Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Eric Madfis, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Washington Tacoma, where his research focuses on the causes and prevention of school violence, hate crime, and mass murder. As a nationally-recognized expert on school violence, he has spoken to audiences across the country and around the world about his research, including at the 2015 United States Congressional Briefing on School Safety and Violence Prevention and to the Washington State Legislature's House Education Committee. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Northeastern University in Boston, where he was a Research Associate at the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict. He often teaches courses on Criminological Theory, Sociology of Deviance and Social Control, Criminal Homicide, Juvenile Justice, and Diversity and Social Justice. His work has been published in American Behavioral Scientist, Behavioral Sciences & the Law, Critical Criminology, Homicide Studies, The Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, The Journal of Hate Studies, The Journal of Psychology, Men and Masculinities, Social Justice, The Social Science Journal, Sociological Focus, Violence and Gender, Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice, and in numerous edited volumes. His book, The Risk of School Rampage (2014, Palgrave Macmillan), explores how threats of multiple-victim rampage shootings are assessed and prevented in American public schools. He also served as co-editor (along with Dr. Adam Lankford) of the February 2018 special issue of American Behavioral Scientist on "Media Coverage of Mass Killers." In 2018, he won UW Tacoma's Distinguished Research Award.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Bullying, Other Campus Crime, Domestic and Family Violence, Gun Violence, Hate and Bias Crimes, Homicide Survivors/Co-victims, Physical Assault (other than domestic violence or elder abuse), Terrorism and Mass Violence, Workplace Violence

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Action research, Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Ethnography, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Training and/or technical assistance

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE