Profile

I have been a faculty member in the Department of Criminal Justice here at the University of Central Florida since 2015. Prior to coming to UCF, I was an Assistant Professor for three year at the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. I am a native Floridian and attended Florida State University where I received my B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. all in Criminology. My research expertise is in the field of corrections. I have conducted a number of research studies in various correctional environments but my primary areas of expertise are in institutional corrections and public attitudes toward correctional policies. In the scope of my institutional research I have interviewed hundreds of correctional officers and thousands of incarcerated men and women at institutions both in Florida and Virginia. I have also interviewed members of the general public about their attitudes towards corrections and the criminal justice policy. If you're interested in this type of research and want to get involved or just learn more about it, always feel free to shoot me an email or drop by my office if you're ever on campus.

• Corrections
• Criminal Justice Policy
• Criminal Offending

• Ph.D. Criminology, Florida State University
• M.S. Criminology, Florida State University
• B.S. Criminology, Florida State University

The two main goals of my research have been to (1) examine the experiences of people incarcerated in prisons and jails in order to understand how these experiences affect their institutional behavior and reentry to the community, and (2) understand offending behavior. This research has been conducted using methodologically rigorous evaluations with the intent to inform practitioners and policymakers. I have developed, led, and carried out various primary data collection projects within correctional institutions. As part of my projects, I strive to include undergraduate and graduate students in data collection. I have designed and collected survey data in jails with teams of doctoral students and collected data internationally with undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to primary data collection, I have evaluated official data for correctional agencies including mental health data, disciplinary infraction data, suicidal ideation data, and postmortem suicide data.

I have authored or co-authored dozens of journal articles, book chapters, and reports on topics related to corrections, offending, and criminal justice policy. My work has appeared in a variety of outlets and academic journals. In addition, I have presented dozens of papers at various regional, national, and international conferences. I have also presented invited talks and conducted in-depth officer training on communicating with incarcerated populations for the Correctional Institute of Aruba. I have served as a subject matter expert with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to help revise Florida’s Corrections Basic Recruit Training Program.

• Institutional Corrections
• Correctional Reentry
• Criminal Offending
• Life-course Criminology
• Criminal Justice Policy

• Criminal Justice Undergraduate Program Director
• Doctoral Program Committee, Member
• Undergraduate Program Committee, Chair
• Criminal Justice Bylaws Committee, Member
• CCIE Undergraduate Coordinators Committee, Member

• CJC3010: Corrections and Penology
• CJE6718: Pro-seminar in Criminal Justice
• CJC5020: Foundations of Corrections
• CJC6135: Seminar in Institutional Corrections
• CCJ3024: Criminal Justice Systems