Karissa Pelletier

Karissa Pelletier has been working as a Faculty Associate for Arizona State University since 2021 and currently works as a project manager at the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice at Wayne State University in July 2024. She previously was a postdoctoral research fellow at Temple University’s Public Policy Lab from 2023 - 2024 and a T32 Fellow at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention (IFIP) from 2021 - 2023. In these roles, Karissa focused on developing evidence-based strategies to address firearm violence and homicide among children and teens. Her dissertation examined the factors influencing child and teen homicide, exploring how macro- and state-level factors impact the likelihood of violent firearm deaths. Additionally, she has examined the impact of community violence and how root causes of violence impact communities. Finally, Karissa has dedicated significant efforts to domestic and intimate partner violence research, collaborating with community advocates and organizations to assess the impact of domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) laws in the Midwest. Her primary focus in all of her work is to create a better system to prevent and intervene in violence.