Dennis L. Peck is Professor of Sociology at The University of Alabama.His reference book experience includes serving as an Associate Editor of the Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior (2001) and The Handbook of Death and Dying (2003). For the period 1987 to 1993 he was Editor of Sociological Inquiry the official journal of Alpha Kappa Delta, the International Sociology Honor Society. He is a past president of the Mid-South Sociological Society and he currently serves as president of the Alabama-Mississippi Sociological Association.