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Spotlight On: Chris Donner

Donner, Chairperson and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, explores the global perspectives of modern law enforcement

Chris Donner smiles in front of a bookcaseChris Donner, PhD, Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology within the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago, has published a book with Routledge, Exploring Contemporary Police Challenges: A Global Perspective. 

As an editor and contributor to the book, Donner collaborated with a team of academics and expert practitioners to write and compile a comprehensive volume illustrating the complexity of modern policing from a uniquely global perspective. By leveraging real accounts and salient examples, the book draws a robust picture of the comparative policing challenges and presents a set of opportunities and solutions to change, enhance, and deliver quality policing around the world. 

"Dr. Donner’s book nicely demonstrates how scholarship can inform policymaking and help lay the foundation for a more just and equitable world,” said Peter J. Schraeder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago. “This book, which draws on numerous international case studies, is not only essential to informing our collective understanding of modern policing across the globe, but it will help guide the path forward towards greater trust between law enforcement and their local communities.” 

The book is divided into six sections in accordance with the six pillars presented in the 2015 findings of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing defining broad tenets of contemporary policing: 

  1. Building Trust and Legitimacy  
  2. Providing Policy and Oversight
  3. Utilizing Tech and Social Media
  4. Developing Community Policing and Crime Reduction
  5. Providing Training and Education 
  6. Facilitating Officer Wellness and Safety 

Donner, whose research and expertise lies in American law enforcement, police integrity and misconduct, criminological theory, sheds light on the relationship between the police and the communities they serve, such as perceptions of fair treatment by police and procedural justice within U.S. court system as well as attitudes toward community policing among new recruits. 

"This book represents the talented work of policing scholars from around the world,” said Donner. “The findings and recommendations offer insights into current issues and challenges facing the police and their role in society.” 

In addition to this new book, Donner is working towards his M.P.P. degree in Public Policy at Loyola University Chicago and is currently supporting efforts to evaluate the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act, which abolishes cash bail in Illinois and went into effect in September 2023. Donner is also a member of the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Midwest Criminal Justice Association.  

Learn more about Exploring Contemporary Police Challenges: A Global Perspective with Routledge and Donner’s work here.


About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 33 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campuses in Rome, Italy, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.” For further information about the College of Arts and Sciences, please visit our website.

Donner, Chairperson and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, explores the global perspectives of modern law enforcement

Chris Donner smiles in front of a bookcaseChris Donner, PhD, Chairperson and Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology within the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago, has published a book with Routledge, Exploring Contemporary Police Challenges: A Global Perspective. 

As an editor and contributor to the book, Donner collaborated with a team of academics and expert practitioners to write and compile a comprehensive volume illustrating the complexity of modern policing from a uniquely global perspective. By leveraging real accounts and salient examples, the book draws a robust picture of the comparative policing challenges and presents a set of opportunities and solutions to change, enhance, and deliver quality policing around the world. 

"Dr. Donner’s book nicely demonstrates how scholarship can inform policymaking and help lay the foundation for a more just and equitable world,” said Peter J. Schraeder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago. “This book, which draws on numerous international case studies, is not only essential to informing our collective understanding of modern policing across the globe, but it will help guide the path forward towards greater trust between law enforcement and their local communities.” 

The book is divided into six sections in accordance with the six pillars presented in the 2015 findings of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing defining broad tenets of contemporary policing: 

  1. Building Trust and Legitimacy  
  2. Providing Policy and Oversight
  3. Utilizing Tech and Social Media
  4. Developing Community Policing and Crime Reduction
  5. Providing Training and Education 
  6. Facilitating Officer Wellness and Safety 

Donner, whose research and expertise lies in American law enforcement, police integrity and misconduct, criminological theory, sheds light on the relationship between the police and the communities they serve, such as perceptions of fair treatment by police and procedural justice within U.S. court system as well as attitudes toward community policing among new recruits. 

"This book represents the talented work of policing scholars from around the world,” said Donner. “The findings and recommendations offer insights into current issues and challenges facing the police and their role in society.” 

In addition to this new book, Donner is working towards his M.P.P. degree in Public Policy at Loyola University Chicago and is currently supporting efforts to evaluate the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act, which abolishes cash bail in Illinois and went into effect in September 2023. Donner is also a member of the American Society of Criminology, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the Midwest Criminal Justice Association.  

Learn more about Exploring Contemporary Police Challenges: A Global Perspective with Routledge and Donner’s work here.


About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 33 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campuses in Rome, Italy, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.” For further information about the College of Arts and Sciences, please visit our website.