RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP
Our department has nationally and internationally recognized scholars whose research addresses critical questions about society and the criminal justice system and has significant academic and policy impacts.
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FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP
Meredith Bergey, PhD, published the article "" in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Lance Hannon, PhD, along with current students Lindsay Redditt '24 CLAS and Brooke Cordes '24 CLAS, published the article 鈥淐urbing Pretextual Traffic Stops to Reduce Racial Profiling鈥� in published by the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
Jill McCorkel, PhD, will be featured on the panel 鈥淭he Difference Gender Makes: Understanding the Complexities of Women's Wrongful Conviction Cases鈥� with India and Morkea Spellman at the Innocence Network Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 23, 2024.
Dr. McCorkel, along with current students Paisley Hahn '24 CLAS and Isabella Balian '25 CLAS, will also have an article 鈥淧arenting from Prison鈥� published in the upcoming issue of , the newspaper for people incarcerated in Pennsylvania published by the Pennsylvania Prison Society.
Max Osborn, PhD, published the article "" in Critical Criminology.
Allison Ann Payne, PhD, published the chapter 鈥淩educing School Crime and Student Misbehavior: An Evidence-Based Analysis" in (2023) edited by Brandon Welsh, PhD, Steven Zane, PhD, and Daniel Mears, PhD.
Lorena 脕惫颈濒补, PhD, focuses on the role of law and legal bureaucracies in propelling inequalities through the immigration system. Her research aims to give visibility to the experiences, resources, and challenges of migrant families and migrant鈥檚 rights advocacy networks navigating inequality and racialization propelled by bureaucratic structures in place.
Tom Arvanites, PhD, is investigating the effect of residential segregation on the incarceration rate of African Americans for drug offenses.
Meredith Bergey, PhD, is working on a paper with Thomas Mackie, PhD, Giuseppina Chiri, PhD, and Nikki Freeman, PhD, that examines intersecting social identities and health inequalities.
Glenn Bracey鈥檚, PhD, scholarship examines the intersection of race, social movements, and religion. Drawing on research conducted through the Race, Religion, and Justice Project (rrjp.org), Bracey鈥檚 current work explores whiteness as a religion and the implications of the religion of whiteness for Christians of color.
Rick Eckstein, PhD, is currently exploring the social class bias in non-revenue intercollegiate sports. He recently appeared on the September episode of where he discusses special admissions for college athletes.
Guillermo Jes煤s Esca帽o (he/him), conducts research focusing on crime and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized criminal groups, the structural and cultural causes and consequences of violence, and criminal justice policy (evidence-based practices). He is a quantitative researcher, mainly using panel and time series models.
Heidi Grundetjern, PhD, is currently conducting research focused on women's drug use utilizing a trauma-informed psychosocial perspective.
Lance Hannon, PhD, is currently working on a variety of sociological and criminological research projects utilizing digital text analysis tools.
Melissa Hodges, PhD, is currently working on a project that examines the relationship between the structural arrangements of care systems and variation in the distribution of economic inequality across gender, race, and class cross-nationally.
Brian J. Jones, PhD, is writing a book for Palgrave Macmillan entitled The Pursuit of Happiness in America.
Rory Kramer, PhD, is finishing work on a book manuscript about diversity within the Black student body at selective colleges and universities with colleagues at Penn and Princeton. He is also working on a related paper on the impact of racial disparities in exposure to stressful events on college completion rates.
Jill MCCorkel, PhD, is writing a book manuscript about gender and mass incarceration that examines the long term incarceration of women who are survivors of gender violence. She is also collaborating with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office on a grant to explore the relationship between prosecutorial charging decisions and increases in women's incarceration rates. In 2022, Dr. McCorkel received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Society of Criminology Division of Corrections and Sentencing for the contributions of her non-profit organization, The Philadelphia Justice Project for Women & Girls. In 2023, Dr. McCorkel served as the co-chair of the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology.
Max Osborn, PhD, is examining how LGBTQIA+ people navigate risk, safety, and gender presentation during encounters with institutional actors such as police and service providers. He is also studying representations of transgender victims of violence in the news media.
