Larry J. Siegel was born in the Bronx in 1947. Growing up in the city, he became fascinated by the effects of social forces on human development and behavior. While attending the City College of New York in the 1960s, he was introduced to the study of crime and justice in courses taught by sociologist Charles Winick. His interest led him to attend the School of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Albany, where he completed his master's thesis. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Siegel began his teaching career at Northeastern University in Boston, where he taught courses on juvenile justice, research methods, and statistics. Later, he held teaching positions at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. He is currently a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Dr. Siegel has written extensively in the area of crime and justice, including more than a dozen books on juvenile law, delinquency, criminology, criminal procedure, and other topics. He is a court certified expert on police conduct and has testified in numerous legal cases.