Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Dr. Lisa Growette Bostaph began her career as a practitioner in both non-profit and government victim services organizations, such as the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project. In 1992, she founded Project P.E.A.C.E., a domestic violence/sexual assault victim service organization that worked with four police departments in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area. In 1994, Dr. Bostaph joined the Chisago County Attorney's Office to administer the Victim Assistance Program. She also served on the state council overseeing grants for general crime victim services and was a member of the Minnesota Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Dr. Bostaph earned her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2004. Currently, she is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Criminal Justice at Boise State University in Idaho. In 2005, Dr. Bostaph was a founding member of the Idaho Victims' Assistance Academy (IVAA) Executive Board and developed the multi-disciplinary curriculum and evaluation of the IVAA for ten years. In 2007, she led one of the first comprehensive evaluations of a family justice center. More recently, Dr. Bostaph oversaw an 18-month assessment of crime victims' needs in the state of Idaho. In 2012, Idaho Governor Otter appointed Dr. Growette Bostaph to the Commission on Pardons and Parole which determines parole releases for all incarcerated offenders in the state. In 2013, Governor Otter also appointed her to the Idaho Criminal Justice Commission, a multi-disciplinary committee comprised of members from all three branches of government and the community, which proposes best-practices solutions to crime, victimization, and criminal justice problems. Over a decade ago, she revised the annual Crime Victims' Rights Week celebration at Boise State University into a workshop format, offering 48 hours of sessions across four days on the effects of victimization and victim rights which is open to students from across the university as well as members of the public. Dr. Bostaph has published in multiple peer review journals, as well as authored or co-authored numerous technical reports and presentations on victimization at regional and national conferences. Her victimization research interests include the criminal justice system's response to the victimization of women, family justice centers, and the victim services education. In 2016, Dr. Bostaph co-edited Victimology: Crime victimization and victim services, a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary book on various types of victimization, the effects of victimization, and the victim services profession. Dr. Bostaph has worked with numerous non-profit, education, and government agencies to raise awareness of the effects of victimization on crime victims and develop trauma-informed and evidence-based responses to victims of crime.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Campus Sexual Assault, Dating Violence (Teen), Domestic and Family Violence, Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault), Stalking

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Child victims, Rural victims

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Action research, Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Quantitative studies, Quasi-experimental studies, Randomized controlled trial, Training and/or technical assistance

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Action research, Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Quantitative studies, Training and/or technical assistance