Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

James Densley is professor and chair of criminal justice at Metropolitan State University, part of the Minnesota State System, and co-founder and co-president of The Violence Project Research Center. He has received global media attention for his work on street gangs, criminal networks, violence, and policing. He is the author of six books, including the award-winning, How Gangs Work: An Ethnography of Youth Violence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 45 refereed articles in learning scientific journals, and over 75 book chapters, essays, and other non-refereed works for outlets including CNN, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Densley was co-principal investigator of a National Institute of Justice-funded study of public mass shooters in America. His past work has explored "county lines" drug-dealing and child criminal exploitation. Densley was a co-founder of Growing Against Violence, a London-based charity that since 2008 has delivered violence prevention programming to over 200,000 children and young people in hundreds of schools. He earned his doctorate in sociology from the University of Oxford.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Child Trafficking and Exploitation, Computer/Internet Crimes, Drug-Related Victimization, Gun Violence, Terrorism and Mass Violence, Gangs

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Child victims, Men and boys of color, Urban high crime neighborhood victims

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

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

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

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