Merry Morash is a Professor at the School of Criminal Justice. With funding from the National Science Foundation, she recently completed a 6-year interdisciplinary mixed-methods study of the effects of probation and parole services on women. The study integrated theories of communication and psychology with criminal justice theories of effective supervision and reentry from prison. In the second phase, it examined women’s identity change in relation to recidivism and other life outcomes. She is currently a research partner with the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries’ re-entry program for women and men leaving prison and planning on residing in Detroit. More broadly, Dr. Morash’s research focuses on gender, crime, and justice. She has published books and articles on women and girls in the juvenile justice system, on the experiences of battered women who have immigrated to the United States, and on women who work as police. She has also done extensive research on juvenile delinquency and the juvenile justice system. She also has collaborated with Sociologist Dr. Soma Chaudhuri in a study of the effect of economic and social change oriented NGO’s in India on wife abuse. Her articles appear in journals that include Justice Quarterly, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Feminist Criminology, and Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. She is author of the books, Gender, Crime and Justice (Sage) and Women on Probation and Parole: A Feminist Critique of Community Programs and Services (Northeastern U. Press). She is co-editor (with Chesney-Lind) of Feminist Theories of Crime, a volume in Ashgate’s Library of Essays in Theoretical Criminology.
In addition to funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Morash’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, the American Sociological Association/Bureau of Justice Statistics , the Michigan Department of Corrections, the Michigan State Police, and the Michigan State University Foundation. In 2007, Dr. Morash received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Division on Women and Crime, American Society of Criminology. In 2008, she was named a Fellow by the American Society of Criminology. Most recently she was named an Outstanding Mentor by the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences; this award recognized her extensive work with graduate students, including her acting as chair of over 20 completed dissertations. She also received the mentorship award from the American Society of Criminology. In 2018, Dr. Morash received the Lifelong Achievement Award from the Division on People of Color and Crime; that award recognized her scholarship and her mentorship. Her graduate students have received dissertation fellowships from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, and the Ford Foundation.
Research on Effective Probation and Parole Practices for Women and Men:
Innovator in Research on Women Offenders: Dr. Merry Morash, Professor of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University
Effective Probation and Parole Supervision for Women and Men
http://cj.msu.edu/community/epps/epps.html
