She earned her PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of family studies, violent crime, juvenile deviance, and victimization. She is a member of the Homicide Research Working Group and Auburn University Homeland Security Education Initiative. Recent publications appear in the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice , Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice , Journal of Quantitative Criminology , and the Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime . She serves as a local chapter advisor for Alpha Kappa Delta-International Sociology Honor Society. Her outreach activities include working with the Domestic Violence Intervention Center.