James Ptacek, Associate Professor
James Ptacek, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Mailing address:
Department of Sociology
Suffolk University
8 Ashburton Place
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
Phone: 617.573.8047
Fax: 617.994.4278
jptacek@suffolk.edu
Office: 73 Tremont Street, 5th Floor, Room 573
Research Interests
Masculinity and violence. Legal responses to intimate violence. Feminist organizing around violence. Restorative justice and other alternative responses to violence against women. Class, race, gender, and justice. The sociology of emotions.
Education
Brandeis University
Ph.D. in Sociology, 1995.
University of New Hampshire
M.A. in Sociology, 1985.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A. in Poliotical Science and Philosophy, 1981.
Employment
2001– present, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Master’s Program in Crime and Justice Studies, Suffolk University.
1996-2000, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Master’s Program in Criminal Justice, Suffolk University.
1993-1996, Assistant Professor, Part Time, Department of Sociology, Tufts University.
1994-1995, Lecturer in Women’s Studies, Brandeis University.
Selected Publications
2005 Guest Editor of “Feminism, Restorative Justice, and Violence Against Women,” a Special Issue of Violence Against Women 11 (5) May.
1999 Battered Women in the Courtroom: The Power of Judicial Responses. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
1997 Review of What Trouble I Have Seen: A History of Violence Against Wives by David Peterson del Mar, Contemporary Sociology 26 (3) May: 357-358.
1997 “The Tactics and Strategies of Men Who Batter: Testimony from Women Seeking Restraining Orders.” In Albert Cardarelli (Ed.), Violence Between Intimate Partners: Patterns, Causes, and Effects. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
1996 “Male Student-Athletes and Violence Against Women: A Survey of Campus Judicial Affairs Offices.” Co-authored with Todd W. Crosset, Mark A. McDonald, and Jeffrey R. Benedict. Violence Against Women 2 (2) June: 163-179.
1988 “Why Do Men Batter Their Wives?” In Kersti Yllö and Michele Bograd (Eds.), Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
1988 “The Clinical Literature on Men Who Batter: A Review and Critique.” In Gerald T. Hotaling, David Finkelhor, John T. Kirkpatrick, and Murray A. Straus (Eds.), Family Abuse and Its Consequences: New Directions in Family Violence Research. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
Recent Presentations
“Restorative Justice and Violence Against Women: Feminist Contributions.” Joint Annual Meetings of the Law and Society Association and Canadian Law and Society Association, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, May 29 - June 1, 2008.
“Roundtable—Feminism, Restorative Justice, and Violence Against Women.” Organizer and Chair of a panel at the Joint Annual Meetings of the Law and Society Association and the Research Committee on Sociology of Law, Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany, July 25-28, 2007.
“Love, Fear, Anger, Guilt, and Shame: The Emotional Dynamics of Women’s Entrapment
in Relationships with Violent Men.” Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Meeting, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, August 10-12, 2006.
Participation in an Online Domestic Violence Conference between the Czech Republic and the United States, January 17, 2006.
“The Co-optation of Feminist Antiviolence Activism by the Conservative Right.” Presentation at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, Toronto, Ontario, November 16-19, 2005.
Professional Activities
Editorial Board member for the journal Violence Against Women.
Manuscript reviewer for the journals Violence Against Women, Theoretical Criminology, Social Problems, Sociological Inquiry, and Violence and Victims.
Manuscript reviewer for Rutgers University Press, University of Illinois Press, Northeastern University Press, and Mayfield Publishing Company.
Proposal reviewer for the Oxford University Press and the National Science Foundation.
Courses Taught
Race in American Society
Sociology of Crime
Criminal Justice Systems
Seminar in Criminology and Law
Women and Crime
Introduction to Sociology
Victims of Crime
Graduate Seminar in Intimate Violence and Sexual Assault
Graduate Seminar in Class, Race, Gender, and Justice
Graduate Seminar in Critical Victimology
Graduate Practicum in Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
Personal Statement
Professor Ptacek has been working on the problem of men’s violence against women for over twenty-five years. He has pursued this work in a variety of roles: as a batterers’ counselor; a researcher; a teacher; and a trainer on institutional responses to woman battering in the U.S., Sweden, and the Czech Republic. His research has focused on how men who batter account for their violence; rape and battering on college campuses; and battered women’s experiences seeking help from the courts. His current work addresses the class dimensions of intimate violence, and applications of restorative justice to violence against women and children.