David C. Pyrooz

David Pyrooz is a criminologist who studies the causes and consequences of crime and delinquency. His research interests focus primarily on street and prison gangs, crime trends between and within people and communities, institutional corrections and prisoner reentry, and evaluating criminal justice policies and practices. His research has been supported by over $3.1m in funding from private foundations and local, state, and federal agencies. His current research includes: (1) examining the processes and impacts of a multidisciplinary team gang intervention in Denver (National Institute of Justice); (2) a study of the development and impact of a solitary confinement step-down program in Oregon (Charles Koch Foundation); (3) assessing mortality risk associated with police-identified gang members in St. Louis (National Institute of Child Health and Development), and (4) a replication and extension of Functional Family Therapy-Gangs with justice-involved probationers in Aurora and Denver (private foundation).

Education

• 2005, BS, Criminology, California State University, Fresno
• 2007, MS, Criminology, California State University, Fresno
• 2012, PhD, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University

Academic Positions

• 2019-Present: Associate Professor Sociology, University of Colorado Boulder
• 2015-2019: Assistant Professor Sociology, University of Colorado Boulder
• 2012-2015: Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University

Books and Published Works

• 2022. On Gangs. Temple University Press
• 2019. Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons. Cambridge University Press
• 2016. Gang affiliation and restrictive housing in U.S. prisons. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice
• 2015. The Handbook of Gangs. Wiley-Blackwell
• 2014. Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community. Oxford University Press

Awards and Honors

• Outstanding Book Award, Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, 2021
• Excellence in Research Award, Boulder Faculty Assembly, University of Colorado Boulder, 2021
• Provost’s Faculty Achievement Award, Academic Affairs, University of Colorado Boulder, 2021
• Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award, American Society of Criminology, 2016
• Academy New Scholar Award, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, 2015
• Graduate Research Fellow, National Institute of Justice, 2012