Carnegie Mellon Heinz College

Biography

Dr. Cohen's research analyzes many aspects of crime and criminal justice policy, including demographic trends in crime and prison populations, patterns of individual criminal careers, and incapacitative effects of incarceration. Recently, her work has focused on various aspects of illegal drug use and its relationship to violent offending, the increasingly important role of firearms in youthful violence, and investigations of the effectiveness of policing and housing strategies in reducing violence.

Dr. Cohen has contributed to the work of several panels convened by the National Research Council to examine research on deterrence and incapacitation, sentencing policy, patterns of offending during criminal careers, and the understanding and control of violent behavior. She has served on the editorial boards of Criminology, Law and Society Review, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and as Associate Editor of Management Sciences, Evaluation Review, and Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Selected Publications

“Impact of Police Raids at Nuisance Bars on Illegal Drug Dealing: Estimating Intervention Effects in Varying Risk Settings” (with Piyusha Singh and Wilpen Gorr), Criminology 41(2): 257-292, 2003.

“Measuring Spatial Diffusion of Shots Fired Activity Across City Neighborhoods” (with George Tita) in Michael F. Goodchild and Donald G. Janelle (eds.) Spatially Integrated Social Science ( New York: Oxford University Press), 2003.

Effects of Police Gun Suppression Patrols on Shots Fired and Gunshot Injuries: Estimating Impacts of Naturally Occurring Interventions” (with Jens Ludwig) in Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig (eds.).Evaluating Policies to Reduce Gun Violence: The Effects of Regulation and Enforcement ( Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution), 2003

"Spatial Analyses of Crime" (with Luc Anselin, David Cook, Wilpen Gorr, and George Tita) in Criminal Justice 2000, Vol 4, Measurement and Analysis of Crime and Justice (Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, US Department of Justice), 2000.

"Diffusion in Homicide: Exploring a General Method for Detecting Spatial Diffusion Processes" (with George Tita) Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Vol. 15, No.4, pp. 451-494, 1999.

"Gun Injury and Mortality: The Delinquent Background of its Juvenile Victims" (with R. Loeber, M. deLamatre, G. Tita, M. Stouthamer-Loeber, and D.P. Farrington) Violence and Victims, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 339-351, 1999.

"The Role of Drug Markets and Gangs in Local Homicide Rates" (with Daniel Cork, John Engberg, and George Tita), Homicide Studies, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 241-262, 1998.

"Hierarchical Bayesian Analysis of Arrest Rates" (with Daniel Nagin, Lawrence Wasserman, and Garrick Wallstrom); JASA, Vol. 93, No. 444, 1998.

"Relationship Between the Offending Frequency (l) of Imprisoned and Free Offenders" (with Jose A. Canela-Cacho and Alfred Blumstein); Criminology, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 133-175, 1997.

"Incarceration and Violent Crime: 1965-1988" (with J. Canela-Cacho). In A.J. Reiss Jr. and J. Roth (eds.) Understanding and Preventing Violence, Vol IV. Report of Panel on the Understanding and Control of Violent Behavior, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1994.

"Filtered Sampling from Populations with Heterogeneous Event Frequencies" (with A. Blumstein and J. Canela-Cacho) Management Science 39 (7): 886-899, 1993.

"Trend and Deviation in Crime Rates: A Comparison of UCR and NCS Data for Burglary and Robbery" (with A. Blumstein and R. Rosenfeld) Criminology Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 237-263, 1991. "Deterrent Effects of the Police on Crime: A Replication and Theoretical Extension" (with R. J. Sampson) Law and Society Review, Vol. 22, 1988.

"Specialization and Seriousness During Adult Criminal Careers" (with Alfred Blumstein, Somnath Das, and Soumyo Moitra); Journal of Quantitaive Criminology Vol. 4, pp. 303-345, 1988.

"Characterizing Criminal Careers" (with Alfred Blumstein); Science Vol. 238, No. 4818, August 28, 1987.

"Selective Incapacitation: An Assessment," University of Illinois Law Review, Vol. 1984, No. 2, 1984.

"Incapacitation as a Strategy for Crime Control: Possibilities and Pitfalls," in M. Tonry and N. Morris, eds. Crime and Justice, Vol. 5. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.

Education

Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Pittsburgh
PhD, Carnegie Mellon University

Working Papers

• Empirical Calibration of Time Series Monitoring Methods Using Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves
• Exploring Differences in Estimates of Visits to Emergency Rooms for Injuries from Assaults Using the NCVS and NHAMCS
• Leading Indicators and Spatial Interactions: A Crime Forecasting Model for Proactive Police Deployment
• Estimation of Crime Seasonality: A Cross-Sectional Extension to Time Series Classical Decomposition
• Policing Crime Guns
• Guns and Youth Violence: An Examination of Crime Guns in One City
• Impact of Police Raids at Nuisance Bars on Illegal Drug Dealing: Estimating Intervention Effects in Varying Risk Settings
• Distinguishing Between Effects of Criminality and Drug Use on Violent Offending
• National Crime Mapping System

H. John Heinz III College
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890

© 2009 Heinz College

• School of Information Systems & Management
• Information Security Policy and Management
• Information Systems Management
• Information Technology
• CIO Institute
• Doctoral Program

• School of Public Policy & management
• Public Policy and Management
• Public Management
• Arts Management
• Entertainment Industry Management
• Health Care Policy and Management
• Biotechnology and Management
• Medical Management
• Certificate Programs
• Doctoral Program