Project: The Intersection of Opioid Use and Violence Against Women
In the last two decades, the use of opioids, both prescription and non-prescription, has increased rapidly, leading to a public health crisis with a series of consequences and concerns for individuals, families, communities and formal care and criminal justice systems. The impact of the “opioid epidemic” has been explored in the criminal justice and public health context , but little research has been done to understand the intersection of the use of opioids and violence against women. While previous literature has addressed the co-occurrence of drug use and abuse and intimate partner and sexual violence, in particular from a self-medication perspective, current work has not explored the unique factors associated with the opioid epidemic and violence against women. For this project, we propose drafting a comprehensive literature review on the existing literature on violence against women and drug use and abuse from peer-reviewed journals, government reports and white papers. Following the review of literature, we will identify national experts, and invite them to a topical meeting to chart a course for future research on this topic. Through these efforts, we will aim to bridge the gap between burgeoning practice wisdom and evidence needed to improve system response to the opioid epidemic and violence against women.
Faculty
Principal Investigator: Dr. Meredith Dank
Meredith Dank is a Research Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her areas of focus include the commercial sex economy, human trafficking, teen dating violence, LGBTQ issues, victimization, and qualitative methods. She served as principal investigator on several human trafficking studies funded by the Department of Justice, including a study that measured the underground commercial sex economy in the United States, and another that documented the experiences of LGBTQ youth, young men who have sex with men and young women who have sex with women engaged in survival sex and their interactions with the criminal justice system. An expert in human trafficking, Dr. Dank has conducted research in over ten countries and took part in a White House stakeholder meeting on services for survivors. Her work particularly in TDV, working with LGBTQ youth, and research methodologies for accessing difficult-to-reach populations will offer key expertise for the Consortium.
Leila Wood, PhD, LMSW, Co-Principal Investigator
Leila Wood is a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (IDVSA) at The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Dr. Wood has three degrees (BSW, MSSW and PhD) in Social Work. Her scholarship areas are intimate and interpersonal violence in the campus context, intimate partner violence and sexual assault service evaluation, and occupational stress related to interpersonal violence work. Wood’s research focuses on survivor-centered approaches and establishing evidence for community and campus-based practices in the intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA) field, including housing programs.
N. Andrew Peterson, PhD, Co-Principal Investigator
N. Andrew Peterson, Ph.D. is a Professor with the School of Social Work at Rutgers University. He earned his Ph.D. in Community Psychology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1998. His research examines the mechanisms through which community organizations promote empowerment and community change. His work also focuses on preventing community-level problems (e.g., tobacco outlet density, alcohol outlet density, density of vacant and abandoned housing, etc.) that contribute to social and health disparities. He currently serves as Principal Investigator of a study funded by the New Jersey Division of Mental Health & Addiction Services to evaluate the implementation of a new statewide prevention infrastructure that identifies communities based on epidemiological analyses and implements evidence-based and culturally-competent prevention strategies.
Project: Examining the Criminal Justice Systems’ Response to Stalking
Very few studies have examined the criminal justice systems’ response to stalking,
particularly officer and prosecutorial decision-making. Research to date has shown that officers have a limited understanding of stalking within the context of domestic violence. Even more, few cases are referred to prosecutors and even fewer result in convictions for stalking. Thus, more research is needed to isolate predictors of charging decisions and prosecutions of stalking that differ from factors related to these decisions in non-stalking-related domestic violence cases. Understanding decision-making processes provides salient implications for training needs, as well as investigative and prosecutorial responses to stalking and domestic violence.
Faculty
Patrick Q. Brady, Ph.D. Principal Investigator
Patrick Bradyreceived a PhD in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University in 2017. In 2010, he graduated from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah with a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Forensic Science, and a minor in Sociology. He continued on an academic adventure to Boise State University, where he received a Master of Art’s degree in Criminal Justice in 2012. Patrick has spent the majority of his professional career working with youth in state-run treatment centers and therapeutic boarding schools. After obtaining his Master’s degree, he worked with a statewide domestic and sexual violence coalition to implement adolescent relationship abuse and sexual violence prevention programming in middle and high schools throughout Idaho. Patrick’s primary research interests focus on reducing burnout among police officers and improving university and justice system response to intimate partner stalking.
Bradford Reyns, Ph.D. Co-PI
Brad Reynsis a criminologist specializing in issues surrounding criminal victimization. He received his Ph.D. in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2010 and has been at Weber State University since 2011. His research spans the field of victimology, but has mostly focused on theories of victimization, victim decision making, and the relationship between technology use and victimization.
Rebecca Dreke
Rebecca Dreke is currently the Director of Training & Technical Assistance at the Stalking Resource Center (SRC) at the National Center for Victims of Crime. Dreke is a trainer on crime victim rights, technical assistance provider and manager of a nationally recognized program on stalking. She has over 15 years of experience working on stalking, intimate partner violence and sexual assault advocacy. As a director at the SRC, Dreke oversees a nationally recognized program on stalking, develops original curriculum and provides training for law enforcement, prosecutors, victim service providers and criminal and civil justice professionals as well as other specialists on all aspects of stalking, including the use of technology to stalk, campus stalking and stalking and sexual assault. Dreke also has authored publications for the field on stalking support groups, model campus policies to address stalking, methodology of stalking measurement, and guides for advocates. Dreke’s extensive background in the field of stalking provide an invaluable asset to the Consortium team, as well as her perspective as a practitioner and access to networks involved in the field of stalking.
