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Amanda L. Thomas, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Office Location
Hynes Hall - 504H
Email
amthomas@kean.edu
Phone
(908) 737-4293
Amanda Thomas

Prof. Thomas retired from the NYPD as a sergeant and completed her Ph.D. at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Using her practical experience from both the Patrol and Housing Bureaus, Prof. Thomas continues to contribute to the field of law enforcement by maintaining an active, policy-relevant research agenda.

Education

  • Ph.D., John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY, The Graduate Center (2023)
  • MPhil, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY, The Graduate Center (2022)
  • M.A., John Jay College of Criminal Justice (2009); BA - Manhattan College (2005)

Courses Taught

  • CJ*3500 - Diversity & Criminal Justice
  • CJ*3630 - Police in America
  • 5650 - Race, Class, & Gender in CJ

Research Interests

Evidence-Based Policing, Best Practices in Policing, Police Training, Crime Prevention, Environmental Criminology, Quantitative Research Methods

Publications

Articles

Thomas, A. L., Hatten, D. N., & Connealy, N. T. (2022). Does police use of Twitter align with and enhance community policing objectives? An analysis of the NYPD’s Twitter activity. Police Quarterly, 25(4), 443-469.

Thomas, A. L., Piza, E. L., Welsh, B. C., & Farrington, D. P. (2021). The internationalization of CCTV surveillance: Effects on crime and implications for emerging technologies. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 46(1), 81-102.

Kennedy, L. W., Caplan, J. M., Piza, E. L., & Thomas, A. L. (2020). Environmental factors influencing urban homicide clearance rates: A spatial analysis of New York City. Homicide Studies, 25(4), 313-334.

Thomas, A. L., & Wolff, K. T. (2020). Crime distortion within the NYPD: A potential method for estimating crime misclassification within CompStat statistics. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 22(4), 1390-1407.

Welsh, B. C., Piza, E. L., Thomas, A. L., & Farrington, D. P. (2020). Private security and CCTV Surveillance: A systematic review of function and performance. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 36(1), 56-69.

Piza, E. L., Welsh, B. C., Farrington, D. P., & Thomas, A. L. (2019). CCTV surveillance for crime prevention: A 40-year systematic review with meta-analysis. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(1), 135-159. 

Thomas, A. L., Scott, J., & Mellow, J. (2018). The validity of open-source data when assessing jail suicides. Health & Justice, 6(1), 1-10.

Book Chapter

Gideon, L., & Thomas, A. L. (2018). Rehabilitation and the rehabilitative ideal. In O. H. Griffin III & V. H. Woodward (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Corrections in the United States (pp. 81-107). New York: Routledge.

Technical Report

Piza, E. L., Welsh, B. C., Farrington, D. P., & Thomas, A. L. (2018). CCTV and crime prevention: A new systematic review and meta-analysis. Report prepared for The Swedish National Council of Crime Prevention. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.bra.se/bra-in-english/home/publications/archive/publications/2018-06-12-cctv-and-crime-prevention.html