JOSE
SANCHEZ
Biography
Jose Sanchez is a doctoral candidate and graduate research/teaching assistant at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Sociology department. He is also a graduate affiliate at the Institute of Behavioral Science in the Prevention Science Program. He received his B.S. and M.S. from California State University, Los Angeles. In 2022, Jose was named as a Ruth D. Peterson Fellow by the American Society of Criminology.
Jose recently accepted a TT-job and is an incoming assistant professor at Texas Christian University’s Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice!
Jose has published in the Annual Review of Criminology, Homicide Studies, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Interpersonal Violence and Justice Evaluation Journal, among other journals.
Research:
Jose’s research interests are community violence and programmatic responses, gangs and criminal networks, criminological theory and international comparative criminology.
He has worked as a graduate research assistant for a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funded randomized control trial evaluation of the Gang Reduction Initiative of Denver (GRID). In addition to his work at the University of Colorado Boulder, he has been a research assistant with the Emergency Preparedness Research, Evaluation, & Practice (EPREP) Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Prior to attending CU Boulder, he worked as a research assistant for the Los Angeles Mayors’ Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD).
Jose’s dissertation research focuses on gang intervention by street outreach workers in Denver. Specifically, he is focusing on how the outreach workers for the GRID program internalize and conceptualize gang intervention, the program model, and the influence it has on service delivery.
Teaching:
Jose’s teaching interests include gangs and criminal networks, criminological theory, juvenile justice and delinquency, and research methods.
He has been a Graduate Part Time Instructor (GPTI) for Crime and Society and a graduate teaching assistant for Special Topics in Criminology – Gangs: Causes and Consequences; and Deviance in the United States.
Featured Publication
Sanchez, J. A., & Pyrooz, D. C. (2023). Gang intervention during COVID-19: A qualitative study of multidisciplinary teams and street outreach in Denver. Journal of Criminal Justice, 84. [Link]
Abstract: Gang and violence intervention programs have become a staple in American cities. These programs often find themselves navigating turbulent political environments, a challenge that can be exacerbated during times of societal upheaval, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study examines how the pandemic impacted the forms and functions of the Gang Reduction Initiative of Denver (GRID). While GRID coordinates many strategies and collaborates with government and community groups across Denver, its centerpiece intervention entails multidisciplinary teams and street outreach, the focus of this qualitative study. We draw on 197 hours of field-based observation and 19 semi-structured interviews gathered as part of an evaluation of this intervention—initiated prior to the pandemic—to arrive at three key conclusions on the impact of COVID-19. First, upper-level administrative support can be a critical factor in agency efficacy and morale. City government’s tenuous familiarity and ties with GRID was consequential to non-essential classification at the early stage of the pandemic. Second, agency leaders are crucial advocates for their agency, as GRID navigated many challenges without stable leadership and suffered as a result. Finally, interagency collaboration and relationships are slow to develop and easy to lose, made even more fragile in times of crisis. We discuss these findings in the context of large-scale federal investment in community violence intervention.
Links
<<Curriculum Vitae>>
<<Google Scholar>>
<<Twitter>>
<<Research Gate>>