How Do Traumatic Events Shape the Decision-Making of LGBTQ Youth in NYC to Engage in the Commercial Sex Market?
This project has implications for practice. Findings have the potential to highlight the traumatic events that may contribute to sexual and gender minority youths’ decisions to engage in survival sex. In addition, the findings may help demonstrate why it is important for mental health practitioners, law enforcement professionals, and community programs to use trauma-informed approaches when interacting with these youths.
Principal Investigator. Edward Alessi
Dr. Alessi is an associate professor in the School of Social Work. His research aims to improve understanding of stress and trauma among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations and enhance clinical practice with LGBT and other marginalized populations. In June 2017, he was named Rutgers Chancellor’s Scholar, an award created to support faculty excellence at the Associate Professor level. His research has been published in journals such as Psychological Trauma, Child Abuse & Neglect, Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Research, and The Journal of Sex Research. Dr. Alessi’s current projects examine how stress and trauma influence the integration experiences of LGBT immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He served as guest editor for the Clinical Social Work Journal’s first special issue on Clinical Practice with LGBTQ Populations. Dr. Alessi has also been recognized for his teaching. He was awarded the Rutgers University Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence in 2017. In addition, he received the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award four years in a row (2013-16). A clinical social worker since 2001, he has worked primarily in outpatient mental health and has been an independent practitioner since 2004.
Co-Principal Investigator. Meredith Dank
Meredith Dank is a Research Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her areas of focus include the commercial sex economy, human trafficking, teen dating violence, LGBTQ issues, victimization, and qualitative methods. She served as principal investigator on several human trafficking studies funded by the Department of Justice, including a study that measured the underground commercial sex economy in the United States, and another that documented the experiences of LGBTQ youth, young men who have sex with men and young women who have sex with women engaged in survival sex and their interactions with the criminal justice system. An expert in human trafficking, Dr. Dank has conducted research in over ten countries and took part in a White House stakeholder meeting on services for survivors. Her work particularly in TDV, working with LGBTQ youth, and research methodologies for accessing difficult-to-reach populations will offer key expertise for the Consortium.
Experiences of Sexual Violence Among Latinx College Students: Exploring Disclosure and Reporting to Law Enforcement and Other Formal Outlets
There is a limited evidence base on prevalence of sexual violence among Latinx students and rates for formal disclosure and reporting to law enforcement among survivors. This lack of information presents a major challenge to prevention and intervention efforts, particularly at institutions with significant Latinx populations, such as Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The proposed project aims to address the gap in our understanding of sexual violence rates among Latinx students and their rates of, and experiences with, disclosure and reporting to law enforcement. We will directly address these aims through a comprehensive literature review and secondary data analyses, both with an emphasis on Latinx students and those attending HSIs.
Principal Investigator: Kevin Swartout
Kevin Swartout is anAssociate Professor at Georgia State University. His current research program can be broken down into three main areas: (1) social influences on individuals’ aggressive attitudes and behaviors; (2) person-centered approaches to analyze longitudinal data on violence and victimization; and (3) exploring the relation between substance use and violence.
Co-Principal Investigator: Rita Seabrook
Dr. Seabrook's research focuses on intimate partner violence. She is especially interested in masculinity and how the pressure to “be a man” (e.g., by having several sexual partners) contributes to sexual violence against women. Currently, she is working on projects related to fraternity membership and sexual violence perpetration, sexual violence among LGBTQ college students, and opioid misuse and intimate partner violence.
Co-Principal Investigator: Eli Silva-Martinez
Elithet (Eli) Silva-Martinez is an Assistant Professor at the University of Puerto Rico. In the last fifteen years, Silva-Martinez has focused her work on understanding the multiple dimensions of violence against women, especially intimate partner violence (IPV), among women from Latin America and the Caribbean. Her experience as a social worker in direct practice with survivors of IPV in the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico has allowed her to learn of the dynamics around IPV. From 2007-2009, Silva-Martinez served as a Project Coordinator at the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, for the Office of Violence Against Women Grant to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking on Campus Program at the University of Iowa. Silva-Martinez has also worked extensively with immigrant communities in the United States and Puerto Rico, which has allowed me to develop knowledge and skills to work directly with vulnerable populations, especially Spanish-speaking women. Among her many skills, Silva-Martinez offers the Consortium a rich background in cultural competency and qualitative interviewing with women from Spanish-speaking backgrounds.
Consultant: Leila Wood
Leila Wood is a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault (IDVSA) at The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Dr. Wood has three degrees (BSW, MSSW and PhD) in Social Work. Her scholarship areas are intimate and interpersonal violence in the campus context, intimate partner violence and sexual assault service evaluation, and occupational stress related to interpersonal violence work. Wood’s research focuses on survivor-centered approaches and establishing evidence for community and campus-based practices in the intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA) field, including housing programs.