Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Youth Justice, Rutgers University (2022-2023)
Ph.D., University of Cincinnati (2022, Criminal Justice)
M.S., Arizona State University (2019, Criminology & Criminal Justice)
B.S., Westminster College (2018, Justice Studies)
Nicole McKenna, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati (Criminal Justice), her M.S. from Arizona State University (Criminology & Criminal Justice), and her B.S. from Westminster College (Justice Studies). Prior to her time at John Jay, she was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Rutgers University (School of Social Work). Her research to date has focused on gender, trauma, and alternatives to the juvenile legal system.
McKenna has received awards for research and mentoring from Life Paths Research, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and the University of Cincinnati. As a scholar-activist, McKenna is engaged with multiple community associations and organizing committees focused on ending mass incarceration.
COR 202, Administration of Correctional Programs for Juveniles
COR 303, Comparative Corrections
COR 320, Race, Class, Gender, & Corrections
New Jersey Restorative & Transformative Justice Coordinating Council
Reimagining Safety Coalition
New Jersey Abolition Workshop
American Society of Criminology
*Denotes Student Co-Author
Rock, J., McKenna, N. C., *Vervalin, H., *Munshi, A., *Rodriguez, D., *Commodore-Mensah, M. Boucher, I. & Duron, J. F. (In Press). A scoping review of resilience factors among youth and young adults re-entering from carceral settings with trauma history. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.
Early, A. & McKenna, N.C. (2024). Open-education resources learning in disguise toolkit. In Social Justice Landmark Cases: Faculty Instructional Resources.
McKenna, N. C., Nedelec, J., *Pierce, K., & *Knox, K. (2024). Helpful or harmful? The gendered effect of virginity pacts on later sexual victimization. Crime & Delinquency.
Anderson, V.R., Singh, S., Sullivan, C.J., McKenna, N.C., Feeney, H. (2024). Heterogeneity of juvenile court responses in a sample of girls. Criminal Justice & Behavior.
Sullivan, C. J., *Goncalves, S., & McKenna, N.C. (2024) Juvenile drug courts. Welsh, B, Mears, D., & Zane, S. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Evidence-Based Crime and Justice Policy.
McKenna, N. C. & Anderson, V. R. (2024) Pathways to—but not through? Revisiting the trauma and recidivism relationship among system-involved youth. Youth Violence & Juvenile Justice.
Boxer, P., Duron, J. F., McKenna, N. C. (2024). Evaluation of Youth Advocate Community Interventions in New Jersey.
Anderson, V. R., McKenna, N. C., & *Pierce, K. (2023). Validating the Human Trafficking Screening Tool for Justice-Involved Youth. Cincinnati, OH: Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.
McKenna, N. C., Anderson, V. R., *Kiki, E., *Starcher, D. L. (2022). Experiencing the juvenile legal system as a girl: Lessons from gender-responsive approaches and trauma-informed care. In Masson, I. M. & Booth, N. (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Women’s Experiences in Criminal Justice.
Derlic, D. & McKenna, N.C. (2022). Alternative juvenile rehabilitation: Gender-specific programming and trauma-informed care. Journal for Applied Juvenile Justice Services.
Pusch, N., Holtfreter, K., McKenna, N. C., & Fine, A.D. (2021). Perceptions of legal authorities in a longitudinal study of adjudicated youth. Journal of Youth & Adolescence.
Anderson, V. R., McKenna, N. C., & *Pate, S. (2021). Examining the characteristics and context of detained girls’ needs. Cincinnati, OH: Center for Clinical and Translational and Science and Training (CCTST).
Sullivan, C. J. & McKenna N. C. (2021). Implementation of Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Guidelines. Washington, D.C.: American Institute for Research (AIR).
Anderson, V. R., Rubino, L. L., McKenna, N. C., Campbell, C. A., Petkus, A. A., & Barnes-Lee, A. R. (2021). (In)Effectiveness of in-home detention tethers to reduce recidivism for system-involved girls. Justice Evaluation Journal.
McKenna, N. C. & Anderson, V. R. (2021). Diminishing returns? Threshold effects of dispositions and recidivism among court-involved girls. Criminal Justice & Behavior.
Rubino, L. L., Anderson, V. R., & McKenna, N. C. (2021). Examining the disconnect in youth pathways and the court responses: How bias invades across marginalized identities. Feminist Criminology, 16(4), 480-503.
Anderson, V. R., Rubino, L., & McKenna, N. C. (2020). Family-based intervention for justice-involved girls: A mixed methods evaluation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 67(1-2), 35-49.
McKenna, N. C. & Holtfreter, K. (2020): Trauma-informed courts: A review and integration of justice perspectives and gender responsiveness. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 30(4), 450-470.
McKenna, Nicole C., Golladay, K. A., & Holtfreter, K. (2020). Integrating general strain theory and trauma-informed principles into the study of older adult victimization. Journal of Trauma & Disassociation, 21(2) 1-14.
Life Paths Promising Scholar Award, Life Paths Research (2023)
Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award, University of Cincinnati (2022)
Student Paper Award, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Section (2021)
Nicole McKenna is a criminologist who studies gender, trauma, and incarceration among youth and adults. She is currently working on multiple participatory action and mixed methods projects related to education during incarceration and re-entry, restorative and transformation justice for youth, and trauma during incarceration. She adopts a critical, feminist, and abolitionist framework in her research and activism, and has received awards from Life Paths Research and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. McKenna has mentored dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, many of who are first-generation scholars and went onto medical, law, and graduate school. Her mentorship was recognized by the University of Cincinnati during her doctoral program when she was honored with the "Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring" award. McKenna earned her PhD in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati.