Meet Leonard (Leo) J. Genco
Assistant Teaching Professor, Criminology
Phone: (813) 257-4019
Email: lgenco@ut.edu
Address: 401 W. Kennedy Blvd. Tampa, FL 33606
Mailbox: Q
Building:
SFB
Room: 252
Education
2013 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, B.S.
2016 University of South Florida, M.A.
2021 University of South Florida, Ph.D.
Courses Taught
Introduction to Criminology
Criminological Theory
Crimes Against Animals
Career Specialties
Leo Genco is a green criminologist, looking at the economic structural correlates of environmental crimes and harms. His research is focused on how economic development impacts the patterns and trends of illegal hunting.
Professional and Community Activities
Genco has published articles on the effectiveness of animal registry, animal cruelty and welfare laws, and the taking of wildlife by government agencies. Currently, he has explored the ethics and morality of hunting, the distribution of punishment for animal abusers, and the spatial clustering of illegal hunting. He is currently working on profiling media reports on animal abusers across Florida, spatially analyzing illegal hunting across Texas and looking at ethics of hunting bans.
Genco is also involved in archery and outdoor activities such as hunting. His focus is to use his outdoor hobbies as a means to support outdoorsmen to advocate for conservation and environmental protection. Additionally, he plans to publish a podcast centered around environmental politics to provide a space for conservative individuals to understand environmental activism, policies and theories. The goal is to educate the nuances of environmental harm and to call for more attention to our societal practices that harm ecosystems.