Criminal Justice and Social Work team up with the YMCA to respond to rising rates in Memphis
University of Memphis researchers continue to partner with community partners to improve Memphis and the lives of Memphians. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vulnerability of the local population to domestic violence victimization is an increasingly prevalent issue. To address this issue, Dr. KB Turner (Chair, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice), Dr. Randolph Dupont (Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice), Dr. Melissa Hirschi (Assistant Professor, School of Social Work) and Dr. Amaia Iratzoqui (Assistant Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice) have partnered with the YWCA of Greater Memphis to develop a 24-hour, COVID-safe domestic violence de-escalation program pilot to save lives and, when appropriate, reduce arrests to slow the spread of COVID in prisons. The UofM is uniquely positioned to leverage the research expertise of faculty to create real impact that saves lives and improve the wider Memphis community.
For more information on this partnership, contact Turner at kbturner@memphis.edu, Dupont at rdupont@memphis.edu, Hirschi at mhirschi@memphis.edu, or Iratzoqui at ratzoqui@memphis.edu.