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Victor St. John

Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor Victor St. John joins the Glenn College from Saint Louis University, where he was assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice in the College for Public Health and Social Justice and School of Social Work. He is an affiliated faculty member with Ohio State’s Criminal Justice Research Center. St. John previously served as a director of research and analysis for the New York City Board of Correction, an oversight agency for the NYC Department of Correction and NYC Correctional Health Services. Prior to that, he supervised youth detention and placement facilities under the NYC Close to Home Initiative; delivered a cognitive-based intervention with incarcerated youth on Rikers Island for the first social impact bond in the United States; and served in evaluation and technical aid capacities for the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center. St. John is also a research scientist for Child Trends, where he has lead evaluative efforts on criminal justice impacted populations funded by NIJ, HHS, and U.S. ED.

St. John’s approach to research is informed by his professional background in the field of criminology and criminal justice starting in the year 2010, as well as his individual experiences growing up in Brooklyn, New York. The focus of his research are the structural and systemic factors that perpetuate social disparities within criminal justice contexts and intersecting policy and administration areas. In short, his research centers on the direct and indirect impact of criminal justice systems on the public and areas that can be strengthened. His work has appeared in a variety of academic journals including Journal of Criminal Justice; Criminal Justice and Behavior; Journal of Correctional Health Care; Journal of Crime and Justice; Journal of Qualitative Criminology and Criminal Justice; Race and Social Problems; Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities; Race and Justice; and Critical Criminology, among other peer-reviewed outlets. His written works have received awards from the American Society of Criminology’s Divisions on Critical Criminology and Social Justice as well as the Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences.

St. John received a PhD in criminal justice from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York, an MS in criminal justice and specialization in criminal law from John Jay College and a BS in criminology while at SUNY Old Westbury.

Fortifying Physical and Psychological Wellbeing: Leveraging Capital for Resilience Against Racism and Adversity Across Racial Groups
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
November 06, 2024

This study investigates how adversities like racism, loss, and adverse police contact affect psychological and physical health, while examining the moderating roles of economic, social, and spiritual capital and revealing racial differences in health impacts and coping benefits.

Police station design and intrusive police encounters: untangling variations in emotions and behaviourally-relevant perceptions across racial groups
Policing and Society
June 13, 2023

Victor St. John studies police station design as a strategy to improve police-community relationships.

Expertise

Criminal Justice Policy; Social Policy; Applied Research; Evaluation; Space and Place; Disparities; Health