Denise Claire Gottfredson (née Denise Claire Ruff) is an American criminologist and professor in the department of criminal justice and criminology at the University of Maryland, College Park.
[2][3] She is recognized for her research applying the techniques of program evaluation to certain crime prevention initiatives, such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education,[4] the Strengthening Families Program, and the Baltimore City Drug Treatment Court.
[5] She has also researched the effects of school resource officers on schools, finding that such officers spend an average of about half of their time engaged in law enforcement activities.
She is a fellow of the ASC and of the Academy of Experimental Criminology.
[7] She became an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park's department of criminal justice and criminology in 1986, and was promoted to full professor there in 1995.