Al Pisciotta, Ph.D.
Professor of Criminal Justice &
Department Chair
office: Old Main 363
office phone: (610) 683-4241
e-mail: pisciott@kutztown.edu
Florida State University: Ph.D. Criminology
Rutgers University: M.A. Criminal Justice
University of Maryland: B.A. Economics


Dr. Pisciotta has written over one hundred articles, book reviews, conference papers, and research reports. Articles have appeared in criminal justice, criminology, and law journals, including the American Journal of Legal History, Criminology, Crime and Delinquency, Criminal Justice History, Criminal Justice Review, New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, and Research in Law, Deviance and Social Control.

He received the New York State Archives Outstanding Researcher Award (1995). He also received the Outstanding Book Award (1997) presented by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for Benevolent Repression: Social Control and the American Reformatory-Prison Movement (New York University Press, 1994). This book provides an analysis of the Elmira Reformatory, the adult-reformatory movement, and the diffusion of the "medical model" and the "new penology" across the United States and around the world. In 2009, Dr. Pisciotta received Kutztown University's Chambliss Faculty Research Award for significant achievement in research and schloarship.

Quote: "Teaching in the Department of Criminal Justice at Kutztown University is a wonderful experience. My colleagues are outstanding academicians and fine teachers. Our students are highly motivated and thoroughly committed to learning. Put simply, we have an excellent department and are proud of the contributions that our graduates are making to the criminal justice system and to society."