Melissa Morabito

Expertise

Policing Innovation, behavioral health, sexual assault case attrition

Research Interests

Prof. Morabito conducts research on the adoption of police innovation concentrating on issues of police response to public health problems in the community such as mental illness, sexual assault and domestic violence.

Education

• Ph D: Justice, Law and Society, (2006), American University - Washington, D.C.
  Dissertation/Thesis Title: "Community Well Being: Investigating the Police Role in Jurisdiction Level Outcomes."
• MS: Social Work with a concentration in Law, (1999), Columbia University, - New York, NY
• BA: Political Science, (1997), University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA
  Supporting Area: Urban Studies

Biosketch

Melissa S. Morabito joined UMass Lowell in 2012 as an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology & Justice Studies. She graduated from American University in 2006 with a PhD in Justice, Law & Society and Columbia University with an MSW in 1999. Before joining UMass Lowell, she worked as an Assistant Professor for four years at UMass Boston and completed a Postdoctoral fellowship with the Center for Mental Services and Criminal Justice Research. Her work has been focused on police response to vulnerable populations with an emphasis on enhancing system responses to people with mental illnesses.

She currently serves as a counselor on the executive board of the American Society of Criminology and as a litigative consultant to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division working on consent decrees in Baltimore and Louisville among other communities. Closer to home, Melissa has worked in collaboration with the Boston Police Department serving as an academic partner for over a decade evaluating their mental health initiatives. This work has been highly rewarding and Morabito is appreciative of the opportunity to work with students on projects that benefit communities across Massachusetts.

She and her husband, Andrew have two children, Leah (14) and Ben (11) as well as a rescue dog, Juniper.

Selected Awards and Honors

• Center for Teaching Excellence Graduate Fellowship (2005), Teaching - New Media Center & Faculty Corner
• University Award for Outstanding Graduate Scholarship (2005), Scholarship/Research - American University
• School of Public Affairs Dissertation Fellowship (2004), Scholarship/Research - School of Public Affairs
• Hurst Scholar Award (2001), Scholarship/Research - American University