Allison Ann Payne, PhD, is collaborating with our department鈥檚 research associate, Denise Wilson, on a multilevel study examining the influence of school-related risk and protective factors on traditional and cyberbullying.
Brianna Remster, PhD, and Melissa Hodges, PhD, are investigating the incarceration-wage penalty for women compared to men.
Ken Sun, PhD, is currently working on two manuscripts, including a single-authored book on aging and migration, and the other on transnational social protection (with Professors Peggy Levitt, Erica Dobb, and Ruxandra Paul).
Kelly Welch, PhD, is editing the Research Handbook on Race, Crime, and Justice. The handbook is under contract with Edward Elgar Publishing.
Emerson, Michael and Glenn Bracey. (2024).听.听Oxford University Press.
Jones, Brian. (2024).听.听Palgrave Macmillan.
Levitt, Peggy,听 Erica Dobbs, Ken Chih-Yan Sun, and Ruxandra Paul. (2023).听. Oxford University Press.
Charles, Camille Z., Massey, Douglas S., Torres, Kimberly C., & Kramer, Rory. (2022).听. Princeton University Press.
Sun, Ken Chih-Yan. (2021).听.听Cornell University Press.
Jones, Brian. (2019).听.听Palgrave Macmillan.
Bergey, Meredith R., Angela M. Filipe, Peter Conrad, and Ilina Singh (Eds.) (2018). .听Johns Hopkins University Press.
脕惫颈濒补, Lorena and Sarah Tosh. (2024). Critical Criminology.
脕惫颈濒补, Lorena and David Iba帽ez. (2023). . American Behavioral Scientist.
Rengifo, Andres F., Lorena 脕惫颈濒补, and David Iba帽ez. (2023). . Crime, Law and Social Change, 79(5), 555-580.
Bergey, Meredith. (2024). . Sociology Compass.
Bergey, Meredith. (2024). Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Chiri, Giuseppina, Meredith Bergey, and Thomas Mackie. (2022). . Social Science and Medicine, 301.
Bergey, Meredith, Giuseppina Chiri, Nikki Freeman, and Thomas I. Mackie. (2022). Sociology of Health and Illness.
Bracey, Glenn. (2022). . Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 8(4), 431-570.
Bracey, Glenn and Reverend Renee McKenzie-Hayward. (2022). Resistance in Sacred Spaces. In A. Rodriguez, C. Barry, and A. Armenta (Eds.), .
Esca帽o, Guillermo Jes煤s and William Alex Pridemore. (2024). . The British Journal of Criminology, 64(3), 656-674.
Esca帽o, Guillermo Jes煤s. (2024). . In K. Burgason & M. DeLisi. (Eds.), Routledge handbook of homicide studies (pp. 41-64). Routledge.
Esca帽o, Guillermo Jes煤s. (2023). . Justice Quarterly, 1-34.
Grundetjern, Heidi. (2022). . The British Journal of Criminology.
Grundetjern, Heidi and Alessandra Milagros Early (2022). . Crime & Delinquency.
Hannon, Lance, Lindsay Redditt, and Brooke Cordes. (2024). . Agenda for Social Justice 3 Solutions for 2024.
Hannon, Lance and Meredith Bergey. (2024). . Research Evaluation.
Kramer, Rory and Brianna Remster. (2022). . Annual Review of Criminology, 5.
McCorkel, Jill, Paisley Hahn, and Isabella Balian. (2024). Graterfriends.
Osborn, Max, Tanyanne Ball, and Valli Rajah. (2024). Trauma, Violence, & Abuse
Moore, B., Max Osborn, and C. DeJong. (in press). Consequences and considerations of 鈥渇ree speech鈥� in higher education: Validating trans and non-binary identities in the classroom setting. Journal of Criminal Justice Education. doi: 10.1080/10511253.2024.2378453.
Osborn, Max. (2023). Critical Criminology.
