The Department of Criminal Justice Studies Research
Researchers who study Criminology and Criminal Justice are constantly learning more about why people commit criminal acts and the best way to punish or treat criminal offenders.
Topics of Research
Our Criminology faculty carry out research in a wide variety of topic areas to expand our knowledge of the police, the judicial system, and the correctional system.
Some of the research areas are:
- Problem Oriented Policing
- Criminal Procedure and Evidence
- Criminal Justice Policy
- Human Trafficking
- Perceptions of Police
- Criminal Forensics and Investigation
- Psychology and the Law
- Criminological Theory
- Deviance
- Juvenile Justice
- Drug Addiction
- Profiling Serial Killers
- Critical Incidents
- Stress Management
Research Benefits
Many research projects are hands-on, allowing faculty to improve their skills and competence in applied aspects of criminal justice. The diverse range of research interests provides students with a broad array of courses in their degrees.
The faculty are also members of many professional organizations:
- The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
- The American Society of Criminology
- The Ohio Council on Criminal Justice Education
- American Bar Association
- Ohio State Bar Association
- Ohio Association of Magistrates
- National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys
- Ohio Municipal Attorney Association
- American Psychological Association
- American Counseling Association
- International Association of Critical Incident Stress Management.
Faculty Research
The faculty have published their research findings as books, articles and other publications in both scholarly journals and other professional outlets.
Dr. Nancy Marion and Dr. Jason Twede recently travelled to Philadelphia, PA, to present a paper on the public’s perception of police at the annual meeting of The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
They also participated in a roundtable discussion of marijuana policy in the US.
Recent Publications
CCJ Sociology Faculty Research
Our full-time faculty in the Sociology Department hold the highest degree in the field of Sociology (Ph.D.) and regularly engage in high quality teaching and scholarship. Faculty regularly publish their work in respected journals, receive teaching and mentoring awards, serve on University-Wide committees, hold offices in a variety of professional societies, obtain internal and external research grant support, serve on editorial boards at major journals, and work one-on-one with students on projects for publication and presentation.
Dr. Lia Chervenak Wiley
Lia Chervenak Wiley. “Examining Alcohol Use Trajectories & The Importance of Emerging Adulthood.” Presented at the North Central Sociological Association Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2018.
Lia Chervenak Wiley. “Alcohol Use, Gender, and Sex: Examining Developmental Trajectories during Emerging Adulthood.” Presented at The American Society of Criminology Meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 2017
Florian Lebreton, Robert L. Peralta, Jacqueline Allen-Collinson, Lia Chervenak Wiley, and
Guillaume Routier. 2016. “Contextualizing Students’ Alcohol Use Perceptions and
Practices Within French Culture: An Analysis of Gender and Drinking among Sports Science College Students,” Sex Roles. DOI:
Dr. Janette Dill
Dill, J.S., & Morgan, J.C. (2017). Employability among low-level workers: Organizational
expectations and practices in the U.S. health care sector. Human Relations.
Dill, J.S., Erickson, R., & Diefendorff, J. (2016). Motivation and care dimensions in caring labor:
Implications for nurses’ well-being and employment outcomes. Social Science and Medicine, 167, 99-106.
Dill, J. S., Price-Glynn, K., & Rakovski, C. (2016). Is there a penalty for caring? Career trajectories of
men in caring occupations versus traditionally male-dominated occupations. Gender and
Society, 30(2): 334-360.
Dill, J.S., Chuang, E., & Morgan, J.C. (2014). Healthcare organization-education partnerships and career ladder programs for health care workers. Social Science and Medicine, 122, 63-71.
Dr. Rebecca J. Erickson
Cottingham, Marci, Austin Johnson, and Rebecca J. Erickson. 2018. “‘I can never be too comfortable’: Race, Gender, and Emotion at the Hospital Bedside.” Qualitative Health Research 28(1):145-158.
Dill, Janette, Rebecca J. Erickson, and James M. Diefendorff. 2016. “Motivation in Caring Labor: Implications for the Well-being and Employment Outcomes of Care Workers.” Social Science & Medicine 167 (October): 99-106.
Risman, Kelsey, Rebecca J. Erickson, and James M. Diefendorff. 2016. “The Impact of Person-Organization Fit on Nurse Job Satisfaction and Patient Care Quality.” Applied Nursing Research 31:121-125.
Dr. Kathryn M. Feltey
2016 Jean-Anne Sutherland and Kathryn M. Feltey. Here’s Looking at Her: An Intersectional Analysis of Women, Power and Feminism in Film. Journal of Gender Studies, 26:6, 618-631.
2013 Cheryl Elman, Kathryn Feltey, Barbara Wittman, and Dani Jauk. Drawn to the Land: Women’s Life Course Consequences of Frontier Settlement over Two North Dakotan Land Booms, 1878–1910. Social Science History 37(1): 27-69.
2010 Marianne S. Noh, Matthew Lee, Kathryn M. Feltey. “Mad, Bad, or Reasonable? Newspaper Portrayals of the Battered Woman Who Kills.” Gender Issues 27:110-130.
Dr. Stacey Nofziger
Nofziger, Stacey, Katherine Newton. 2017. “Self-control, parental crime, and discipline across three generations.” Deviant Behavior Published online Dec 6, 2017 DOI: .
Nofziger, Stacey and Nicole L. Rosen. 2017. “Developing Self-Control to Prevent Crime.” Pp. 43-56 in Brent Teasdale and Mindy Bradley (eds). Preventing Crime and Violence Vol2, Springer Press.
Nofziger, Stacey, Rachel E. Stein, and Nicole L. Rosen. 2016. “Comparing Children’s and Caseworker’s Reports of Physical Violence.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Published online Sept 28, 2016. DOI:
Nofziger, Stacey and Valerie Callanan. 2016. “Predicting Suicidal Tendencies Among High Risk Youth with the General Theory of Crime.” Deviant Behavior. 37(2): 167-183.
Dr. Robert L. Peralta
Robert L. Peralta and *Marcella Mulhollem, *Bree Stewart and *Courtney Blue. “The Association between Masculinity, Male Sex, And Heavy Episodic Drinking Among College” 2017. Substance Use and Misuse. DOI:
Jennifer L. Steele and Robert L. Peralta. “Are Polydrug users more Physically and Verbally Aggressive? An Assessment of Aggression Among Mono vs. Polydrug Users in a University Sample” 2017. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. DOI: (funded by NIDAR25 DA030310 (R. L. Peralta); K05DA015799 (J.C. Anthony, sponsor).
Racheal Pesta, Robert L. Peralta, and Meghan Novisky. “Investigating Behavioral Responses to Psychological Victimization in Intimate Partner Relationships using a General Strain Framework: Are Responses Gendered?” 2016. Journal of Interpersonal Violence DOI: (funded by NIDA R25DA030310 (R. L. Peralta); K05DA015799 (J.C. Anthony, sponsor)).
Robert L Peralta, Bree Stewart, Jennifer Steele, and Fernando Wagner. “Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs in Emerging Adulthood: Differentiating Sex from Gender” 2016. Addiction Research & Theory 24(5): 389-397. (funded by NIDA R25DA030310 (R. L. Peralta); K05DA015799 (J.C. Anthony, sponsor)).
Dr. Baffour K. Takyi
Takyi, Baffour K. 2018. “Interrogating the Study of the African Diaspora: Contemporary African Immigrants and the Creation of the Neo-Diaspora.” In New Frontiers in the Study of the Global African Diaspora. Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press (forthcoming).
Takyi, Baffour K. 2017. “Secular Government in sub-Saharan Africa. Pgs. 201-213 in Zuckerman, Phil and John R. Shook (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Secularism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 752 pages.
Takyi, Baffour K., and Enoch Lamptey. 2016. “Faith and Marital Violence: Religious Affiliation and Intimate Partner Violence among Married Women in Ghana.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 20: 1-8.
Tausig, Mark, Janardan Subedi, Baffour K. Takyi and Sree Subedi. 2016. “Perceptions of Mental Illness in Rural Nepal: Dimensions of Stigma and their Social Origins.” American International Journal of Social Sciences 5(4): 27-40.
Xi, Juan, Baffour K. Takyi, and Enoch Lamptey. 2015. “Are Recent Immigrants Bigger than Earlier Ones at Their Arrival? Cohort Variation in Initial BMI among US Immigrants, 1989-2010.” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 17:1854-62.
Dr. Juan Xi
Xi, Juan. Matthew Lee, William LeSuer, Peter Barr, Katherine Newton, and Margaret Poloma. 2017. “Altruism and Existential Well-Being.” Applied Research in Quality of Life 12:67-88.
Xi, Juan. 2016. “Types of Integration and Depressive Symptoms: A Latent Class Analysis on the Resettled Population for the Three Gorges Dam Project, China.” Social Science & Medicine. 157:78-86.
Xi, Juan, Baffour Takyi, and Enoch Lamptey. 2015. “Are Recent Immigrants Bigger than Earlier Ones at Their Arrival? Cohort Variation in Initial BMI among US Immigrants, 1989-2010.” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 17:1854-62.
Dr. John F. Zipp
Yoder, Janice D., and John F. Zipp. 2018. “Helping Students to Connect Gender with Social Status.” Psychology of Women Quarterly 42: 105-110.
Rickles, Michael L., Rachel Zimmer Schneider, Suzanne R. Slusser, Dana M. Williams and John F. Zipp. 2013. “Assessing Change in Student Critical Thinking for Introduction to Sociology Classes.” Teaching Sociology: 41: 271-281.
Prohaska, Ariane and John F. Zipp. 2011. “Gender Inequality and the Family and Medical Leave Act.” Journal of Family Issues 32: 1425-1448.
Zipp, John F. 2011. “Sport and Sexuality: Athletic Participation by Sexual Minority and Sexual Majority Adolescents in the U.S.” Sex Roles: 64:19-31.