Sabrina Rapisarda 800

Sabrina Sara Rapisarda, M.A., M.Ed.

Ph.D. Candidate

Pronouns
she/her/hers
Department
School of Criminology & Justice Studies
Email
Sabrina_Rapisarda@uml.edu
Links

Expertise

Topical expertise: Sexual victimization and perpetration, Substance use and misuse, harm reduction, Treatment courts (veterans), Corrections (impacts of COVID-19); Methodological/Statistical expertise: Mixed-methods

Research Interests

Sabrina's topical research interests lie at the intersection of criminal justice and public health, including sexual violence prevention, substance use and harm reduction, and treatment courts.

Education

  • M.A. Criminal Justice (2021), University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • M.Ed. in Secondary Education (2018), Endicott College
  • B.S. Psychology (2016), Springfield College (Massachusetts)
  • B.S. Criminal Justice (2016), Springfield College (Massachusetts)

Biosketch

Sabrina Rapisarda joined the School of Criminology and Justice Studies as a doctoral student in the fall of 2019. While completing her undergraduate degrees, she worked for the Key Program, Inc. facilitating group therapy sessions for male youths in a residential treatment program with a focus on life skills development, emotion regulation, fostering positive self-images, and both effective and sustainable coping methods. Moreover, she interned at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) drafting intake complaints of discrimination in employment, housing, public spaces, and access to education. After graduating with her Master’s degree in Secondary Education from Endicott College, she taught psychology, biology, and environmental / sustainability courses at the high school level.

Much of Sabrina’s research is anchored in both prevention and harm reduction-based public health frameworks, where she studies and has published in a variety of criminal justice areas, including sexual victimization and perpetration, substance use and misuse, and treatment courts. Sabrina is currently a Research Associate at Brandeis University in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management’s Institute of Behavioral Health researching a broad range of substance use-related topics including substance use-related harms (e.g., infectious disease transmission, overdose, skin infections); legal and policy-related impacts on substance use outcomes in Massachusetts (e.g., Section 35, the Good Samaritan Law); and harm reductive strategies like harm reduction vending machine implementation, low barrier access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder, harm reduction housing, drug checking, and post opioid overdose programming. Sabrina was previously the project coordinator for a 3-year NIDA/BJA-funded nationwide, multi-site, mixed-methods research project at George Mason University, which examined service delivery, court processes and programming, and other outcomes of legal system involved veterans within veterans treatment courts (VTCs).

Sabrina was previously a UMass Lowell Instructor of Record for both Statistics in Criminal Justice (CRIM.3950) and the United States Criminal Legal System (CRIM.1010).

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Seed Grant, Dissertation funding in the amount of $12,641 (Office of Research Development, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 2023)
  • Graduate Research Grant Award, $1,575 (Graduate Student Association, UMass Lowell, 2023)
  • ACJS Doctoral Summit Scholarship Recipient (Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, 2023)
  • Laura Bassi Scholarship, Second Set Pick (Winter, 2021)
  • Outstanding Senior Award, Psychology Department (Springfield College, 2016)
  • Certificate of Achievement for Outstanding Academic Performance, Social Sciences Department (Springfield College, 2016)
  • Experimental Social Science Award, Runner-up (Springfield College, 2016)
  • Britton C. McCabe Scholarship & Award (Springfield College, 2015)

Selected Publications

Selected Presentations

  • Rapisarda, S.S., Shields, R.T., Perry, S., & Reilly, M. (2023, November 15-18). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Problem Sexual Behavior: Results from a Youth Pilot Program in Massachusetts [Conference session]. The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
  • Rapisarda, S.S. (2023, November 15-18). Veterans Treatment Courts: A Nationwide Review of Enacting and Eligibility State Statutes. [Conference session]. The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
  • Rapisarda, S.S., Silcox, J., Case, P., Stopka, T.J., Palacios, W.R., Hughto, J.M.W., Shrestha, S., & Green, T.C. (2023, November 12-15). Rapid Assessment of Consumer Knowledge Amid an Injection Drug Use-Driven HIV Outbreak in Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts: A Case Study. [Conference session]. The American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, United States.
  • Rapisarda, S.S. (2022, November 16-19). What Does it Mean to Seek Help?: A Conceptual Dive into Help-Seeking Among Young IPSV survivors [Conference session]. The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Atlanta, GA, United States.
  • Rapisarda, S.S. (2021, November 17-20). Does Community Matter? A Multilevel Test of the Role of Collective Efficacy on Sexual Victimization [Conference session]. The Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Chicago, IL.