Marva Goodson

Marva Goodson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Arizona State University (ASU). Prior to ASU, she held postdoctoral fellowships at Vanderbilt University, including roles in Sociology and Political Science. Her research focuses on the social networks of crime-involved individuals, particularly women, leveraging egocentric network analysis to study resource access and reoffending patterns. Supported by the NSF and Ford Foundation, her work bridges criminology, sociology, and gender studies.

Education: Ph.D. and M.S. in Criminal Justice (Michigan State University, 2019 and 2014), B.A. in Psychology (Michigan State University, 2011).

Research Interests: Women and crime, social networks, social capital, community corrections, and probation dynamics. Methodological expertise includes qualitative and quantitative network analysis.

Teaching: Courses include Gender, Crime & Criminal Justice, Inequality in Criminal Justice, and Qualitative Methods. She has taught these courses across multiple semesters at ASU.

Grants & Funding: National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation (via NAS), and others. Ongoing projects explore the role of social networks in desistance and probation outcomes.

Key Publications: Focus on justice-involved women’s networks, social capital in corrections, and the intersection of health and social relationships. Recent articles in Social Networks, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Criminal Justice and Behavior.