Assistant Professor · Computational Criminology · Penn State
Riley Tucker
I use computational methods to expand what criminologists can observe, measure, and theorize about places, online communities, and crime.
Assistant Professor · Computational Criminology · Penn State
I use computational methods to expand what criminologists can observe, measure, and theorize about places, online communities, and crime.
Many of the characteristics that criminological theories emphasize, from the character of urban places to the dynamics of online communities, are difficult to observe and measure systematically. Using methods such as computer vision, natural language processing, machine learning, and network analysis, I develop new ways of measuring urban environments and the people who use them, study how online communities and offline crime shape one another, and build frameworks for discovering theoretical constructs that conventional measurement may overlook.
I earned my PhD in Criminology and Justice Policy at Northeastern University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago's Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, in collaboration with the Environmental Neuroscience Lab. My work has been published in venues such as Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, and Scientific Data.