DeJong, Christina, Max Osborn, and Harnoor Kaur. (2023). In A. E. Goldberg, D. C. Slakoff, and C. L. Buist (Eds.), The (Mis) Representation of Queer Lives in True Crime (pp. 160-182).
Osborn, Max. (2023). In A. E. Goldberg, D. C. Slakoff, and C. L. Buist (Eds.), The (Mis) Representation of Queer Lives in True Crime (pp. 183-201).
Osborn, Max (2022). Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services.
Osborn, Max (2022). Violence Against Women, 28(9), 2033-2056.
Osborn, Max (2022). In V. Demos and M. T. Segal (Eds.), Advances in Gender Research: Gender Visibility & Erasure, 33, 51-69.
Payne, Allison Ann (2024). . In B. Welsh, S. Zane, and D. Mears (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-Based Crime and Justice Policy.
Payne, Allison Ann, and Kelly Welch. (2023). . Crime & Delinquency.
Payne, Allison Ann and Kelly Welch (2022). In G. Velez and T. Gavrielides (Eds.), Restorative Justice: Promoting Peace and Wellbeing.
Wilson, Denise, Kirsten L. Witherup and Allison Ann Payne. (2022). . In C. Donoghue (Ed.), The Sociology of Bullying.
Remster, Brianna, Chris M. Smith, and Rory Kramer. (2022). . Social Problems.
Sun, Ken Chih-Yan and Baiyu Su. (2023). International Migration Review.
Sun, Ken Chih-Yan and Nicole Newendorp. (2023). The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.
Welch, Kelly and Allison Ann Payne (forthcoming). Unequal 鈥渋n鈥漵ecurity: How differential school security approaches discriminate against students of color. In A. Eizadirad and P. P. Trifonas (Eds.), Handbook of Anti-Discriminatory Education.
Welch, Kelly, Peter S. Lehmann, Cecilia Chouhy and Ted Chiricos. (2022). Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Cory Goldstein '25 CLAS, Kate Malnak '25 CLAS, Ella Doda '25 CLAS, and Akintade Asalu '25 CLAS
Twenty-five Sociology and Criminology majors and minors attended the American Society of Criminology annual conference held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in November 2023. Criminology major Cory Goldstein '25 CLAS reflects on his experience attending the ASC Conference.
The 78th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) took place in Philadelphia, PA this past November, offering an opportunity for Villanova sociology and criminology majors and minors to attend panel discussions and research presentations on topics of their interest. As a junior, double majoring in criminology and statistics, I had the privilege of witnessing some of the field鈥檚 leading academics and researchers discuss their recent findings, theories, and hypotheses.
Fortunately, the Villanova Department of Sociology and Criminology funded student attendance at the conference, ensuring that no barriers hindered our access to this invaluable educational opportunity. During the four-day conference, I attended several presentations covering a range of topics, from residential segregation and police killings to gender issues in prosecutorial discretion, the effects of adverse childhood experiences on school shootings, and the analysis and innovation of white supremacist humor. Each presentation included a discussion of the research, relevant theory application, overarching themes, and a Q & A session. Engaging with leading academics and researchers, discussing their findings, and posing questions was an enriching experience that fully immersed us in the world of research, offering limitless opportunities to learn and explore.
Initially, I contemplated the idea of attending law school after graduation, however, my passion for academia, research, and crime data analysis has led me to pursue PhD programs. As I embark on the PhD program application process, I find myself reflecting on the experiences I gained at ASC. Witnessing some of the world's foremost academic minds compile years of data, conduct research, formulate hypotheses, and develop new theories has been both inspiring and motivating.
As I commence my second semester as a junior at Villanova, I grapple with a sense of uncertainty about the future, yet I also find solace in the experiences gained at ASC. It provided me with an unparalleled opportunity to delve into the world of research and immerse myself fully, if only for a brief period. Hopefully, this serves as the initial step in what promises to be a long and fulfilling journey in my research career.
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Paisley Hahn '24 CLAS, mentored by Allison Ann Payne, PhD, published the article "" in Veritas: Villanova Research Journal.