University of Michigan - Flint

Degrees Earned:

Ph.D. (1996) Wayne State University, LEC (1981) Sir Hugh Wooding Law School, St. Augustine, Trinidad, LLB – Bachelor of Laws (1978) University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados.

Teaching Interests:

Global criminology, International and comparative criminal justice, Law and Society, Criminal Law.

Research and Other Interests:

Policing and the rule of law, Crime and justice in the Caribbean, Immigration and criminal justice policy, global criminology, international aid organizations and the protection of human rights.

Joan Mars is a Fulbright Scholar (2005-2006) and founding director of the Linden Legal Aid Center, Linden, Guyana (funded by UNICEF) and editor of the Center’s online quarterly newsletter "Legalines" available on the Center’s website at http://www.justiceforlinden.org.

Recent Publications:

Mars, Joan. (2009) "Ethnic Diversity and Police - Community Relations in Guyana," Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Vol. 47, No. 4, Pp. 506-516.

Mars, Joan. (2007) "Rough Justice: Political Policing and Colonial Self-Rule in Guyana," Pp. 265-283 in Crime, Delinquency and Justice: A Caribbean Reader, edited by Ramesh Deosaran. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers.

Mars, Joan. (2006) Book Review: Crime, Corruption, and Capacity in Papua New Guinea by Maxine Pitts. International Criminal Justice Review, Volume 16, No. 3, pp. 238-239.

Mars, Joan. (2006) Country Entry "Guyana." Pp. 351-355 in World Police Encyclopedia, edited by Dilip Das and Michael Palmiotti. New York: Routledge.

Mars, Joan. (2004) "Colonialism, Political Policing and the Jagan Years, Pp. 64-88 in Perry Mars and Alma Young (eds.) Caribbean Labor and Politics: Legacies of Cheddi Jagan and Michael Manley. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.

Mars, Joan. (2004) "Police Abuse of Force in Guyana: Applying Lessons From the United States." Pp. 206-224 in Anthony Harriot, Farley Braithwaite, and Scot Wortley (eds.), Crime and Criminal Justice in the Caribbean. Kingston, Jamaica: Arawak Publications.

Mars, Joan. (2003) A review of four books: Sibling Abuse Trauma: Assessment and Intervention Strategies for Children, Families, and Adults by J. Caffaro and A. Conn-Caffaro; From Surviving to Thriving: A Therapist’s Guide to Stage II Recovery for Survivors of Childhood Abuse by M. Bratton; I Never Told Anyone This Before: Managing the Initial Disclosure of Sexual Abuse Re-collections by J. Gasker; Breaking the Silence: Group Therapy for Childhood Sexual Abuse by J. Margolin; Criminal Justice Review, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 164-165.

Mars, Perry and Joan Mars. (2002) State Intervention and Ethno-Political Conflicts in the Caribbean, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Wayne State University, Working Paper No. 01-03, 2002.

Mars, Joan. (2002) Deadly Force, Colonialism and the Rule of Law: Police Violence in Guyana. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Mars, Joan. (2001), "Coramae Richey Mann on Women, Crime and the Color of American Justice," Women and Criminal Justice, Vol 13, No. 1, pp. 1-25.

Recent Presentations:

Mars, Joan. "UNICEF Annual Child Protection Programme Review – Linden Legal Aid Center." UNICEF /Government of Guyana Child Protection Annual Review and Planning Meeting, Georgetown, Guyana, November 20 – 21, 2008.

Mars, Joan. "Ethnic Diversity and Police-Community Relations in Guyana." Conference on "Defending Democracy: Accommodating Diversity in the Security Sector," Queens University Centre for International Relations and the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada., November 1 - 3, 2007.

Mars, Joan. "Criminal Deportees and the Crime Wave in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana." A paper presented a the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Seattle, Washington, March 13-17, 2007. Association of American Colleges and Universities General Education and Assessment Conference, Miami, Florida, March 1-3, 2007.

Mars, Joan. "The Effects of U.S. Deportation Policy on Criminal Aliens of Caribbean Descent." A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Toronto, November 15-19, 2005.

Mars, Joan. " U.S. Immigration and Deportation: Caribbean Resident Aliens and the Criminal Justice Process." A paper presented at the Third International Conference on Crime and Criminology in the Caribbean, Jamaica, West Indies, February 11th- 14th, 2004.

23rd Annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Oxford, Ohio, November 20-23, 2004.

Mars, Joan. "Problems in Paradise: Crime and Justice in Belize." Participant, multi-media town meeting at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Boston, Massachusetts, March 4-8, 2003.