Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Karen G. Weiss is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University where she teaches in the areas of crime and victimization. She earned a PhD in Sociology from Stony Brook University and MA in Women Studies from San Francisco State University. She has published multiple journal articles on sexual victimization, alcohol-related violence, and college crime. She is author of Party School: Crime, Campus and Community (Northeastern University Press, 2013), an in-depth exploration of intoxication crime and its normalization in a college town. A common thread in each of her prior publications is a focus on how victims define and neutralize their experiences with crime, including why victims are so often reluctant to report sexual assault, intimate partner violence and peer-perpetrated harassment to police and other authorities. Her current research focuses more closely on crime witnesses and their roles in deterring or perpetuating crime. The research especially draws attention to the negative consequences of third party inaction and “incapable guardianship” on victims and entire communities.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Campus Sexual Assault, Other Campus Crime, Computer/Internet Crimes, Dating Violence (Teen), Drug-Related Victimization, Physical Assault (other than domestic violence or elder abuse), Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault), Witnessing and guardianship

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Male victims generally, teens

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, content analysis

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Data collection, Descriptive studies, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies