Mathieu Deflem is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina, and previously helds positions at Purdue University and Kenyon College. A former native of Belgium, he studied sociology and anthropology at universities in Belgium and England, before he migrated to the United States and obtained a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado. His research specialties include international criminal justice, crime and social control, abortion policy, sociolegal studies, and theoretical sociology. Deflem is elected Chair of the Law and Society division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. He is also newsletter editor of the Sociology of Law section of the American Sociological Association, and website developer for the same organization's Comparative and Historical Sociology section.