Research
A research portfolio in 5 areas.
My research sits at the intersection of community-level criminology and cross-national comparison, with a strong methodological core in quantitative analysis, mixed methods, and program evaluation. I work in five overlapping areas.
Community Violence & Prevention
Applied research on violence reduction in mid-sized US cities, with a focus on Kansas City. Program evaluation, neighborhood-level analysis, and translating findings into policy that funders and city councils can act on.
- -KC360 Violence Prevention Programs Evaluation, Department of Health, $1.3M, PI (2023)
- -Neighborhood Survey on Violence (2-year), KC City Council, $346,153, PI (2024)
- -KCPD Analyst Training Seminar Series, Bloch Foundation, $60,000, PI (2024)
Featured Project
Kansas City Community Survey, Wave 1
The KCCS is Kansas City's first systematic measurement of the neighborhood social processes that shape public safety, including trust, collective efficacy, perceived violence, disorder, and police perceptions. It was adapted from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) and administered by trained community interviewers in their own neighborhoods.
Wave 1 reached 386 residents across 40 neighborhoods, including 10 high-violence areas where the city's traditional resident survey barely reached. The result is a validated baseline to track change over time as the $30M Violence Prevention Fund continues to invest in community-based programs.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Marijana Kotlaja.
Methodology informed by consultants Dr.'s Jacob Day and Jonathan Brauer.
Comparative & Cross-National Criminology
Cross-national research on crime, policing, and social unrest, with deep regional expertise in the Western Balkans, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia. Fieldwork conducted in Serbo-Croatian.
- -Football Hooliganism, Politics, and Organized Crime in the Balkans, UNODC, invited talk (2024)
- -Dissertation: Economic Hardship, Outgroup Animosity, and Low Trust in Institutions in Belgrade, Serbia
- -Cultural Contexts of Individualism vs. Collectivism, European Journal of Criminology (2018)
- -Multi-country COVID-19 policing studies across Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines
Policing
How policing changes under pressure, from pandemic disruption to organizational reform, across national contexts and city sizes.
- -Policing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global Perspective (Springer, 2024), co-authored book
- -Exploring Changes in Urban, Small Town, and Rural Policing during COVID-19, Policing: An International Journal (2024)
- -Assessing Police Stress in the Philippines during COVID-19, Asian Journal of Criminology (2024)
- -Effects of Unanticipated Police Reform on Community Cooperation, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice (2024)
Featured Work
Policing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global Perspective
Ivkovich, Kotlaja, Maskaly & Neyroud (Routledge, 2024)
A co-authored volume examining how police organizations across multiple countries adapted to the operational, political, and public-health pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book draws together comparative evidence on officer stress, community cooperation, and reform under crisis conditions.
View the book on Routledge →Juvenile Justice
Evaluation, stigma, and intervention design for justice-involved youth, with a particular focus on electronic monitoring and school absenteeism.
- -Electronically Monitored Youth: Stigma and Negative Social Functioning, Crime & Delinquency (2023)
- -Reducing Truancy and Absenteeism: Nebraska's Initiative, Justice Evaluation Journal (2018)
- -Evidence-Based Nebraska annual evaluations (2017–2023)
Quantitative Methods & Program Evaluation
Survey design, multilevel and Bayesian modeling, structural equation modeling, and applied program evaluation for cities, foundations, and agencies. Over $1.7M in funded evaluation work in 2023–2024 alone.
- -Training in Bayesian Analysis, Multilevel Modeling, SEM, and IRT
- -Survey instrument design and translation (Serbo-Croatian, English)
- -Multiple city- and foundation-funded program evaluations