Dr. Rebecca Murray is the Associate Dean of Social and Applied Sciences for the Creighton College of Arts and Sciences. She received her Ph.D. In Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska in 2005 and has been at Creighton since then as a Sociology and now Criminal Justice faculty. She served as chair of the Department of Cultural and Social Studies from 2012-2016. Dr. Murray has served in several roles of faculty governance, serving two terms as Vice President of the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Senate, and has been an active member of the steering committee for the College's Mission Catalysts. She has authored/co-authored 3 books and over a dozen articles that research a number of topics, including the spatial analysis of crime, and the effect of urban structures on crime and violence. She has also been the Primary Investigator for two grants (one federal and one state), which have supported the creation and operation of the Nebraska Victim Assistance Academy, which is located at Creighton but which serves victim advocates across the state. She has also been the recipeint of several local grants, one of which is supporting her current research looking at judicial discretion in domestic violence protection orders. She has partnered with the city of Omaha in evaluating several grants, including the federal Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation grant, and aiding numerous non-profit agencies with evaluating their effots at violence intervention and prevention. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Police Research and Policy Group, as well as the Nebraska Innocence Project.
Teaching Interests
Criminal Justice
Research Focus
Spatial analysis of crime Victim advocacy Wrongful convictions Sociology of Religion
Wolters-Kluwer Using Statistics in Criminal Justice 2016
Routledge Murray, Rebecca; Gegner, Laurel; Pelton, Justin. Policies, Procedures and the Police: An Assessment of Wrongful Conviction Risk in Nebraska. Making Justice: Wrongful Conviction and Criminal Justice Reform. 2012
CRC Press- Taylor and Francis Group Crank, John; Murray, Rebecca; Irlbeck, Dawn; Sundermeier, Mark. Mission Based Policing. 2011
Jones and Bartlett Murray, Rebecca Examining Measurement Issues in Alcohol Establishment Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice: Theory, Research Methods and Statistics, p. 73-92 2010
Jones and Bartlett Murray, R. K. Chapter 13: Limited Dependent Variables in Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice: Analysis and Interpretation., p. 301-323 2005
Articles
Advances in Applied Sociology Concept Measurement in Alcohol Serving Establishments 8(1), p. 1-24 2018
Wiley-Blackwell Murray, Rebecca. Innocence Project. In: The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice 2013
Crime & Delinquency Murray, Rebecca K., Swatt, Marc L. Disaggregating the Relationship Between Schools and Crime: A Spatial Analysis 59, p. 163-190 2013
Police Practice & Research: An International Journal Crank, John, Irlbeck, Dawn, Murray, Rebecca, Sundermeier, Mark Mission-based policing: Rethinking the relationship of police to crime 13, p. 103-120 2012
Criminal Justice Review Murray, Rebecca K. and Roneck, Dennis W. Measuring Diffusion of Assults around Bars through Radius and Adjacency Techniques. 33, p. 199-220 2008
Journal of Social and Ecological Boundaries Murray, Rebecca K. Immigrant Communities and Media Perceptions of Place 3, p. 33-52 2008
Journal of Drug Issues Herz, Denise, Murray, Rebecca Exploring Arrestee Drug Use in Rural Nebraska 33, p. 99-118 2003
Publications
Local Initiatives Support Corporation Evolution of the Researcher-PractitionerPartner Model and the Role of Academic Research Partners in Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) Grants 2015
ACJS Today Murray, Rebecca. Researchers, Police and Crime Analysts: A Conversation with the Deaf and a Tour with the Blind. 37, p. 13-19 2012
Otoe County Drug Resistance Program Murray, Rebecca K. (Ed.). All Stars Evaluation 2008-2009: Final Report. 2009
Editing and Reviews
Journal of Criminal Justice Education Murray, Rebecca K. [Review of Mason, S. (Director). 2008 Writ Writer [motion picture] United States: Passage Productions and Independent Television Service]. 20 2009
Choice Murray, Rebecca K. [Review of Gustavsson, Bengt. (ed.) the principles of knowledge creation: research methods in the soical sciences. E.Elgar, 2007]. 2008
Rising Star Alumni Award Presented to an alumnus for a rapid record of accomplishments reflecting the education received in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska, Omaha University of Nebraska at Omaha