Education
Ph.D., Stony Brook University (1979, sociology)
M.A., Stony Brook University (1975, sociology)
B.A. (cum laude), Stony Brook University (1972, sociology and political science)
Bio
Henry N. Pontell is Distinguished Professor of Sociology, and Professor Emeritus of Criminology, Law and Society and of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine where he was a faculty member from 1979 to 2014. He's served as Chair of Sociology at John Jay and of Criminology, Law and Society at UCI when the program was initially founded for the longest term to date (7 years). He's also served as UCI's Associate Dean of Graduate Studies among other department, school, and campus-wide administrative positions, and has held visiting faculty appointments at the Australian National University, the University of Virginia, the University of Melbourne, the University of Macau, Macau University of Science and Technology, the University of Hong Kong, and Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.
Professor Pontell conceived and led the development of the Master of Advanced Study (MAS) Program in Criminology, Law and Society at UCI, which in 2003 became the first online degree program at the University of California. The MAS was rated #1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its first ranking of online criminal justice graduate programs in January 2015, immediately following his tenure as director, and maintains that ranking today.
He's worked with numerous government agencies including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, and has presented written and oral testimony to Congressional Committees and President Obama’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. He's given invited lectures at the National Academies, the U.S. Dept of Justice, and other domestic and foreign government offices and universities. He is a past Vice-President of the American Society of Criminology, and a past President of the Western Society of Criminology, and is a Fellow of both organizations. As past President of the White-Collar Crime Research Consortium of the National White-Collar Crime Center, he led the development of the Division of White-Collar and Corporate Cime of the American Society of Criminology. He is Editor of the Oxford University Press book series, Keynotes in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, which has a growing online repository of hundreds of full-length review articles available throughout the world.
Professor Pontell has helped raise over $1 million for both undergraduate and graduate student scholarships at UCI and John Jay, including the Roger H. Davis Memorial Scholarship, the first endowed award at John Jay that recognizes significant activism or research around issues of importance to LGBTQ social movement organizing. He's mentored numerous students and junior colleagues who have successfully pursued careers in both the U.S. and internationally, including: UC, Irvine, Waseda University, National Taiwan University, City University of Hong Kong, University of Macau, Texas Christian University, Bejing Normal University, University of Alabama, Southern Utah University, Indiana University, University of Houston, Temple University, University of Texas, Pennsylvania State University, UC, Riverside, California State Universities at Fullerton, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Dominguez Hills, and Sonoma, City University of New York, University of Florida, University of Missouri, University of Minnesota, and University of Nevada.
Among other awards and honors, Dr. Pontell received the Albert J. Reiss, Jr. Distinguished Scholarship Award from the Crime, Law and Deviance Section of the American Sociological Association, the Donald R. Cressey Award from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Paul Tappan and Joseph T. Lohman Awards from the Western Society of Criminology, the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Herbert Bloch Award from the American Society of Criminology, the Gil Geis Lifetime Achievement, and the President's Awards from the Research Consortium of the National White Collar Crime Center, now the Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime of the American Society of Criminology, the Cecil and Ida Green Honors Chair at Texas Christian University, and the Daniel G. Aldrich Jr. Distinguished University Service Award at UC, Irvine. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Centre for Criminology at the University of Hong Kong.
His publications extend to the fields of sociology, law and society, criminology, and criminal justice among others. His books include: International Handbook of White-Collar and Corporate Crime (Springer), Social Deviance (McGraw Hill), Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America ( 7 editions, Pearson), Big Money Crime: Fraud and Politics in the Savings and Loan Crisis (University of California Press), A Capacity to Punish: The Ecology of Crime and Punishment (Indiana University Press), Contemporary Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice: Essays in Honor of Gilbert Geis (Pearson), Looting America: Greed, Corruption, Villains and Victims (Prentice Hall), Prescription for Profit: How Doctors Defraud Medicaid (University of California Press), Financial Crime and Crises in the Era of False Profits (Oxford University Press) and Wayward Dragon: White-Collar and Corporate Crime in China (Springer).
Scholarly Work
(2007-Present)
Henry N. Pontell, "Neutralizing Government Corruption and the War Against White-Collar Crime." Justice Evaluation Journal (forthcoming).
Bryan Burton, Diana Sun and Henry N. Pontell, “Two Paths, One Destination: A Demographic Portrait of Physicians Sanctioned by the Federal Government.” Journal of Health and Human Services Administration (in press).
Li Huang and Henry N. Pontell, "Crime and Crisis in China's P2P Lending Market: A Comparative Analysis of Fraud." Crime, Law and Social Change 79:4 (May 2023) pp. 369-393.
Henry N. Pontell and Adam K. Ghazi-Tehrani, "Researching Political Corruption and White-Collar Crime on the Internet" in Mary Dodge and Rita Faria (eds.) Qualitative Research in Criminology: Cutting Edge Methods. Cham, Switzerland: Springer (2022) pp. 69-84.
Henry N. Pontell, Jianhong Liu, Christopher Contreras, Soi Wan (Donna) Leong and Li Huang, "Occupational Crimes in Casinos: A Descriptive Analysis of Employee Theft in Macau, China." Crime, Law and Social Change 78:3 (October 2022) pp. 241–270.
Adam K. Ghazi-Tehrani and Henry N. Pontell, Wayward Dragon: White-Collar and Corporate Crime in China. Cham, Switzerland: Springer (2022).
Henry N. Pontell, Robert H. Tillman, and Adam K. Ghazi-Tehrani, "In-Your-Face Watergate: Neutralizing Government Lawbreaking and the War Against White-Collar Crime." Crime, Law and Social Change 75:3 (April 2021): 201-219.
Mary Dodge and Henry N. Pontell, "Introductory Notes to Political Crime and Corruption Take Center Stage." Special Issue of Crime, Law and Social Change 75:3 (April 2021) pp. 195-200.
Henry N. Pontell and Mary Dodge (eds.). “Political Crime and Corruption Take Center Stage.” Special Issue of Crime, Law and Social Change 75:3 (April 2021).
Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani and Henry N. Pontell, "Phishing Evolves: Analyzing the Enduring Cybercrime." Victims and Offenders 16:3 (2021) pp. 316-342.
Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani and Henry N. Pontell, “Corruption in the United States and China: Codes of Conduct Versus Crackdowns.” Crime, Law and Social Change 73:1 (January 2020) pp. 73-92.
Stephen M. Rosoff, Henry N. Pontell and Robert H. Tillman, Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America (Seventh Edition).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson (2020).
Michael L. Benson, William A. Stadler, and Henry N. Pontell, “Harming America: Corporate Crime in a Context of Deregulation.” Victims and Offenders 14:8 (2019) pp. 1063-1083.
Henry N. Pontell, Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani, and Bryan Burton, "White-Collar and Corporate Crime in China" in Melissa Rorie (ed.) The Handbook of White-Collar Crime. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2019). pp. 347-362.
Henry N. Pontell and Robert H. Tillman, “Manafort’s Sentencing Show Again that White-Collar Criminals Get Off Lightly.” The Guardian, March, 17, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/17/paul-manafort-sentencing-white-collar-criminals
Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani, Bryan Burton and Henry N. Pontell, “Deviant Executives: Crime in the Suites,” in Steve Brown and Ophir Sefiha (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Deviance. NY: Routledge Publishers, Taylor and Francis (2017) pp. 445-456.
Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani, Lindsey K. Williams, Yujing Fun, and Henry N. Pontell, “State Legitimacy and Government Crime: The China-Japan Rare Earth Element Case.” Critical Issues in Justice and Politics 10:1 (August 2017) pp. 4-14.
Robert H. Tillman, Henry N. Pontell and William K. Black, Financial Crime and Crisis in the Era of False Profits. New York: Oxford University Press (2017).
Henry N. Pontell, Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani and Theresa Chang, “Economic Crime and China’s High Speed Railway: A Case Study of the Wenzhou Crash.” Asian Journal of Criminology 12:1 (2017):1-22.
Robert H. Tillman and Henry N. Pontell, “Corporate Fraud, Criminal Time.” The New York Times, June 29, 2016. A25. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/opinion/corporate-fraud-demands-criminal-time.htm
Miho Akada, Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, “The Failure of the United States to Ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.” Waseda Comparative Law Review 50:1 (Japanese, Tokikazu Konishi, translation, June 1, 2016) pp. 121-143.
Henry N. Pontell, “Theoretical, Empirical, and Policy Implications of Alternative Definitions of White-Collar Crime”: "Trivializing the Lunatic Crime Rate,” in Shanna R. Van Slyke, Michael L. Benson, and Francis T. Cullen (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of White-Collar Crime. New York: Oxford University Press (2016) pp. 39-56.
Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani, Bryan Burton, and Henry N. Pontell, “Forgery.” In David Levinson (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment. NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2016.
Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani and Henry N. Pontell, “Corporate Crime and State Legitimacy: The 2008 Chinese Melamine Milk Scandal.” Crime, Law and Social Change 63:5 (June 2015) pp. 247-267.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, “Identity Theft,” in Martin Gill (ed.), The Handbook of Security (Second Edition). London: Palgrave Macmillan (2014) pp. 302-320.
Henry N. Pontell, William K. Black and Gilbert Geis. "Too Big to Fail, Too Powerful to Jail? On the Absence of Criminal Prosecutions Following the 2008 Financial Meltdown." Crime, Law and Social Change 61:1 (January 2014) pp.1-13.
Henry N. Pontell, Adam Kavon Ghazi-Tehrani and Bryan Burton, B. “ Reactivist Definitions of Deviance.” In George Ritzer (Eds.) The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd Edition. London: Blackwell, 2014.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, “The Trajectory of White-Collar Crime Following the Great Economic Meltdown.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 30:1 (2014) pp. 70-82.
Stephen M. Rosoff, Henry N. Pontell and Robert Tillman, Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America (Sixth Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson (2014).
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, "Public Policy and White-Collar and Corporate Crime." In Stacy L. Mallicoat and Christine L. Gardiner (eds.) Criminal Justice Policy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications (2014) pp. 159-174.
Henry N. Pontell, Quan Fang and Gilbert Geis, “Economic Crime and Casinos: China’s Wager on Macau,” Asian Journal of Criminology 9:1 (March 2014) pp. 1-13. Revised and reprinted in Chinese as "Casinos and Crime: China's Expectations and Risks in Macau." Boletim De Estudos De Macau, Journal of Macau Studies 1(2013):118-126.
Henry N. Pontell, “’The Only Reason We Are Here Today is Because of Gil Geis.’” Fraud Magazine (March/April 2013) pp. 26-27.
Henry N. Pontell, Commentary. Symposium on Theft of a Nation: Wall Street Looting and Federal Regulatory Colluding by Gregg Barak, and Who are the Criminals?: The Politics of Crime Policy from the Age of Roosevelt to the Age of Reagan, by John Hagan. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews 42 (September, 2013) pp.671-673.
Adam Gahzi-Tehrani, Puma Chen, Natasha Pushkarna, Gilbert Geis, and Henry N. Pontell, “White-Collar and Corporate Crime in China: A Comparative Analysis of Enforcement Capacity and Non-Issue Making.” Crime, Law and Social Change 60:3 (October 2013) pp. 241-260.
Henry N. Pontell and William K. Black, "White-Collar Criminology and the Occupy Wall Street Movement." The Criminologist 37:1 (January/February, 2012) pp. 1-6.
Gilbert Geis and Henry N. Pontell. "Corporate Codes of Conduct in the United States." Compliance & Ethics Professional: May/June (2012):54-65.
