Francis T. Cullen

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Francis Thomas Cullen Jr. (born March 2, 1951) is an American criminologist and Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Cincinnati's School of Criminal Justice. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and earned a BA in psychology from Bridgewater State College in 1972, followed by an MA (1974) and PhD (1979) from Columbia University in sociology and education.

Cullen started his teaching career at Western Illinois University before moving to the University of Cincinnati in 1982 as an associate professor. He became a full professor in 1987, a distinguished professor in 1993, and retired as an emeritus professor in 2015. He has held influential roles and received several honors: fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in 1989, president of ACJS from 1993 to 1994, and recipient of the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award (1996) and the Founders Award (2002). He served as president of the American Society of Criminology from 2003 to 2004 and received the ASC's Edwin H. Sutherland Award in 2010, plus the Stockholm Prize in Criminology in 2022.

Cullen has contributed to scholarship as editor-in-chief of Justice Quarterly (1987–1989) and the Journal of Crime and Justice (1984–1986). His doctoral advisor was Richard Cloward, and one notable student is John Paul Wright. His PhD thesis was The Structuring of Deviant Behavior: Deviance Theory Reconsidered (1979).