Matthew Kafafian
Matthew Kafafian
Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Core Faculty
School: Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
Contact:
Email:
Matthew Kafafian
Matthew Kafafian received his PhD in Criminology and Justice Policy from Northeastern
University. His research interests broadly explore the causes and consequences of crime and
victimization. One strand of his research explores risk and vulnerability to minor sex trafficking.
In doing so, he works closely with community agencies and partners with the goal of translating
research to policy and practice.
His other strand of research explores the causes and consequences of crime and victimization in
non-US contexts. In this research his work has explored universality of criminological theory in
non-US contexts. Furthermore, his dissertation and other work has explored the applicability of
the victim-offender overlap and other criminological theoretical frameworks in the context of
war.
His published research has appeared in JAMA Network Open, Child Maltreatment, Journal of
Quantitative Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, and Crime & Delinquency.
- Minor sex trafficking/commercial sexual exploitation of children
- Victimization
- Criminological Theory
de Vries, I., Kafafian, M., Gobar, S., &; Farrell, A. (2025). Social Network Exposure to
Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Risk of Harm to Youths. JAMA Network
Open, 8(6), e2513520-e2513520.
Kafafian, M., de Vries, I., Farrell, A., Asiedu, C., & Bouchard, E. (2025). Changing profiles of
youth referred for commercial sexual exploitation before and since the onset of COVID-
19 in the United States. Child Maltreatment, 10775595251327745.
Botchkovar, E., Kafafian, M., Timmer, A., Antonaccio, O., & Hughes, L., Johnson, R. (2024).
When the world falls apart: How people make decisions in the times of war. Crime &
Delinquency. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287241268371.
Martin, L., Mathias, C., Abeyta, S., Kafafian, M., Barrick, K., Farrell, A. (2023). Mechanisms of
recruitment into sex trafficking operations: A systematic review. Global Crime, 24(4),
239–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/17440572.2023.2237423.
Kafafian, M., Botchkovar, E., Antonaccio, O., & Hughes, L. (2023). “My neighborhood is
watching me”: The role of neighborhood processes in the offending and self-control–
crime nexus. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 50(3), 330–350.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221140367.
Kafafian, M., Botchkovar, E. V., & Marshall, I. H. (2022). Moral rules, self-control, and
school context: Additional evidence on situational action theory from 28
countries. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 38, 861–889.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-021-09503-y.
Kafafian, M., de Vries, I., Farrell, A., Goldfarb, S., & Bouchard, E. (2021). Understanding
factors associated with re-referral of youth for commercial sexual exploitation. Child
Abuse & Neglect, 117, 105092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105092.
de Vries, I., Kafafian, M., Goggin, K., Bouchard, E., Goldfarb, S., & Farrell, A. (2020).
Enhancing the identification of commercial sexual exploitation among a population of
high-risk youths using predictive regularization models. Child Maltreatment, 25(3), 318–
327. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559519889178.
Farrell, A., Dank, M., de Vries, I., Kafafian, M., Hughes, A., & Lockwood, S. (2019). Failing
victims? Challenges of the police response to human trafficking. Criminology & Public
Policy, 18(3), 649–673. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12456.
PhD, Northeastern University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice