities that were unheard of back then. Other panelists included former NYPD detective Bill Clark, who later became a producer and writer of NYPD Blue; Brian Kates and Owen Moritz, then reporters for The Daily News; and award winning journalist Jimmy Breslin, a columnist for The Daily News at the time who received the first communiqué from serial killer David Berkowitz. The panel reconstructed the details of the investigation with Clark, then a member of the Son of Sam task force, recalling his interview with Berkowitz who "had total recall of every incident." The mindset of a serial killer was the topic of another panel that included Mary Ellen O'Toole with the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI and Scott Weinberger, an investigative reporter for WCBS-TV, who discussed his recent jailhouse video interview with Berkowitz. Professor of forensic psychology Louis Schlesinger, an internationally known expert on serial killers, noted that he believed Berkowitz was lying when at the time he claimed a voice of a demon dog commanded him to commit the crimes. Berkowitz is currently serving a 365-year sentence. "I would never trust him enough to release him," said Schlesinger.

Pennsylvania State Police Recruiting on Campus
The Job Assistance Program at John Jay is pleased to announce that The Pennsylvania State Police will be recruiting and administering its written examination on Saturday, September 15, from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon at John Jay College, 445 West 59th Street, Room 1311N. Alumni who are interested should go to www.patrooper.com or call 877-PACADET for more information.

At the Top of Her Class
With a master's degree in forensic psychology from John Jay and a baccalaureate degree from Harvard University, Cheryl Walter (MA '06) made headlines by taking top honors at the 1,097 member Police Academy class in June. Walters, 26, won the Mayor's Award, presented to the graduate with the highest combined academic and physical fitness scores, and the Chief of Department Award as the department's fittest cadet. Walter chose the NYPD over federal law enforcement agencies because of its size, the variety of assignments and because she wants to get on the streets and work with New Yorkers. "I'm not into office work. I like being out on the streets and talking to people," she said. Walters's first assignment is patrol in the Bronx.

Occasional Series on Reentry Research
Friday, September 7, 2007                       8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

The Prisoner Reentry Institute is pleased to invite you to a presentation on the "Impact and Cost Benefit Analysis of the Maryland Reentry Partnership Initiative" by John Roman, Senior Research Associate, Justice Policy Center of the Urban Institute. The discussants will be Dall W. Forsythe, Professor of Public Administration and Financial Management at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University and New York City Councilman Miguel Martinez, Chairperson of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee.

RSVP to Nicole Lindahl at nlindahl@jjay.cuny.edu or 646-557-4534.

John Jay College
899 Tenth Avenue, Room 630T
New York City

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
Sunday, September 9, 2007                   9:00 AM

The JOHN JAY JAYWALKERS TEAM is now officially registered for the 2007 Komen Race for the Cure. Join the fight against breast cancer. Last year the JAYWALKERS won the award for the largest team in the College/University category. Let's do it again.

Click here to view the team page for JOHN JAY JAYWALKERS
For more information, contact the JAYWALKERS Team Captain, Irene O'Donnell, at iodonnell@jjay.cuny.edu or 212-237-8540.

Central Park West
New York City

The John Jay Book & Author Series
Monday, September 10, 2007                 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

The John Jay Book & Author Series is pleased to present Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries and the Revolution in Forensic Science by forensic scientist Dr. Bill Bass with Jon Jefferson. Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky, Chairman of the Science Department, will serve as moderator.

John Jay College
899 Tenth Avenue, Theater Lobby
New York City

Remembering September 11th

John Jay College
899 Tenth Avenue, Room 630T
New York City

The Forensic Psychology graduate program will host the fall 2007 series. Distinguished Professor of Psychology Saul Kassin, an internationally recognized expert in the field of forensic psychology, will present the first lecture in the series on "False Confessions."

John Jay College
445 West 59th Street, Room 1311N
New York City

The Changing Definition of Date Rape
Monday, October 15, 2007                       11:00 AM

This panel discussion is being co-sponsored by Cosmopolitan magazine and will be moderated by Ashleigh Banfield of Court TV.

John Jay College
899 Tenth Avenue, Theater Lobby
New York City

Graduate Lecture Series
Wednesday, November 7, 2007                 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

One of the country's leading experts on child abuse, Distinguished Professor of Psychology Cathy Spatz Widom will lecture on the "Long-term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect."

