Department of Sociology and Criminology

Professional Bio

John D. Crum is a Ph.D. candidate in Criminology at Pennsylvania State University. His research interest includes drug policy, substance use, and policing. During his time at PSU, he worked on several policing projects such as examining law enforcement agencies’ justifications for items from the 1033 Program and the impact of extralegal factors on police booking decisions. Also, he has worked on evaluating if marijuana liberalization policies increase binge drinking. Currently, John is working on his dissertation that evaluates the impact of drug law punitiveness on opioid overdose mortality.

Previously, John was a research assistant at the Criminal Justice Research Center at the Pennsylvania State University. He assisted with the NIJ funded “Identifying and Informing Strategies for Disrupting Drug Distribution Networks” project and the social network of campaign contributions in Pennsylvania project. He received this M.A. in Criminology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2015 and B.A. in Criminal Justice from Penn State University, Altoona in 2013.