Education
Ph.D., Harvard University (2004, Sociology)
MA, Harvard University (2004, Sociology)
AB, Princeton University (1994, Sociology)
Bio
Moskos, a former Baltimore City police officer, is the director of John Jay College’s NYPD Executive Master’s Leadership Program and a faculty member in CUNY’s Doctoral Program in Sociology.
Moskos studies people the old-fashioned way: He talks to them. Moskos’s four books — Back from the Brink, Cop in the Hood, In Defense of Flogging, and Greek Americans — have won high praise and earned him recognition as one of Atlantic Magazine’s “Brave Thinkers” of the year. He has also published in the Washington Post, Washington Monthly, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, New York Daily News, New York Post, Macleans, Vital City, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and his “Quality Policing” podcast and blog.
His latest book, Back from the Brink: Inside the NYPD and New York City’s Extraordinary 1990s Crime Drop (Oxford University Press) in an account of the policing, Compstat, and New York City’s great 1990’s crime drop.
JJC Affiliations
Courses Taught
PSC 101, Introduction to Policing.
CJBS 101, American Criminal Justice.
CJBS 101, American Criminal Justice (writing intensive).
PSC 401, Seminar in Police Problems.
CJBS 415, Capstone Seminar in Criminal Justice.
CRJ 711, Issues in Criminal Justice, Corrections and Police.
CRJ 717, Readings in Research.
CRJ 742, Police Ethics.
CRJ 757, Police and the Community.
Professional Memberships
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS)
PEN America
Scholarly Work
Books
Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District. Princeton University Press, 2008.
In Defense of Flogging. Basic Books. 2011.
Greek Americans: Struggle and Success (third edition). Transactions Publishers. 2014.
Back from the Brink. Oxford University Press. 2025.
A complete CV can be found at petermoskos.com
Honors and Awards
Official historian of New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection Police. 2026-
Senor Fellow of the Urban Ethnography Project, Yale University. 2014 –.
Certificate of Appreciation from John Jay College for “Guidance and Encouragement of (2) Dean’s List students.” October 2013.
Students’ writing accepted in John Jay’s Finest publication of best undergraduate writing. 2013, 2016, 2026.
Certificate of Appreciation from John Jay College for “guidance and encouragement of Dean’s List students.” October 2012.
In Defense of Flogging:“Favorite Books of the Year.” Mother Jones. 2011.
Atlantic Magazine’s “Brave Thinkers.” 2011.
In Defense of Flogging. Reviewed in The Economist. June 23, 2011.
John Jay College/Bramshill NPIA Exchange Scholar. Fall 2011.
Cop in the Hood: Winner of the American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence, Best Book in Sociology. 2008.
CUNY “Salute to Scholars” Certificate of Recognition. December 2008.
CUNY Graduate Program in Anthropology Colloquia Series. October 17, 2008.
Invitation and travel grant to attend the Aage Sørensen Memorial Conference. Stockholm, Sweden. March 2003.
Baltimore Sun op-ed cited in Petition for Rehearing (denied), submitted to US Supreme Court, 99-1408 Atwater, et al. v. Lago Vista, Texas, et al. June 2001.
Baltimore Police Department Special Service Commendation Medal. March 2001.
City of Baltimore Citizen Citation. April 2000.
Harvard University Scholarship. 1995 – 1997.
Isadore Brown Thesis Award for Best Sociology Thesis, Princeton University. 1994.
Magna Cum Laude, Princeton University. 1994.
Princeton University Hellenic Studies’ Seegar Grant for study in Greece. 1993.