Selected Publications

• Morabito, M. S., Green, J. G., Savage, J., Battal, J., & Walker, W. (2023). 911 Usage by 2023 “Boston Public Schools: A Researcher–Practitioner Partnership. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 17, paac115.
• Green, J. G., Morabito, M. S., Savage, J., Goodman, N., Lincoln, E., Lanciani, J., & Muller, R. 2023 “Reasons police respond in schools: An analysis of narrative data from police incident reports. Child Abuse & Neglect, 144, 106350.
• Lee, Claire Seungeun, Chenane, Joselyne, Morabito, Melissa S., Alda Erik & Richard R. Bennett 2023 “Procedural Justice, perceived injustice, legal cynicism and police performance: understanding the decision to report victimization to the police in Caribbean countries” Policing and Society.
• Nkogo, Joselyne, Morabito, Melissa S. & Gonzalez, Teresa. 2022 “Perceptions of Police among Kenyan Female Immigrants in the United States”, Feminist Criminology. 15570851221101144.
• Morabito, Melissa S. & Gaub, Janne 2022 “You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure”. Police, Practice & Research 23(4). Editorial Introduction.
• Pattavina, April, Morabito Melissa S. & Williams, Linda M. 2021 Pathways to Sexual Assault Case Attrition: Culture, Context, and Case Clearance, Victims & Offenders, DOI: 10.1080/15564886.2021.1970661
• Alda, E., Bennett, R., Marion, N., Morabito, M.S., Baxter, S. (). Antecedents of Perceived Fairness in Criminal Courts: A Comparative Analysis. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 1-19.
• Ottati, V.C., Draine, J., Morabito, M.S., Watson, A.C. (). CIT in Context: The Impact of Mental Health Resource Availability and District Saturation on Call Dispositions. University of Illinois at Chicago.
• Bersani, B.E., Morabito, M.S. (2020). Immigrant disparities in suicide ideation: variation across age of migration, gender, and nativity. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 1--7.
• Savage, J., Morabito, M.S. (2020). Police response to people with mental illnesses in a major US city. Policing and Mental Health: Theory, Policy and Practice.
• Morabito, M.S., Williams, L., Pattavina, A.F. (2019). Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases: Replication Research on Sexual Violence Case Attrition in the U.S (https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/gran). National Institute of Justice
• Morabito, M.S., Pattavina, A.F., Williams, L. (2019). It All Just Piles Up: Challenges to Victim Credibility Accumulate to Influence Sexual Assault Case Processing. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,34(15) 3151-3170.
• Morabito, M.S., Savage, J., Sneider, L., Wallace, K. (2018). Police response to people with mental illnesses in a major US city: The Boston experience with the co-responder model. Victims \& Offenders,13(8) 1093--1105.
• Morabito, M.S., Savage, J., Sneider, L., Wallace, K. (2018). Police Response to People with Mental Illnesses in a Major U.S. City: The Boston Experience with the Co-Responder Model. Victims & Offenders,13(8) 1093-1105.
• Morabito, M.S. (2018). The Evolving Police Response to Individuals with Behavioral Health Challenges. Victims & Offenders,13(8) 1033-1036.
• Morabito, M.S., Shelley, T.O. (2018). Constrained Agency Theory and Leadership: A New Perspective to Understand How Female Police Officers Overcome the Structural and Social Impediments to Promotion. Feminist Criminology,13(3) 287-308.
• Zhuang, Y., Almeida, M., Morabito, M.S., Ding, W. (2017). Crime hot spot forecasting: A recurrent model with spatial and temporal information (pp. 143--150).
• Morabito, M.S., Wilson, A.B. (2017). Selecting a Method of Case Identification to Estimate the Involvement of People With Mental Illnesses in the Criminal Justice System: A Research Note. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology,61(8) 919-937.
• Alda, E., Bennett, R.R., Morabito, M.S. (2017). Confidence in the police and the fear of crime in the developing world. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management,40(2) 366-379.
• Morabito, M.S., Pattavina, A.F., Williams, L. (2017). Active representation and police response to sexual assault complaints. Journal of Crime and Justice,40(1) 20-33.
• Morabito, M.S., Pattavina, A.F., Williams, L. (2016). Active Representation and Police Response to Sexual Assault Complaints. Journal of Crime and Justice, 1–14.
• Morabito, M.S., Pattavina, A.F., Williams, L. (2016). It All Just Piles Up: Challenges to Victim Credibility Accumulate to Influence Sexual Assault Case Processing. Journal of interpersonal violence.
• Morabito, M.S., Socia, K., Fisher, W.H., Wik, A. (2016). The Nature and Extent of Police use of Force in Encounters with People with Behavioral Health Disorders. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.
• Estienne, E., Morabito, M.S. (2016). Understanding Differences in Crime Reporting Practices: A Comparative Approach. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice,40(2) 123-143.
• Pattavina, A.F., Morabito, M.S., Williams, L. (2016). Examining Connections Between the Police and Prosecution in Sexual Assault Case Processing: Does the Use of Exceptional Clearance Facilitate a Downstream Orientation? Victims & Offenders,11(2) 315-334.
• Estienne, E., Morabito, M.S. (2016). Understanding differences in crime reporting practices: a comparative approach. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice,40(2) 123-143.
• Yu, C., Ding, W., Morabito, M.S., Chen, P. (2015). Hierarchical Spatio-Temporal Pattern Discovery and Predictive Modeling.
• Morabito, M.S., Shelley, T.O. (2015). Representative bureaucracy: Understanding the correlates of the lagging progress of diversity in policing. Race and justice,5(4) 330--355.
• Morabito, M., Shelley,T.O.,, . (2015). Representative Bureaucracy: Understanding the Correlates of the Lagging Progress of Diversity in Policing. Race and Justice Race and Justice,5(4) 330-355.
