Hoon Lee, a Doctoral Teaching Fellow in the College of Criminal Justice, won the "Highly Commended Award for Outstanding Paper" from the Emerald Literati Network for his research on police use of force.

"The award winning papers are chosen following consultation amongst the journal’s Editorial Team, many of whom are eminent academics or managers," said Nelli Rubante, External Relations Assistant for Emerald Group Publishing Limited. "(Hoon’s co-authored) paper has been selected as it was one of the most impressive pieces of work the team has seen throughout 2010.”

Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with an impact in business, society, public policy and education. It offers more than 700 titles, including 200 journals, nearly 300 books and more than 200 series ands serials. Each journal selected one winner and up to three additional outstanding papers for 2010.

The award recognizes internationality; diversity; support for scholarly research; encouragement of applied research (impact); commitment to high quality scholarship; and a desire to ensure the reader, author and customer experience is the best it can be.

"This award shows that our advanced Ph.D. students continue to perform well in the national level within the highly-competitive environment of academic Criminal Justice," said Dr. Michael S. Vaughn, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at the College of Criminal Justice and Director of the Ph.D. program. "Hoon is a special student, who has worked extremely hard to get where he is at. He is leaving Sam Houston with multiple publications on his vita. He has done exactly what it takes to be successful as a Ph.D. student. He has a fantastic career ahead of him."

Hoon is scheduled to graduate in August and has accepted a position in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at Western Carolina University.

"The award is a true testament of the quality and quantity of the mentorship in our College," Hoon said. "Dr. Vaughn, who can even make a whale dance, opened my eyes to the area of police use of force within the context of organizational breakdown/managerial disorganization. I obviously owe a great deal to Dr. Vaughn and his never-ending guidance."

The award-winning article – a collaborative effort with former Sam Houston Criminal Justice Ph.D. students, including Hyunseok Jang of Missouri Western State University, Ilhong Yun of Boise State University, Hyeyoung Lim of Western Illinois University and David W. Tushaus of Missouri Western State University -- is titled "An examination of police use of force utilizing police training and neighborhood contextual factors: A multi-level analysis." It was published in Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management.

The research examines police use of force using individual, contextual, and police training factors, expanding prior research by including multiple police agencies in the sample, thus producing research findings that can be more easily generalized.

Hoon earned his Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Florida State University and entered the doctoral program at Sam Houston State University in 2006. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Law from Korea National Police University and served as a police inspector of Busan Metropolitan Police Agency in Korea, where he worked in crime prevention units, white-collar crime investigation units, and police substations.

Hoon’s research interests are primarily related to management and legal issues in criminal justice. He is working on papers about police use of deadly force, code of silence, training, and corruption, highlighting organizational breakdown. Hoon is currently working within the College’s Police Research Center and Institute for Legal Studies in Criminal Justice.

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