
Janet L. Lauritsen is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her research focuses on the causes and consequences of victimization, the social and historical contexts of crime and victimization, and quantitative research methodologies. She is currently Visiting Research Fellow at the Bureau of Justice Statistics (US Department of Justice) where she is working with data from the National Crime Victimization Survey to measure patterns and trends in repeat victimization. In addition, she is working with Karen Heimer and Joseph Lang of the University of Iowa to analyze how correlates of violent victimization such as gender, race and ethnicity, and poverty status have changed in the US over the past four decades. Her most recent publications cover topics such as long-term trends in reporting crime to the police, the relationship between changing economic conditions and violent victimization, and gender differences in risk factors for victimization as well as trends in offending. Recently, her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the National Institute of Justice.
Dr. Lauritsen is a member of the Committee on Law and Justice for the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academies of Science. She also serves on the Editorial Boards of several journals including
Criminology, the
Journal of Quantitative Criminology,
Criminology & Public Policy, and the
American Journal of Sociology.
Areas of Specialization
Trends and patterns in victimization risk
Quantitative research methodologies