Johanna Brenner: Research

I’m working with a local organization, the Partnership for Safety and Justice (PSJ).  PSJ “unites people convicted of crime, survivors of crime, and the families of both to redirect policies away from an over-reliance on incarceration to effective strategies that reduce violence and increase safety.”  They were concerned that some people victimized by crime in Multnomah County were reluctant to report the crime to the police. This is a problem because only victims of crime who report to the police are eligible for federally-funded victim services.   With students in the Masters program and some undergraduates, I directed a study to explore this question.  We focused our attention on socially marginalized groups which included street youth and homeless adults, elders, low-income adults,  and immigrants, as well as survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence (because these survivors are known to have relatively low reporting rates).  We were interested in finding out more about why people made the decision to report or not to report.  We also explored whether victims reported to agencies other than the police such as health providers and social service agencies. We are currently analyzing the data.

My next project is a study of the effects of gentrification on those who are forced to move from their neighborhood, with a focus on adolescents and their families.