Jesenia Pizarro

Jesenia M. Pizarro, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University whose work focuses on understanding and preventing homicide and firearm-related harms. A nationally recognized expert in these areas, she is editor-in-chief of Homicide Studies: An Interdisciplinary and International Journal and president of the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms for the 2025–2026 term. She previously served as the Society’s inaugural secretary.

Dr. Pizarro has served on the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine since 2024. Her other professional roles include service on the steering committee of the Homicide Research Working Group, the scientific advisory board of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, and the advisory board of the National Center for School Safety. At ASU, she served as interim director of the Office of Gender-Based Violence from 2024 to 2025, where she has been a research faculty affiliate since 2020.

Her research asks how violence becomes lethal and where there are opportunities to intervene. Much of her recent work focuses on intimate partner homicide, including studies across several states examining risk factors, firearm involvement, and firearm regulations. Her current research looks at what distinguishes intimate partner violence that escalates to homicide, with the aim of helping practitioners better identify and respond to danger. She also studies youth firearm violence, community violence exposure and firearm ownership, and community efforts to reduce violent and firearm crime. Through the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium, she helped develop a national research agenda for preventing firearm injuries among children and adolescents.

Dr. Pizarro’s approach is both transdisciplinary and translational: she brings together researchers from criminology, public health, and social work, along with practitioners and community partners, to study problems and put findings to use. She has worked with police departments and community organizations across the country and has led or collaborated on research funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Her honors include the Western Society of Criminology’s Fellows Award, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Outstanding Mentor Award, and the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice’s Undergraduate Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award. She also coauthored a study that received the American Journal of Criminal Justice Outstanding Article Award.

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Dr. Pizarro is a three-time alumna of Rutgers University–Newark, where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in criminal justice.