Vanessa Barker, PhD is Assistant Professor of Criminology at Florida State University and Associate Professor of Sociology at Stockholm University. Dr. Barker writes about the massive prison build up in the US and how some states bucked this trend in her new book about punishment and democracy, The Politics of Imprisonment: How the Democratic Process Shapes the Way America Punishes Offenders (Oxford University Press, 2009). She also writes on the death penalty, crime victim movements, the crime decline, and immigration and has published in Law & Society Review, Punishment & Society, and Criminology & Public Policy.

Dr. Barker received her PhD in Sociology at New York University, was a Visiting Fellow at the Law and Public Affairs Program at Princeton University and Dissertation Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. She belongs to the American Society of Criminology, Law & Society Association, and the American Sociological Association.

Patricia C. Meringer has practiced law for more than twenty years and concentrates in the areas of corporate and business law including board governance, corporate finance, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, employment matters and commercial transactions. She counsels management and owners of businesses throughout life cycle of their businesses, from formation and capitalization and growth to restructuring, dissolution, and sale.

Ms. Meringer is a member of the American Bar Association, the Florida Bar Association, and the Sarasota County Bar Association, where she served as the first chairman of the Business Section. She is active in the community as well, supporting the Sarasota Youth Opera and Girls Incorporated as well as other charitable organizations. Ms. Meringer is a member of the Leadership Sarasota County Class of 2009-2010 through the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.

Barbara Richards, MS is the Founder and Director of Project 180. A former Adult Basic Education and GED teacher in the San Francisco County Jail system, she came to Florida to study for her Master’s of Science Degree in Criminology & Criminal Justice at Florida State University which she obtained in 2006. Prior to becoming involved in criminal justice issues, Ms. Richards owned and operated a successful restaurant in San Francisco for fifteen years.

Ms. Richards is a graduate of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation Leadership Institute and a member of the American Jail Association, the Sarasota County Civic League, and the Reentry Workgroup for the Sarasota County Criminal Justice Commission. She currently trains in small farm operation and management and has been a practitioner of the Biodynamic/French Intensive method for twenty years.