David F. Greenberg

David F. Greenberg (1942-July 9, 2024) was an American criminologist, professor, and author.

David was born in Evanston, Illinois and earned his bachelor's, masters, and doctorate from University of Chicago, with a specialization in theoretical physics. In the late 1960s, Greenberg became involved in the peace and prison abolition movements. His personal experiences with anti-draft activism during the Vietnam War and brushes with illegality in his youth helped inspire an academic interest in the justice system and prison conditions. In addition to activism, he began writing for periodicals and academic books on these subjects. Through this writing, he was hired by the NYU Sociology Department in 1973. Beyond writing on issues of criminology, sociology of law, math, and human sexuality, he also published a translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh from Akkadian to English.