His research interests include violence among African American males, domestic violence in the African American community, the impact of incarceration on African Americans and rural crime and justice. Professor Oliver currently serves as lead researcher on the Safe Return Initiative, a research and technical assistance project granted to the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community and the Vera Institute of Justice by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women . The primary goal of the Safe Return Initiative is to examine the intersection of prisoner reentry and intimate partner violence in the African American community.