Police organizations, police reform, police decision making, police technology, punishment in an historical context
Professor Willis' interests include police organizations and organizational reform, police discretion, police technology, and penal history. His current projects include an examination of police officers' and prosecutors' perceptions of body-worn cameras in police organizations and the courts, and an assessment of the quality of police decision-making at the street-level. Along with his co-authors, in 2008 he was awarded the Law and Society Association’s article prize for research that used different theoretical perspectives to explain Compstat’s implementation in three police departments. In 2011, he was the recipient of a George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award.
2021 - present. Co-principal investigator. An examination of the use of BWCs in a district attorney's office during a time of COVID and new discovery laws (Marthinus Koen, SUNY-Oswego, Principal Investigator)
2018 - 2020. Principal investigator. Body-Worn Cameras, Organizational Change, and Police Decision-Making: A Case Study. Center for Justice Leadership and Management, George Mason University.
2014 – 2018. Co-principal investigator (Christopher Koper and Cynthia Lum, P.I.s) Evaluating the Crime Control and Cost-Benefit Effectiveness of License Plate Recognition (LPR) Technology in Patrol and Investigations. National Institute of Justice.
2011-2014. Faculty researcher (Christopher Koper and Cynthia Lum, P.I.s). Realizing the Potential of Technology for Policing: A Multi-Site Study of the Social, Organizational, and Behavioral Aspects of Implementing Policing Technologies. National Institute of Justice.
2010-2014. Co-Principal Investigator (Stephen Mastrofski, P.I.). Measuring the Craft of Law Enforcement: What Is Good Policing? Center for Justice Leadership and Management, George Mason University.
Willis, James J. and Heather Toronjo (2022). “Exploring a Craft Learning Model for Reviewing Patrol Officer Decision-Making in Encounters with the Public.” Law and Social Inquiry
Willis, James J. and Heather Toronjo (Forth.). “A Way Ahead: Re-Envisioning the Relationship Between Evidence-Based Policing and the Police Craft.” In The Future of Evidence-Based Policing, edited by David Weisburd, Tal Jonathan-Zamir, Badi Hasisi, and Gali Perry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Willis, James J. (2022). "Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast": An In-Depth Examination of Police Officer Perceptions of Body-Worn Camera Implementation and Their Relationship to Policy, Supervision, and Training." Criminology and Public Policy: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9133.12591
Willis, James J., Christopher S. Koper, and Cynthia Lum (2022). “An Assessment of Police Technology and the ‘Iron Cage’ of the Abstract Police in the United States.” In The Abstract Police: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Change in Police Organisations, edited by Jan Terpstra, Renze Salet, and Nick Fyfe, 151-167. The Hague: Eleven.
Willis, James J. and Heather Toronjo. (2019). “Translating Police Research into Policy: Some Implications of the National Academies Report on Proactive Policing for Policymakers and Researchers.” Police Practice and Research: An International Journal.
Koen, C. Marthinus, James J. Willis, and Stephen. D. Mastrofski (2018). "The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Organisation and Practice: A Theory-Based Analysis." Policing: An International Journal of Research and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2018.1467907
Willis, James J., Christopher Koper, and Cynthia Lum. (2017). “The Adaptation of License Plate Readers for Investigative Purposes: Police Technology and Innovation Re-Invention.” Justice Quarterly http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2017.1329936
Willis, James J. and Stephen D. Mastrofski (2017). “Understanding the Culture of Craft: Lessons from Two Police Agencies.” Journal of Crime and Justice 40: 84-100.
CRIM 100 Introduction to Criminal Justice
CRIM 220 Introduction to Law and Society
CRIM 402 Punishment and Corrections
CRIM 407 Advanced Topics in Law and Society
CRIM 491/492 Administration of Justice Honors Seminar
CRIM 700 Values, Ethics, and Criminal Justice Policy
CRIM 720 Law and Social Science
CRIM 523/723 Law and Social Control
Ph.D. Sociology, Yale University (2000)
B.A. with Honors (summa cum laude), Administration of Justice, The Pennsylvania State University (1991)
Marthinus C. Koen, On-Set with Body-Worn Cameras in a Police Organization: Structures, Practices, and Technological Frames (2016)
Holly Stevens, Rules, Laws and Conceptions of Justice in Middle School: An Exploratory Study of Children's Legal Consciousness (2013)