Faculty / Elizabeth Groff

Dr Elizabeth Groff joined the Temple University Department of Criminal Justice in August 2007. Prior to joining the Criminal Justice Department, Dr. Groff was from 2002 to 2007 a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Law and Justice (ILJ). From 1998-2002 she was a Social Science Analyst at the National Institute of Justice’s Crime Mapping Research Center. She has also been the GIS Coordinator for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in Charlotte, NC. Dr. Groff received her B.S. and M.A. degrees in geography from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Maryland at College Park. She also has an M.A. in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Dr. Groff’s primary research interests are in crime and place; modeling geographical influences on human activity; agent-based modeling as a methodology; crime prevention; and policing. Her current research projects include: (1) a micro level longitudinal study of crime in Seattle, Washington with Dr. David Weisburd and Dr. Sue-Ming Yang; (2) exploring the use of simulation models for understanding street robbery and testing theory; (3) examining the impacts of technology acquisitions in law enforcement agencies with Dr. Tom McEwen; and (4) a micro level longitudinal study of the place characteristics related to where juveniles commit crime in Seattle, Washington with Dr. David Weisburd and Dr. Nancy Morris.

Journal Publications:
Weisburd, D, N. Morris and E.R. Groff. In press. " Hot Spots of Juvenile Crime:  A Longitudinal Study of Street Segments in Seattle, Washington."  Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
Groff, E. R. 2008. "Adding the Temporal and Spatial Aspects of Routine Activities: A Further Test of Routine Activity Theory." Security Journal, 21(1-2): 95-116.
Groff, E. R. 2007."'Situating' Simulation to Model Human Spatio-Temporal Interactions: An Example Using Crime Events." Transactions in GIS, 11(4):507-530.
Groff, E. R. 2007. "Simulation for Theory Testing and Experimentation: An Example Using Routine Activity Theory and Street Robbery." Journal of Quantitative Criminology 23:75-103.
Groff, E. R. and T. McEwen. 2007. "Integrating Distance Into Mobility Triangle Typologies." Social Science Computer Review 25:210-238.
Groff, E.R., B. Kearley, P. Beatty, H. Fogg, H. Couture, and J. Wartell. 2005. "A Randomized Experimental Study of Sharing Crime Data with Citizens: Do Maps Produce More Fear?" Journal of Experimental Criminology 1:87-115.
Beckman, K., L. Wyckoff, E.R. Groff, and P. Beatty. 2004. “Trends in Police Research: A Cross-sectional Analysis of the 2001 Literature,” Police Practice and Research 5 (2): 165-189, 2004.
Groff, E.R., and N.G. La Vigne. 2001. “Mapping an Opportunity Surface of Residential Burglary,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 38 (3):257-278.

Book Chapters:

Groff, E.R., and T. McEwen. 2005. “Disaggregating the Journey to Homicide.” In F. Wang (ed.), Geographic Information Systems and Crime Analysis. Idea Group: Hershey, PA.
Groff, E.R., and N.G. LaVigne. 2002. “Forecasting the Future of Predictive Crime Mapping.” In N. Tilley (ed.), Analysis for Crime Prevention (Vol. 13, pp. 29-58). Criminal Justice Press: Monsey, NY.
Groff, E.R., and N.G. La Vigne. 2001. “Evolution of Crime Mapping in the United States: From the Descriptive to the Analytic.” In A. Hirschfield and K. Bowers (eds), Mapping and Analysing Crime Data: Lessons From Research And Practice (pp. 203-221). Taylor and Francis: New York.