Mark S. Fleisher, PhD

Research Professor Emeritus, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences

Mark S. Fleisher was educated as a cultural anthropologist and linguistics with theoretical and methodological specializations in linguistic theory, generative grammar, phonology, sociolinguistics, and ethno-linguistics, field methods, qualitative data analysis, social network data collection and analysis, community-based systemic and program evaluation, delinquency and youth gangs, the American correctional system, and the application of social network analysis to organizational assessment and adolescent social networks.

Over the past 25 years Fleisher’s research focused on prison management and violence, youth violence, youth gangs, organizational systems and evaluation, and social network analysis. Fleisher published five books, including two award-winning books (1995, 1998) and dozens of peer-review peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Biosketch
Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar

Research Information

Research Interests

• Youth violence, youth gang, gang intervention
• Street culture
• Prisons
• Social networks 

Recent Publications

Fleisher, M.S. (2013).  Homosexuality as pathogen:  A historically informed critique of the theories of sexual violence in prison as manifested in the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.  Open Journal of Social Science, 1(2), 46-51.

Ozguler, M., Kocak, M., Fleisher, M. & Jefferis, E.  (2013)  Domestic migration in the Republic of Turkey:  Issues influencing resettlement policy.  Open Journal of Social Science, 1 (1),  31-41.

Fleisher, M.S. (2013).  ‘Levenslang’:  schadebeperking door levenslange gevangenisstraffen,  De levenslange vrijheidsstraf, jaargang 39, Ministerie van Beiligheid en Justitie, 2(13) 85-95.  [“Doing Life”:  Harm Reduction Through Life Sentences.]

Fleisher, M.S., & Noveske, J. (2013). "Gangs." In  J.I. Ross (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Street Crime (pp. 167-172)  Los Angeles:  Sage Publications.

Fleisher, M.S. (2013). "Gang management in corrections:  Recent innovations in prison gang suppression and intervention." In P.M.. Carlson & J.S. Garrett (Eds.), Prison and Jail Administration: Practice and Theory (3rd Ed., pp. 355-360)  Gaithersburg, MD:  Aspen Publishing.

Pyrooz, D., Decker, S. H., & Fleisher, M. S. (2011). From the street to the prison, from the prison to the street: understanding and responding to prison gangs. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 3(1), 12–24.

Fleisher, M. S., & Flannery, D. J. (2010). "Harm reduction strategies within multi-cultural schools." In S. Uludag, C. Dogutas, O. Dolu, & H. Burker (Eds.), Children at risk and in need of protection: Safe schools (pp. 205–224). Anakara, Turkey: TBMM Basimevi.

Fleisher, M. S. (2009). Coping with Macro‐Structural Adversity: Chronic Poverty, Female Youth Gangs, and Cultural Resilience in a US African‐American Urban Community. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 17(4),274–284.

Fleisher, M. S. (2009). "Cultural competence and data flow networks in evaluation design." In S. Uludag, C. Dogutas, O. Dolu, & H. Buker (Eds.), Children in Conflict with the Law: Multidisciplinary Cooperation Solving Problems and Best Practices (pp. 183–211). Ankara, Turkey: TBMM Basimevi.

Books

Fleisher, M. S., & Krienert, J. L. (2009). The Myth of Prison Rape: Sexual Culture in American Prisons. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy 
Washington State University

Bachelor of Arts
Harpur College

Affiliations

• American Society of Criminology
• International Network of Social Network Analysis

In the News

Professors Kathleen J. Farkas and Mark S. Fleisher to retire
April 17, 2023