John Jay College
445 West 59th Street, Room 1311N
New York City

Graduate Open House
Tuesday, November 13, 2007                    4:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Alumni who are interested in attending graduate school are invited to attend John Jay's Graduate Open House to learn more about the College's programs in: Criminal Justice (MA), Forensic Computing (MS), Forensic Psychology (MA), Forensic Science (MS), Public Administration (MPA), Public Administration-Inspector General Program (MPAIG), and Protection Management (MS).

RSVP by calling 212-237-8863.

John Jay College
Gerald W. Lynch Theater
899 Tenth Avenue
New York City

Graduate Lecture Series
Thursday, December 6, 2007                    5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Professor Mark Fondacaro of the Psychology Department will present on "Law and Behavioral Science in the Pursuit of Justice" that will focus on the way the behavioral sciences and the field of psychology can broaden our understanding of justice in our juvenile and criminal justice systems.

John Jay College
445 West 59th Street, Room 1311N
New York City

Una Celebracion En Grande!
Saturday, December 8, 2007    

The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (DSI) at The City College of New York will be marking its 15th Anniversary on December 8, 2007 with a black tie celebration to honor the more than 35,000 alumni of Dominican descent from CUNY's 23 colleges and schools. There will be no charge for the event. To help DSI identify Dominican alumni of CUNY descent, especially those who graduated from any of the CUNY schools prior to 1992, please email dsi@ccny.cuny.edu. For more information about the celebration and to register, visit their website at http://cunydominicanalumni.eventbrite.com.

Wilma Guzman (BS '78)
"There weren't a lot of good career options for a teenage girl growing up in the south Bronx in the 1970s, and when Wilma Guzman became pregnant at 16, she seemed headed for the same fate as many of her peers: single motherhood, a dead-end job, and a life of frustration. "Life deals you a lot of cards," she says now. "You have to decide how to play them." She obviously played them well. Today, Guzman is a judge on the Bronx Supreme Court, the mother of three grown children, and a role model for the students she teaches as an adjunct professor in the paralegal studies program sponsored by the Office of Continuing Education and Professional Studies at John Jay. Her teaching is in part a gesture of gratitude. It was John Jay that gave Guzman her passport out of the tough Bronx streets. While working a full-time job as a paralegal to support her family, she spent six years attending evening classes at John Jay, finally earning her BS in criminal justice in 1978.

After graduation, Guzman worked as an investigator with the Sex Crimes Unit at the Kings County District Attorney's office and in the private sector before returning to school to get her law degree from St. John's University School of Law. That set her on the road to a new career as a civil litigation-personal injury trial lawyer in Manhattan, blazing her own path in a profession that at the time boasted few Hispanics and even fewer Hispanic women. She became a member of the "Million Dollar Advocates Forum," a nationwide association of trial attorneys who achieved verdicts of $1 million or more. In 1999, after her nomination by the Bronx Democratic Party organization, she was elected a civil court judge, and in 2005 she won election to a 14-year term on the Bronx Supreme Court. Guzman still credits her undergraduate alma mater for giving her the discipline and focus she needed to succeed. "As a judge on the bench, you've got to have the ability to listen to all sides, and also decide what needs to be heard and what doesn't." That lesson wasn't lost on her children. Her youngest daughter, Lisa, now 30, is also a John Jay alumna, and her son, Nicholas, now 18, is starting his first year at John Jay in September.

When John Jay graduate students Amber Horning and Marina Sorochinski finish their research, the South African Police Service will have the largest and most complete national database on serial homicide worldwide. The two forensic psychology students spent the summer collecting and compiling data on all solved serial homicide cases since 1930. Under the direction of Professor Gabrielle Scalfati of the Psychology Department, Horning and Sorochinski are coding cases for information on crime scene behaviors, victim characteristics and offender characteristics. The project aims to help researchers and academicians understand cultural and national differences in serial murder as well as identifying factors that can help categorize and link the series and assist police investigators in the apprehension of offenders. The project is being funded by the Forensic Psychology Research Institute, the John Jay Research Assistance Award Program and the Department of Psychology.