He is the incoming editor of Criminology and Public Policy, chaired the National Research Council’s Committee on Deterrence and the Death Penalty, and served as Deputy Secretary for Fiscal Policy and Analysis in the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue from 1981 to 1986.

Nagin is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and of the American Society for the Advancement of Science. He is the 2006 recipient of the American Society of Criminology Edwin H Sutherland Award (for research contributions) and is a 1985 recipient of the Northeastern Association of Tax Administrators Award for Excellence in Tax Administration.

His research focuses on the evolution of criminal and antisocial behaviors over the life course, the deterrent effect of criminal and non-criminal penalties on illegal behaviors, and the development of statistical methods for analyzing longitudinal data.