Employee Directory

Jennifer Balboni Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice and Sociology

Ph.D., Law Policy and Society, Northeastern University, 2006

Master of Science in Criminal Justice, Northeastern University, 1998

Dr. Balboni is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and the Co-Director of the Master of Arts in Criminal Justice program here at Curry. In the past, she has taught justice courses at the School of Professional and Continuing Studies and the College of Criminal Justice, both at Northeastern University.  From 1997 through 2002, she worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Research, Northeastern University, notably working on projects involving juvenile justice and hate crimes, with published work well cited in both academic and policy arenas. Her book, Clergy Sexual Abuse Litigation: Survivors Seeking Justice was published in 2011 through Lynne Rienner Publishing.

She completed her Ph.D. in Law, Policy and Society at Northeastern University, with a focus on criminal justice and restorative justice issues. She also has a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice, also from Northeastern University, where she graduated with distinction. Her original dissertation research looked at the meaning of litigation against the Catholic Church for clergy sexual abuse survivors through an ethnographic lens.

She has also been published in the Boston Globe, the American Behavioral Scientist, Contemporary Justice Review, The Criminologist, Albany Law Review, and Justice Research and Policy, as well as have numerous book chapters on a variety of topics, including:  juvenile justice, restorative justice, teaching through HBO’s The Wire, the war on drugs, police/community relations, and “smart on crime” criminal justice policies.

Additionally, before attending graduate school, she worked in direct services with delinquent and abused/neglected youth for several years, in both residential and outreach and tracking settings.