Jesilow, Paul (1950–)

PAUL D. JESILOW WAS ONE of the first criminologists to systematically and rigorously explore the nature, causes, and consequences of fraud in the auto repair industry. Along with his colleagues at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Jesilow also generated a great deal of research on the kinds of crimes committed in the healthcare field.

Jesilow did his undergraduate work in sociology and political science in the school of social sciences at UCI. His graduate work was done in the social ecology program at UCI, where he received his Ph.D. in 1982. While engaged in coursework, he also worked in a juvenile correction facility and in an educational opportunity program at UCI. His dissertation involved an examination of fraud in the automobile repair industry.

Jesilow has co-authored five books, including In the Same Voice: Women and Men in Law Enforcement, Doing Justice in the People's Court, Prescription for Profit: How Doctors Defraud Medicaid, White-Collar Crime, and Myths that Cause Crime. The last of these books won the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences' outstanding book award shortly after it was published.

[Page 460]In the area of white-collar crime, Jesilow worked with his UCI colleagues to expand understanding about a number of different types of workplace offenses. His work on crime in the medical field and police misconduct is especially noteworthy. In medical-crime research, Jesilow has conducted several different studies covering different aspects of the problem. One study considered how the offenses are detected and investigated. Another study examined how prosecutors adjudicated cases involving doctors, while another looked at how medical programs in different countries perpetuated or prevented fraud. He has published his medical-crime research in the Journal of the American Medical Association, among others. This research eventually culminated in the Prescription for Profit book.

Jesilow's latest interest in white-collar crime has expanded to include research on police misconduct. Combining his interests in policing research with his ability to do public attitude surveys, Jesilow examined the effect that police misconduct has on opinions about the police.