Nicole Rader, professor of sociology at Mississippi State University, has received the 2025 Robert Jerin Book Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Victimology.
Dr. Rader was recognized for her book, Teaching Fear: How We Learn to Fear Crime and Why It Matters (Temple University Press, 2023), which examines the social learning process that teaches young girls to be more afraid of crime and how these guidelines carry into adulthood. This is the second occasion the American Society of Criminology has honored Teaching Fear. In 2024, Dr Rader received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the association’s Division of Feminist Criminology.
A faculty member at Mississippi State since 2005, Dr. Rader currently serves as head of the department of sociology. Earlier in her tenure, she had stints as assistant dean for strategic initiatives and associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Arts & Sciences.
Dr. Rader’s current research focuses on gender and crime issues, specifically investigating fear of crime, sexual victimization, and the influence of the media. Along with four of her colleagues, Dr. Rader is the co-author of Fear of Crime in the United States: Causes, Consequences, and Contradictions (Carolina Academic Press, 2014).
Dr. Rader holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri, and a master’s degree in criminology from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology with a concentration in criminology and deviance from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.