O'Neill School at IU Indianapolis
801 W. Michigan Street
BS 4167
Indianapolis, IN
46202
Biography
Zachary Loftus is a lecturer of Criminal Justice in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Indianapolis. He joined O'Neill as a visiting assistant professor in 2021. His courses introduce students to the major aspects of the criminal justice system (e.g., police, courts, and corrections), as well as to the topics of drugs and justice, offender treatment, and criminological theory. His research interests center around evidence-based criminal justice practices and program evaluation.
Dr. Loftus earned his Ph.D. and master’s degrees in criminology from Florida State University, where he also held a postdoctoral scholar position. During his graduate and postgraduate studies, his research focused on whether and how the Big Five personality traits affected delinquent youth’s persistence in crime. A primary objective of this work was to identify the mechanisms underlying the trait-offending relationship and the implications for intervention.
Education
- Ph.D., Criminology, Florida State University, 2019
- M.S., Criminology, Florida State University, 2012
- B.S., Stetson University, 2009
Professional Experience
- Postdoctoral Scholar, Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2019–2021