FIU experts on the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin shooting

FIU has several experts in law, criminal justice, psychology, sociology, among other fields who can discuss different aspects of the aftermath of the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Our experts can discuss a wide range of subjects, including the “Stand Your Ground” law, witness reliability, forensic evidence, race and ethnic relations, minorities and crime, and what to expect from state and federal investigations resulting from the shooting. They also can discuss  the current trial of George Zimmerman, who has been charged with second degree murder in the case.

For questions or assistance in contacting any of the following experts, please call the Office of Media Relations:

Maydel Santana-Bravo: 305-348-1555,
Lilyvania Mikulski: 305-348-2716,
JoAnn Adkins: 305-348-0398,
Dianne Fernandez: 305-608-4870.

LAW

H. Scott Fingerhut

Professor Fingerhut comes to the College of Law with more than 16 years of law teaching experience and 23 years as an AV-Preeminent Peer Review Rated criminal trial and appellate litigator. A frequent lecturer and writer on criminal justice matters, he is called upon often to pen amicus briefs on behalf of local, state and national organizations in defense of our liberties. Fingerhut is also very active in The Florida Bar, serving as chair-elect and Continuing Legal Education chair of the Criminal Law Section and a newly appointed member of the Florida Innocence Commission. He also serves on the Florida Supreme Court Criminal Court Steering Committee’s Post-Conviction Relief Workgroup, The Bar’s Committee to Study the Decline in Jury Trials, and just completed six years of service as a member of The Florida Bar Journal and Florida Bar News Editorial Board.
Office: 305-348-3182
fingerhut@fiu.edu

Joëlle Anne Moreno
Before beginning her academic career, Professor Moreno served as a federal prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice in the Litigation Section of the Antitrust Division. She is an experienced teacher of Evidence, Scientific and Forensic Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, Criminal Advocacy, and Alternative Dispute Resolution. She is a prolific scholar whose work has focused primarily on evidence and criminal justice issues. As a firm believer that academic work should have real world application, she has also examined problems that include the use and misuse of police officers as expert witnesses and the admissibility of certain types of scientific testimony in child abuse cases. Moreno believes that “Stand your Ground” laws give an untrained population unfettered power to respond with violence to all perceived threats without accountability.
Office: 305-348-1152
joelle.moreno@fiu.edu

SOCIOLOGY

Percy Hintzen
Professor Hintzen comes to FIU with a diverse and robust academic background, having earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from the University of Guyana and graduate and doctorate degrees from Yale University in political sociology and comparative social change. Hintzen’s research, scholarship and scholarly practice is “trans-disciplinary” more than multi-disciplinary. It takes into account ways in which culture and institutions permeate, define, produce, and fashion every aspect of reality. He has presented his research in over one hundred papers at conferences and other forums. His areas of expertise include African studies, diaspora studies, political sociology and development, and comparative race and ethnicity.
Office: 305-348-4419
phintzen@fiu.edu

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Jamie Flexon
Professor Flexon’s research interests involve juvenile delinquency primarily among minority youth, criminal justice issues related to punishment (i.e., capital punishment) and policy evaluation. She has presented numerous papers at professional conferences. Flexon’s research has also appeared in various outlets including Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Criminal Justice, Crime & Delinquency, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, The Western Criminology Review, Victims & Offenders, and The Contemporary Justice Review, among others. She also has contributed chapters to books, such as Wrongly Convicted, Perspectives on Failed Justice and Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory. Flexon’s areas of expertise include juvenile delinquency, minorities and crime, law and social control, criminal justice policy, and capital punishment.
Office: 305-348-0423
flexonj@fiu.edu

Suman Kakar
Professor Kakar’s research has been published in national and international journals including the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, the Journal of Policing, and Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention. She also served as guest editor for the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Special Issue on Juvenile Justice in the New Millennium. She has contributed chapters to other books, such as the Handbook of Juvenile Justice: Theory and Practice and Crime and Justice Around the World. Kakar’s research interests include juvenile delinquency, minorities and crime, violence in schools, youth gangs, human trafficking and policing.
Office: 305-348-5992
kakars@fiu.edu

Abraham D. Lavender
Professor Lavender’s doctoral dissertation was a study of generational changes in Jewish identity, and he has since continued his research in Judaic Studies with a specialization in Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) Jews. At the same time, his interest in ethnicity is very broad, including significant attention to Hispanics, Blacks, and others. His books in ethnicity include Black Communities in Transition: Voices from South Florida, Ethnic Women and Feminist Values: Toward a New Value System, and Jews, Hispanics, Blacks and Others in Miami Beach: An Ethnically Divided City or a Cosmopolitan Multiethnic City? Lavender’s teaching and research areas include anthropology of race and ethnic relations, social deviancy, social conflict, political sociology, the sociology of men, urban sociology, and South Florida regional studies.
Office: 305-348-3672
lavender@fiu.edu

PSYCHOLOGY

Nadja Schreiber Compo,
Dr. Schreiber-Compo is an Associate Professor and the Co-Director of FIU’s Legal Psychology Graduate Program. Her research focuses on investigative interviewing and eyewitness memory, especially in the context of vulnerable witnesses such as children or the intoxicated. She is both interested in potentially detrimental and beneficial interviewing techniques and their underlying cognitive and social mechanisms to improve the quality and quantity of witness and victim recall. She is further interested in studying other ‘players’ in the legal field, e.g., real-world investigator’s and legal professional’s perceptions, attitudes and behaviors. Her research findings are published in scientific journals such as Law and Human Behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, Psychology, Public Policy and the Law, Applied Cognitive Psychology and Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. Dr. Schreiber-Compo has worked with and trained several law enforcement agencies. She has also served as an expert witness in various legal cases. Her I-LAB involves a variety of undergraduate and graduate projects in the area of witness interviewing.
Office: 305-348-3384
schreibe@fiu.edu

JOURNALISM

Moses Shumow
Assistant Professor Shumow has been following the case closely and discussing it with his students, particularly through the lens of media literacy and pushing them dig beneath the headlines, understand the larger issues and the role media, and especially social media, have played in how this story has played out.
Office: 305-919-5939
moses.shumow@fiu.edu

Neil Reisner
Associate Professor Reisner teaches multi-ethnic reporting and has been discussing the aftermath of the shooting of Trayvon Martin in class.
Office: 305-919-5677
Neil.Reisner@fiu.edu