Tomson H. Nguyen and Henry N. Pontell, "Fraud and Inequality in the Subprime Mortgage Crisis." In Mathieu Deflem (ed.) Economic Crisis and Crime (Series in Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance). Bingley, UK: Jai Press/Emerald Publishing Group (2011) pp. 3-24.
Stephen M. Rosoff and Henry N. Pontell, Cyber Crime, in Clifton Bryant (ed.) Handbook of Deviant Behavior. London: Routledge (2011) pp. 417-426.
Henry N. Pontell and Gregory C. Brown, Identity Theft, in Clifton Bryant (ed.) Handbook of Deviant Behavior. London: Routledge (2011) pp. 427-433.
David Shichor, Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, Illegally Backdated Stock Options. In Mathieu Deflem (ed.) Economic Crisis and Crime (Series in Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance). Bingley, UK: Jai Press/Emerald (2011) pp. 127-142.
Henry N. Pontell, Global Meltdown: Fraud in Financial Crises, in Henry N. Pontell and Stephen M. Rosoff (eds.) Social Deviance: Readings in Theory and Research. New York: McGraw-Hill (2011) pp. 30-39; Revised and reprinted in Waseda Proceedings of Comparative Law, Vol. 12, 2009: 248-270; Revised and reprinted in Chinese (Su Mingyue, translation) Journal of Chinese Criminal Law, Vol. 1 (Beijing, 2011) pp. 116-121.
Henry N. Pontell and Stephen M. Rosoff (eds.), Social Deviance: Readings in Theory and Research. New York: McGraw-Hill (2011).
Henry N. Pontell, The Impact of the Crisis: An Overview of Mortgage Fraud. Written testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Miami, FL, September 21, 2010. Cited (p.161) in The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: Final Report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2011.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, "Introduction to White-Collar and Corporate Crime in Asia." Special Issue of Asian Journal of Criminology 5:2 (2010) pp. 83-88.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis (Editors). White-Collar and Corporate Crime in Asia." Special Issue of Asian Journal of Criminology 5:2 (2010).
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, How to Effectively Get Crooks Like Bernie Madoff in Dutch. Criminology & Public Policy 9:3 (August 2010) pp. 475-481.
Tomson H. Nguyen and Henry N. Pontell, Mortgage Origination Fraud and the Global Economic Crisis: A Criminological Analysis.Criminology & Public Policy 9:3 (August 2010) pp. 591-612.
Henry N. Pontell, Wall St. Fraud and Fiduciary Responsibilities: Can Jail Time Serve as an Adequate Deterrent for Willful Violations? Written testimony before the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, Second Session, May 4, 2010, Serial No. J-111-88. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp. 132-141. Reprinted in Gilbert Geis, A Documentary History of White-Collar and Corporate Crime. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press (2011) pp. 326-330.
Stephen M. Rosoff, Henry N. Pontell and Robert Tillman, Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America (Fifth Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson (2010).
David Shichor, Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, "On Criminological Indifference to the Global Economic Crisis." The Criminologist 35:2 (March/April, 2010) pp.24-25.
Henry N. Pontell, "Gilbert Geis: Perspectives on White-Collar Crime Scandals," in Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory edited by Francis T. Cullen and Pamela Wilcox. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (2010) pp. 355-358.
Henry N. Pontell, Identity Theft: Bounded Rationality, Research and Policy. Criminology & Public Policy 8:2 (May 2009) pp. 263-270.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, White-Collar and Corporate Crime in International Perspective, in K. Jaishankar (ed.), International Perspectives on Crime and Justice. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2009) pp. 2-19; Revised and reprinted in Chinese (Su Mingyue, translation) as White-Collar and Corporate Crime in Global Perspective, International Criminal Law Review 5 (Beijing, 2010) pp. 205-228.
Henry N. Pontell and Stephen M. Rosoff, White-Collar Delinquency. Crime, Law and Social Change 51:1 (February, 2009) pp.147-162.
