Faculty Researcher

Ph.D, University at Albany

I am a professor in the School of Criminal Justice. My collaboration with Dr. Luis Rivera was spurred, to a large degree, by a shared interest in understanding how individuals assume and shed explicit and implicit negative (in this case, criminal) identities. This represents a new direction in answering fundamental questions in the field of criminology. In addition to my collaborative work in the RISC Lab, my research foci also include understanding desistance through narratives of reform, evaluations of criminal justice policies and practices (particularly those related to behavioral health), and the effects of psychological trauma on women’s recovery from substance use/abuse and mental health conditions.

Current Projects:

My current projects in the RISC Lab focus on: (1) implicit criminal identities and how these identities shape involvement in the justice system, (2) how close relationships with criminal others may influence non-criminal persons implicit self-attribution of criminal identity, and (3) how implicit victim experience may predict revictimization.