Scott Christianson


Keith Scott Christianson was an American author and journalist, who wrote several popular works about forensic science, crime, prison and the death penalty, about American history and politics, and about other popular subjects such as the history of incarceration, runaway slaves and historical highlights of visualization.

Biography

Christianson was raised in New England and upstate New York, and graduated from Bethlehem Central High School in 1965. During his work he continued his studies. He graduated at the University of Connecticut, and took a course in investigative reporting at the American Press Institute. Eventually at the State University of New York at Albany he obtained his M.A. and in 1981 his PhD with the thesis, entitled The American Experience of Imprisonment, 1607–1776.
Christianson had begun his career after high school in 1965 in Albany, New York as investigating reporter at of the Bethlehem Star and the Knickerbocker News-Union Star. In the 1980s he moved into the public service sector, where he held several positions in the criminal justice system in the state of New York. Later in the 1990s he worked for multiple advocacy and reform organizations, and eventually turned to full-time writing and teaching.
From 1969 to 1972 Christianson had been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Selected publications