Gilbert Geis, Gregory C. Brown and Henry N. Pontell, Internet Gambling, in Frank Schmallager and Michael Pittaro (eds.), Crimes of the Internet. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009, pp. 166-190.
Henry N. Pontell, Gregory C. Brown and Anastasia Tosouni, Stolen Identities: A Victim Survey, in Megan M. McNally and Graeme R. Newman (eds.), Perspectives on Identity Theft. Crime Prevention Studies Vol. 23. Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press, 2008, pp. 57-85.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, Religion and the Psychology of Gambling in China and the U.S., in Marco J. Esposito (ed.), The Psychology of Gambling. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2008, pp. 1-14. Reprinted in Joan C. Upton (ed.), Religion and Psychology Research Progress. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2008, pp. 145-158; Revised and reprinted in Chinese (Su Mingyue, translation) in Jingshi Law Review (Bejing) Vol. 4, 2010, pp. 401-414.
Henry N. Pontell, Stephen M. Rosoff and Andrew Peterson, Lenient Justice? Punishing White-Collar and Corporate Crime, in Shlomo Giora Shoham, Ori Beck and Martin Kett (eds.), The International Handbook of Penology and Criminal Justice. Oxford, UK: Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, 2008, pp. 709-731.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, The Paradox of Economic Crime in Japan: The Thalidomide Scourge, The Lockheed Scandal, and Endemic Political Corruption, Special issue of Monatsschrift Kriminologie und Strafrechtsreform, edited by Kai-D. Bussmann, Crossing the Borders: Economic Crime From an International Perspective. Inhalt Heft 2/3 (Juni 2007):103-113; Revised and reprinted in Japanese in Saitama Social Science Review, (Tokikazu Konishi, translation), Nippon no Keizai-Hanzai ni okeru Paradox Thalidomide-ka, Lockheed-Jiken, and Kouzouteki-na Seiji-Oshoku. Saitama-Daigaku Shakai-Kagaku-Ronshu Dai 123 gou (2008): 49-63.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, Black Mist and White Collars: Economic Crime in the U.S. and Japan. Asian Journal of Criminology 2:2 (December 2007) pp.111-126. Reprinted in Japanese in Waseda Comparative Law Review (Tokikazu Konishi, translation), Kuroikiri to 'White-Collar' Zoku --Keizaihanzai no Nichibeihikaku. Wasedadaigaku Hikakuhougaku Dai 40 kan, Dai 3 gou, (2007):63-88.
Tokikazu Konishi, Henry N. Pontell, and Gilbert Geis, Forensic Accounting in Japan. Journal of Forensic Accounting Vol. VIII (2007), pp. 141-154.
Henry N. Pontell, Gilbert Geis, and Gregory C. Brown, Offshore Gambling and the World Trade Organization: Is Internet Gambling Criminal Behavior or a Commodity? International Journal of Cyber Criminology 1:1 (January 2007) pp. 119-136.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis, New Times, New Crimes: 'Blocking' Financial Identity Fraud, in Frank Bovenkerk and Michael Levi (eds.), The Organized Crime Community: Essays in Honor of Alan Block. New York: Springer (2007) pp. 45-58.
Henry N. Pontell and Gilbert Geis (eds.), The International Handbook of White-Collar and Corporate Crime. New York: Springer (2007).
Research Summary
Professor Pontell's research and teaching interests include deviance and social control, white-collar and corporate crime, punishment and criminal justice system capacity issues, financial and health care fraud, identity theft, political corruption, comparative criminology, and cyber crime. He has lectured at universities and government offices throughout the world, testified before the U.S. Senate on financial fraud, given invited presentations to The National Academies and the U.S. Department of Justice, and worked with numerous organizations and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. His research on white-collar crime has been highlighted in the national and international media. He continues conducting domestic and comparative research on white-collar and corporate crime in both the U.S. and globally.