• Morabito, M.S., Wilson, A.B. (2015). Selecting a Method of Case Identification to Estimate the Involvement of People With Mental Illnesses in the Criminal Justice System: A Research Note. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology.
• Morabito, M.S., Socia, K. (2015). Is Dangerousness a Myth? Injuries and Police Encounters with People with Mental Illnesses. Criminology & Public Policy,14(2) 253.
• Morabito, M.S. (2014). Policing Vulnerable Populations. Oxford University Press
• Morabito, M.S. (2014). American Police Unions: A Hindrance or Help to Innovation? International Journal of Public Administration,37(11) 773–780.
• Morabito, M.S. (2014). Policing Vulnerable Populations. The Oxford Handbook of Police and Policing, 197.
• Yu, C., Ding, W., Chen, P., Morabito, M.S. (2014). Crime Forecasting Using Spatio-temporal Pattern with Ensemble Learning (pp. 174).
• Wang, D., Ding, W., Lo, H., Stepinski, T., Salazar, J., Morabito, M.S. (2013). Crime Hotspot Mapping Using the Crime Related Factors-A Spatial Data Mining Approach. Applied Intelligence,39(4) 772.
• Williams, L., Pattavina, A.F., Morabito, M.S. (2013). A Multisite Investigation into Sexual Assault Case Outcomes: The Challenges of Understanding the Victim. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology
• Morabito, M.S., Watson, A., Draine, J. (2013). Police Officer Acceptance of New Innovation: The Case of Crisis Intervention Teams. Policing,36(2) 421.
• Wang, D., Ding, W., Lo, H., Morabito, M.S., Chen, P., Salazar, J., Stepinski, T. (2013). Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Crime Based on Its Related Variables Using Geospatial Discriminative Patterns (39: pp. 93-106). Computers, Environment and Urban Systems
• Morabito, M.S., Kerr, A.N., Watson, A., Draine, J., Ottati, V., Angell, B. (2012). Crisis Intervention Teams and People With Mental Illness Exploring the Factors That Influence the Use of Force. Crime & Delinquency,58(1) 57-77.
• Wang, D., Ding, W., Stepinski, T., Salazar, J., Lo, H., Morabito, M.S. (2012). Optimization of Criminal Hotspots Based on Underlying Crime Controlling Factors Using Geospatial Discriminative Pattern. Advanced Research in Applied Artificial Intelligence, 553-562.
• Watson, A.C., Ottati, V.C., Draine, J., Morabito, M.S. (2011). CIT in context: The impact of mental health resource availability and district saturation on call dispositions. International journal of law and psychiatry,34(4) 287--294.
• Yu, C., Ward, M.W., Morabito, M.S., Ding, W. (2011). Crime forecasting using data mining techniques (pp. 779--786).
• Mu, Y., Ding, W., Morabito, M.S., Tao, D. (2011). Empirical Discriminative Tensor Analysis for Crime Forecasting. Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management, 293-304.
• Dichter, M.E., Marcus, S.C., Morabito, M.S., Rhodes, K.V. (2011). Explaining the IPV Arrest Decision: Incident, Agency, and Community Factors. Criminal Justice Review,36(1) 22-39.
• Shelley, T.O., Morabito, M.S., Tobin-Gurley, J. (2011). Gendered Institutions and Gender Roles: Understanding the Experiences of Women in Policing. Criminal Justice Studies,24(4) 351-367.
• Watson, A.C., Ottati, V.C., Morabito, M.S., Draine, J., Kerr, A.N., Angell, B. (2010). Outcomes of Police Contacts with Persons with Mental Illness: The Impact of CIT. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research,37(4) 302-317.
• Kerr, A.N., Morabito, M.S., Watson, A.C. (2010). Police Encounters, Mental Illness, and Injury: An Exploratory Investigation. Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations,10(1-2) 116-132.
• Schaefer Morabito, M. (2010). Understanding community policing as an innovation: Patterns of adoption. Crime \& Delinquency,56(4) 564--587.
• Morabito, M.S. (2010). Understanding Community Policing as an Innovation: Patterns of Adoption. Crime & Delinquency,56(4) 564-587.
• Draine, J., Fisher, W., Morabito, M.S. (2009). Crisis Intervention Teams and Police Diversion. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management.
• Watson, A.C., Angell, B., Morabito, M.S., Robinson, N. (2008). Defying Negative Expectations: Dimensions of Fair and Respectful Treatment by Police Officers as Perceived by People with Mental Illness. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research,35(6) 449-457.
• Watson, A.C., Morabito, M.S., Draine, J., Ottati, V. (2008). Improving Police Response to Persons with Mental Illness: A Multi-Level Conceptualization of CIT. International journal of law and psychiatry,31(4) 359.
• Morabito, M.S., Bennett, R.R. (2008). Policing People with Mental Illness in a Developing Nation. Caribbean Journal of Criminology and Public Safety,13 189--216.
• Morabito, M.S. (2008). The Adoption of Police Innovation: The Role of the Political Environment. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management,31(3) 466-484.
• Morabito, M.S. (2007). Horizons of Context: Understanding the Police Decision to Arrest People with Mental Illness. Psychiatric services (Washington, DC),58(12).
• Morabito, M.S., Draine, J. (2007). The criminalization hypothesis: An historical policy analysis.
• Morabito, M.S. (2006). Community Well Being| Investigating the Police Role in Jurisdiction-Level Outcomes.
• Bennett, R.R., Morabito, M.S. (2006). Determinants of Constables Perceptions of Community Support in Three Developing Nations. Police quarterly,9(2) 234-265.
• Reuland, M.M., Morabito, M.S., Preston, C., Cheney, J. (2006). Police-Community Partnerships to Address Domestic Violence.
• Morabito, M.S., Bennett, R.R. (2006). Socrates in the Modern Classroom: How Are Large Classes in Criminal Justice Being Taught?*. Journal of Criminal Justice Education,17(1) 103-120.
• Schaefer, M., James P., L. (2001). The seriousness of crime: A cross-national comparison. International Comparison of Crime and Victimization: The ICVS, 90--102.

