Expertise

Violence, Gangs, Active Living and Crime, Neighborhoods, Social Network Analysis, Prisoner Reentry, Program Evaluation

Biography

Caterina Roman joined the faculty in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University in Fall 2008 after nearly two decades with the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. Dr. Roman has extensive experience studying the social ecology of neighborhoods, fear of crime, violence and gangs. She has been the PI or co-PI on over a dozen federally-funded evaluations of violence reduction programs. In addition to her evaluation portfolio, her body of grant-funded work includes studies that assess how the personal social networks of at risk youth and gang members influence delinquency, gun carrying, and gang membership. She recently completed a study to assess help seeking behavior and social support mechanisms used by African American men and women who have been victims of street violence. Her research often utilizes survey data combined with hard-to-access cross-systems data in an attempt to provide a broad and unique examination of the health of communities. She regularly publishes in both public health and criminology journals. She holds a PhD in sociology and justice, law, and society from American University.

Website

Selected Publications

• Roman, C. G., Sierka, C., Sechrist, S., Scott, T.L., McGarr, V. & Brinton, J. (2026). Barriers to Victim and Witness Participation in the Criminal Justice System Following Severe Community Violence: Insights from Stakeholders. Criminal Justice Policy Review.
• Roman, C. G., Simonsson, P., Brey, J. T., Maruna, S., & Twigg, P. (2026). Credible messenger perspectives on the skills and traits that support effective outreach and case management in community violence intervention. Criminal Justice and Behavior.
  https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548251415013 
• Simonsson, P., Roman, C. G., Maruna, S., & Twigg, P. (2025). “Can’t use old keys to open new doors”: Relational desistance mechanisms within community violence interventions. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 62.
  https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251361747
• Roman, C. G., Talley, A., Sierka, C., George, K., Van de Water, K., & Aye, J. (2025). Collaborative creation of a logic model and performance metrics for evaluating a violence reduction program. International Journal of Qualitative Methods.
  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/16094069251319866
• Roman, C. G., Roman, J. K., Washburn, A., Brey, J. T., Navarro, E. I., Rodriguez, S., Reist, B. M., Ko, P., Collins, K., & Truchil, A. (2025). The cost of crime: The HAVEN conceptual framework for measuring victim harms from violence. Justice Quarterly, 41 (7) 1156- 1188.
  https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2025.2456182
• Roman, C. G., & Nyugen, T.-T. (2025). Beyond the collective: Personal networks in the study of street gang processes. Journal of Criminal Justice, 96, 102338.
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2025.102338
• Roman, C. G., Chen, R., Natarajan, L., Conway, T. L., Patch, C., Taylor, R. B., Cain, K. L., Roesch, S., Adams, M. A., Saelens, B. E., King, A. C., Frank, L. D., Glanz, K., & Sallis, J. F. (2024). Crime-related perceptions and walking for recreation inside and outside one’s home neighborhood. Health & Place, 89, 103316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103316
• Boschan, J. A., & Roman, C. G. (2024). Hot spots of gun violence in the era of focused deterrence: A space-time analysis of shootings in South Philadelphia. Social Sciences, 13(2), 119.
  https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/2/119
• Roman, C. G. (2024). A conceptual model of help seeking by Black Americans after violent injury: Implications for reducing inequities in access to care. Prevention Science, 25, 95-107.
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-022-01429-6
• Johnson, N. J., & Roman, C. G. (2022). Community correlates of change: A mixed-effects assessment of shooting dynamics during COVID-19. PloS ONE, 17(2), e0263777.
  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263777
• Roman, C. G. (2021). An evaluator's reflections and lessons learned about gang intervention strategies: An agenda for research. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research.
  https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-02-2021-0576
• Roman, C. G., Cahill, M., & Mayes, L. R. (2021). Changes in personal social networks across individuals leaving their street gang: Just what are youth leaving behind? Social Sciences, 10(2),39.
  https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10020039
• Johnson, N. J., Roman, C. G., Mendlein, A. K., Harding, C., Francis, M., & Hendrick, L. (2020). Exploring the influence of drug trafficking gangs on overdose deaths in the largest narcotics market in the Eastern United States. Social Sciences, 9(11), 202.
  https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9110202
• Roman, C. G., Forney, M., Hyatt, J. M., Klein, H. J., & Link, N. W. (2020). Law enforcement activities of Philadelphia’s group violence intervention: An examination of arrest, case processing, and probation levers. Police Quarterly, 23, 232–261.
  https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611119895069

Courses Taught

• Senior Capstone: Gun Violence in Philadelphia
• Senior Capstone: Criminal Justice Reform
• Senior Capstone: Critical Issues in Prisoner Reentry
• Youth and Crime
• Honors Youth and Crime 
• Street Gangs (graduate and undergraduate)
• Communities and Crime (graduate level)
• Crime and Social Policy
• Nature of Crime