Areas of Expertise

• Intimate partner violence
• Homicide
• State firearm policies
• Policy analysis

Key Findings

• When violent individuals have access to firearms, the risk of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), increases in severity and deadliness, although the increases in severity may also be attributed to extraneous variables. MORE
• Policies that reduce firearm access to individuals with domestic violence restraining orders reduced IPV severity but only when enforced appropriately. MORE
• Of all homicides in Newark, New Jersey, 70.36% of homicides were committed with firearms. MORE
• Firearms were most likely to be used in gang related, drug-motivated, and revenge homicides. MORE
• Homicide clusters were present before clusters of firearm-related homicides, indicating sources other than firearms caused homicide to diffuse in Newark, New Jersey. MORE
• Homicide clusters related to gang activity appeared in different wards, but the data didn’t indicate whether the gangs moved into or evolved out of those wards. MORE

Biography

April M. Zeoli, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, is an expert in public health and criminology, the role of firearms in intimate partner violence and homicide.

Zeoli is the primary investigator on research to analyze the strength of legal firearm restrictions for perpetrators of domestic violence and their impact on intimate partner homicide as well as the implementation of domestic violence firearm laws in selected communities. She has been recognized for her research that applies an infectious disease model to the spread of homicide in Newark, New Jersey and has consulted with the Battered Women’s Justice Project.

She has been published in numerous academic journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, Epidemiologic Reviews, Justice Quarterly and Journal of Family Violence.

Zeoli received her Ph.D. in Health and Public Policy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, M.P.H. in Reproductive and Women’s Health from the University of Michigan and B.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan.

Follow April on Twitter: @AprilZeoli