PENN STATE HBG
MIDDLETOWN, PA 17057
Biography
Dr. Eileen M. Ahlin is a Professor of Criminal Justice and Interim Director of the School of Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg. She holds a Ph.D. in Criminology & Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on youth violence, social control, and neighborhood effects. Her work has been published in several books and more than 45 peer-reviewed journal articles. She was named a 2016 W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow of the National Institute of Justice. Prior to joining Penn State Harrisburg, Dr. Ahlin worked for 15 years at Westat, where she managed multi-million-dollar grants and contracts for various local, state, and national government clients.
Research Interests
- Community and institutional violence
- Victimization
- Corrections
- Research methods
- Race and crime
Publications
Ahlin, Eileen M. (2023). Violence in the Heights: The Torn Social Fabric of Inner-City Neighborhoods. Routledge.
Ahlin, Eileen M., Ojmarrh Mitchell, and Cassandra Atkin-Plunk. (Eds.). (2023). The ASC Division on Corrections and Sentencing Handbook Series (Vol. 7): Inequalities in Sentencing and Corrections Among Marginalized Populations. Routledge.
Hartsell, Elizabeth N., and Eileen M. Ahlin. (in press). A Mapping Review of Criminological Theories and Frameworks of U.S. Drug Courts: Theoretical Foundations and their Future. Contemporary Drug Problems. https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509251372611
Ahlin, Eileen M. (2025). “Black Dealers Kill People and Come from the Projects; Whites Dealers Kill People and Come from Nice Families”: Contextualized Racialized Perceptions of Related Criminal Behaviors Within an Attribution Theory Framework. Journal of Crime and Justice, 48(3):317-336.
Antunes, Maria João Lobo, and Eileen M. Ahlin. (2025). Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Propellants of Intra-city Mobility Among Racial/Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Families. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(13-14):3182-3209.
Ahlin, Eileen M., Dragana Derlic, and Stuti Kokkalera. (2025). Examining Parent-Child Contact Practices Among Incarcerated Parents with Mental Health Illnesses. Crime & Delinquency, 71(4):1153-1179.
Ahlin, Eileen M., Danielle Reynald, and Shazib Altaf. (2024). Local Residents’ Perceptions of Refugees as Neighbors: A Qualitative Analysis of Community Social Networks, Purposive Guardianship, and Feelings of Safety. Security Journal, 37(4):1576-1596.
Education
Ph.D., Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
M.A., Sociology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
B.A., Administration of Justice and Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA