In the mid-1960s I received, unsolicited, a grant to write a report on an aspect of crime and criminal justice in 1920s Chicago. I found the topic challenging, particularly since I seemed to be the only professional historian studying the history of American urban crime. At first I concentrated on Chicago, but I soon branched out in order to develop a comparative focus. In the years since, I have published on the history of city police, gambling, bootlegging, vice, loansharking, and drug trafficking. In the 1990s I was given complete access to the intelligence files of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission in order to undertake a study of the Bruno family centered in south Philadelphia.
Crime is an interesting prism through which to understand the society within which the crime occurs.
Professor Haller received the Herfurth Award for his book Eugenics . He has been awarded fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the American Bar Association, and the Social Science Research Council and has been a Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Law Enforcement as well as a consultant for federal commissions investigating crime. Return to the faculty list. Return to the Temple History Web Page .