Dr. Melander's research interests broadly include crime and family, and many of her projects emerge from the intersection of these substantive areas. Her primary research interests include women’s incarceration, intimate partner violence, and cyber aggression. In particular, Dr. Melander has conducted research on contact maintenance programs within women’s correctional facilities, exploring the ways in which women maintain contact with their children, negotiate the co-parenting relationship, and transform their mothering identity while incarcerated. Other research projects include fieldwork at a women and children’s immigration detention facility and a mixed methods evaluation of a religiously-based prison reentry program.
Research and Teaching Interests: Crime, Delinquency, Intimate Partner Violence, Family
