A West Virginia University sociology professor has been honored by Washington, D.C.s Justice Research and Statistics Association for his study of the accuracy of crime reporting in the Mountain State.

Dr. James Nolans article,Establishing the Statistical Accuracy of Uniform Crime Reports in West Virginia,won the associations Phillip Hoke Award. He penned the article with help from the states Statistical Analysis Center.

Of the 31,084 crimes studied by Nolan, some 1,297 contained classification errorsand such miscalculation, he said, could have implications down the road for agencies that report crimes.

Nolan is an associate professor in the Division of Anthropology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. He began his career as a police officer and advanced to the FBI , where he was a unit chief who oversaw the management of hate crime data.

The Justice Research and Statistics Association is a national, nonprofit group of analysts, researcher and practitioners in all facets of the legal system. It was founded in 1974 by Americas state Statistical Analysis Centers.

The association works the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics to promote the effective use of criminal and juvenile justice information.

Hoke, the awards late namesake, was the associations founder and president.