Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Peter Simonsson, PhD, MSW, LCSW is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. He has experience conducting community research in criminal justice settings and with a focus on violence and violent victimization. He currently works with outreach-workers and studies the role of peer mentoring to promote desistance from gun violence. This project is funded by Arnold Ventures under their National Collaborative for Gun Violence Research. Peter’s research has been published in journals such as Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry and the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Prior to his academic career, Peter worked as a social worker in Philadelphia for over 10 years. In this role, Peter served communities impacted by violence including sexual abuse and homicide. Peter serves as an expert witness in hearings involving children with suspected or known histories of maltreatment, abuse, and trauma.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse, Gun Violence, Homicide Survivors/Co-victims

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Male victims generally

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Community-based participatory research, Ethnography, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Ethnography, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies