Dr. Scott H. Belshaw
Transformational leader and world renowned expert and Author in Digital forensics, dark-web markets, and the minds of serial killers—taught by someone who has investigated all three.
Booking Info
Expert In
- Digital forensics and cybercrime — building labs, training law enforcement, and teaching how phones, laptops, and networks become evidence
- The dark web — how hidden markets work, how offenders use them, and what researchers and agencies actually find there
- Serial homicide and true crime — case investigation, offender behavior, and the Shore / I-45 “Tourniquet Killer” file from the defense side
- Criminal justice ethics and the courtroom — mitigation work, expert consulting, and the gap between street practice and academic theory
- Youth, online harm, and risk — digital dangers to young people, suicide/ideation research, and data-driven approaches to prevention
Experience
- Court-appointed investigator and mitigation specialist on the Anthony Allen Shore (“Tourniquet Killer”) defense team; co-author of The Tourniquet Killer and The Dark Web: Unfiltered.
- Briefed the UK Probation Service and London Metropolitan Police on cybercrime and enforcement (2018); invited lectures at the University of West London on organized crime, cyber security, probation, and capital punishment.
- Regular public talks on the dark web and personal cyber security, including multiple OLLI presentations at the University of North Texas and community programs for the Irving, Texas public library
- Founding director of the UNT Cyber Forensics Lab, which conducted device exams for law enforcement and trained local and federal partners on digital forensics, financial crime, and the dark web.
- Former Chief Probation Officer and Police Officer. Experience training Criminal Justice Professionals.
About Dr. Scott H. Belshaw
Dr. Scott H. Belshaw is a tenured Full Professor of Criminal Justice and Security Studies at the University of Dayton. A U.S. Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm, former Harris County probation officer, licensed private investigator, and court-appointed mitigation specialist, he combines street-level and courtroom experience with academic research. He previously chaired the department at Dayton and, at the University of North Texas, founded and directed the Cyber Forensics Lab while serving as Faculty Senate President.
Belshaw holds a Ph.D. in Juvenile Justice from Prairie View A&M University and an M.Jur. from Texas A&M University School of Law focused on cybersecurity and international law. His research examines digital forensics, cyber threats, and the dark web—including how hidden markets operate, how law enforcement uses digital evidence, and how criminal justice students should be trained in cybersecurity. He has published on dark-web marketplaces, digital evidence in policing, and online harms to youth.
He is co-author of the textbook Introduction to Criminal Justice and author or co-author of The Dark Web: Unfiltered and The Tourniquet Killer (with Dr. Matt DeLisi). The latter draws on his years as a court-appointed investigator on the defense team of serial killer Anthony Allen Shore, the “Tourniquet Killer.” That work, together with his broader writing on serial homicide and true crime, gives him rare access to both the investigative file and the scholarly literature on predators, victims, and system failure.
Audiences get a speaker who has built a cyber forensics lab, studied the dark web from the inside of academic research, sat across from a condemned serial killer, and taught the next generation of practitioners. He delivers clear, story-driven talks on dark-web crime and digital forensics, serial killers and true crime, ethics in the justice system, and protecting young people from online harm.