RSCJ Faculty

Dr. Caplan is Assistant Professor at the School of Criminal Justice and the Assistant Director of the Rutgers Center on Public Security. Before joining the Rutgers faculty in 2008, Dr. Caplan was at the University of Pennsylvania Cartographic Modeling Lab (CML). At the CML, he collaborated with faculty in various disciplines to integrate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis into projects concerning such topics as juvenile gun violence, emergency medical services, disaster management, mental illness, prisoner reentry, and crime control. Dr. Caplan has consulted on separate occasions the New Jersey State Police, State Parole Board, Attorney General’s Office, and the Director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy about the use of GIS for decision support , and he presented to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative and the National Institute of Justice’s Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety program. Current projects focus separately on parole board decision-making; the impact of mental illness on prison program participation and community reentry; the use of GIS for parolee caseload allocation, case management, and community supervision; and geographic risk assessments for violent crime forecasting and tactical police responses. In addition to his academic accomplishments, Joel has professional experience as a police officer and emergency medical technician.


Joel Caplan Specialization: Parole, Policing, Public Security, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Criminal Justice Policy Ph.D. (2008) PhD University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Caplan is Assistant Professor at the School of Criminal Justice and the Assistant Director of the Rutgers Center on Public Security. Before joining the Rutgers faculty in 2008, Dr. Caplan was at the University of Pennsylvania Cartographic Modeling Lab (CML). At the CML, he collaborated with faculty in various disciplines to integrate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analysis into projects concerning such topics as juvenile gun violence, emergency medical services, disaster management, mental illness, prisoner reentry, and crime control. Dr. Caplan has consulted on separate occasions the New Jersey State Police, State Parole Board, Attorney General’s Office, and the Director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy about the use of GIS for decision support , and he presented to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Prisoner Reentry Initiative and the National Institute of Justice’s Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety program. Current projects focus separately on parole board decision-making; the impact of mental illness on prison program participation and community reentry; the use of GIS for parolee caseload allocation, case management, and community supervision; and geographic risk assessments for violent crime forecasting and tactical police responses. In addition to his academic accomplishments, Joel has professional experience as a police officer and emergency medical technician.

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School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University 123 Washington Street Newark, NJ 07102 Phone: (973) 353-3311 Fax: (973) 353-5896
jcaplan@andromeda.rutgers.edu