Selected Presentations

• Gender and Gendered Institutions: A Biographical Exploration of Womenês Experiences Working in Law Enforcement - American Society of Criminology annual meetings, 2012 - Chicago, IL
• The Effects of Community Cohesion and Empowerment on Police Legitimacy - American Society of Criminology annual meetings, 2012 - Chicago, IL
• Empirical Discriminative Tensor Analysis for Crime Forecasting - 2011 International Conference on Knowledge Science, Engineering and Management (KSEM2011), 2011 - Irvine, California
• Crime Forecasting Using Data Mining Techniques - 4th Workshop on Data Mining Case Studies and Practice Prize, 2011 - Vancouver, Canada
• Understanding the Relationship between Unions and the Lagging Progress of Women in Policing - American Society of Criminology Meetings, 2011 - Washington D.C.
• Police Unions: A Help or Hindrance to Innovation? - American Society of Criminology Meetings, 2010 - San Francisco, CA.
• The Measurement of Mental Illness in a Criminal Justice Context - American Society of Criminology Meetings, 2009 - Philadelphia, PA.
• Philadelphia: A Police Crisis Intervention Team Evaluation - International Association of Law and Mental Health Meetings, 2009 - New York, NY
• Police Response to People with Mental Illness: A Comparative Approach - American Society of Criminology Meetings, 2008 - St. Louis, MO
• Testing a systems level intervention to improve police response to mental illness: CIT in Chicago - American Society of Criminology Meetings, 2008 - St. Louis, MO
• The Criminalization Hypothesis: An Historical Policy Analysis - Society for Social Work Research Meetings, 2008 - Washington D.C.
• Policing People with Mental Illness in a Developing Nation - American Society of Criminology Meetings, 2007 - Atlanta, GA
• The Political Environment and Community Policing - American Society of Criminology Meetings, 2006 - Los Angeles, California

Selected Intellectual Property

• 2022 “Section 12 Involuntary Psych Commitments: An Exploratory Study of the Boston Police Department”. Presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.
• 2022 “The Boston Experience of Integrating Dispatch into Co-Response”. Presented at the Center for Evidence Based Crime Policy Annual Conference in Arlington, VA.
• 2021 “Organization Impediments to Sexual Assault Investigation”. Building Evidence for Effective Investigations: A Collaborative Workshop to Identify Research Needs. Presented virtually to George Mason University and Arnold Ventures.
• 2020 “Investigating police response to mental health incidents in Boston Public Schools”. In J.G. Green (Chair) Staff and Systems Involved in Supporting Student Mental Health. Paper presented virtually at the American Educational Research Association annual convention. April 2020.

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

• Co-PI: Decision-Making in Sexual Assault Cases: Replication Research on Sexual Violence Case Attrition in the U.S. (2012), Grant - National Institute of Justice
  Morabito, M.S.
• Consultant: CIT and Mental Health Service Accessibility in Police Encounters: Impact on Outcomes of Persons with SMI (2012), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  Morabito, M.S.
• Co-PI: Collaborative Data Mining Research Center (DMRC) On Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (2011), Grant - University of Massachusetts President's Office
  Morabito, M.S.
• PI: Reliably Predicting the Location, Time, and Likelihood of Future Criminal Activity in Boston (2009), Grant - National Institute of Justice
  Morabito, M.S.
• Co-PI: The Impact of Spatial Autocorrelation on Factors That Predict Intimate Partner Violence Decisions (2007), Grant - National Institute of Justice
  Morabito, M.S.
• Investigator: Testing a Systems Level Intervention to Improve Police Response to Persons with Mental Illness (2007), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  Morabito, M.S. (Supporting)
• Mental Health and Justice Grant Collaboration Program Award. Awarded to the Philadelphia Police Department by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (2007), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  Morabito, M.S.
• Decision-Making in Sexual Assault Cases: Multi-site Replication Research on Sexu (2013), Grant -
  Morabito, M.S. (Co-Principal)

Research Currently in Progress

• A Process & Impact Evaluation of City of Lowell’s Opioid Overdose Project (LOOP) in Lowell, Massachusetts.

  The City of Lowell will use a two-pronged approach to intervene in the lives of opioid overdose survivors and to provide early intervention to children impacted by opioid overdoses.
  Palacios, W.R. (School of Criminology), Morabito , M.S. (School of Criminology), Toof, R. (Center for Community Research & Engagement ), Bond, B. (Suffolk University ), Wall, M. (Center for Community Research & Engagement )