Gohar A. Petrossian

Office:   Raubinger 446
Phone:   973-720-3426
Email:   petrossiang@wpunj.edu
Office Hours:   MW 1-2 p.m.;F 2-3 p.m.; and by appointment

Department: Sociology

Gohar A. Petrossian received her M.A. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) in 2006, and her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University-Newark, School of Criminal Justice in 2012. Her Dissertation was titled “The Decision to Engage in Illegal Fishing: An Examination of Situational Factors in 54 Countries”, for which she received a Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant in the amount of $20,000.

Professor Petrossian’s research interests include spatial and temporal patterns of crime, GIS mapping, conservation criminology, environmental criminology and opportunity theories, crime prevention, problem-oriented policing, and quantitative research methods in the social sciences.

Professor Petrossian’s various completed research projects included the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Vehicle Parts-Marking and Auto-Theft Devices Project, the New Jersey State Parole Board’s Women’s Recidivism Evaluation Project, and the Rutgers Center on Public Security CCTV as a Crime-Prevention Tool Project.

Professor Petrossian’s current projects include two Problem-Oriented Guides for the Police and an Intelligence Analysis Manual for the Police (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services; accessible via www.popcenter.org), which she co-authors with Ronald V. Clarke and John Eck. She is also working on several research projects that involve the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify the global hot-spots of illegal wildlife incidents.

Before joining William Paterson University, Professor Petrossian taught at Rutgers University-Newark, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, as well as at Rutgers University-Newark, School of Criminal Justice. While at Rutgers, she designed and taught a new course titled WILDLIFE CRIME, as well as taught such courses as Law and Society, Social Research, Statistics, Data Analysis, Criminology, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Research Methods, and Crime Analysis.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Caplan, Joel M., Leslie W. Kennedy, and Gohar Petrossian. 2011. "Police-Monitored CCTV Cameras in Newark,NJ: A Quasi-Experimental Test of Crime Deterrence," Journal of Experimental Criminology 7(3):255-274.

Clarke, Ronald V., Stephan Contre, and Gohar Petrossian. 2010. "Deterrence and Fare Evasion: Results of a Natural Experiment," Security Journal 23: 5-17.

Book Chapters

Block, Steven, Ronald V. Clarke, Michael G. Maxfield, and Gohar Petrossian, 2011. "Estimating the Number of Vehicles Stolen for Export using the Crime Location Quotients. Pp. 54-68 in Martin Andresen & J. Bryan Kinney (eds.), Patterns, Prevention, and Geometry of Crime (New York: Routledge Studies in Crime and Society).

Research Briefs

Caplan, Joel M., Leslie W. Kennedy, and Gohar Petrossian. 2009. Police-Monitored CCTV Cameras in Newark, NJ: Placement Choice and Their Impact on Street-Level Crime Incidents. (Newark, NJ: Rutgers University Center on Public Security).

Reports

Ward, Deborah E., Heather Tubman-Carbone, Bryn Herrschaft, Gohar Petrossian, and Steven Block. 2009. "How Does Prison to Community (P2C) Affect Recidivism: A Summary of Quantitative Findings." (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Economic Development Research Group).

Problem­-Oriented Guides for the Police  

Petrossian, Gohar, and Ronald V. Clarke. 2012. Auto Theft for Export via Land Border Crossings. Problem-Oriented Guides for Police. (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services).