Skip to main content

Alesha Durfee, Ph.D.

Professor
Women's and Gender Studies

Education

Ph.D., Sociology, University of Washington 2004
Graduate Certificate, Women Studies, University of Washington 2000
M.A., Sociology, University of Washington 1998

Research Interests

Domestic, sexual, and intimate partner violence; Gender, law, and social policy; Courts and policing (including protection orders and mandatory arrest policies); Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods.

Publications and Media Placements

Selected recent articles and book chapters:

  • Spearman, K.J., Durfee, A., Messing, J.T., & Bagwell-Gray, M.E. (2024). Can law provide survivors with safety? Legal mobilization, legal consciousness, and protection order decision-making. In M. Burton, V. Bettinson, K. Richardson and A. Speed (Eds.), Research Handbook on Domestic Violence and Abuse (pp. 185-201. Edward Elgar Publishing).
  • Bonistall Postel, E., Behounek, E., & Durfee, A. (2024). Employing art against abuse: The Clothesline Project as a pedagogical tool for social transformation. Kitch, S. & Gilpin, D. (Eds.), CounterActivism: Arts-Based, Trauma-Responsive Action for Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence. University of Washington Press.
  • Bagwell-Gray, M.E., Messing, J.T., Durfee, A., & Spearman, K.J. (2023). A critical examination of the influences of intimate partner violence, help-seeking, and social identity on women’s experiences seeking and obtaining civil protection orders. Women & Criminal Justice, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2023.2167060
  • Durfee, A. & Goodmark, L. (2023) Domestic violence mandatory arrest policies and arrests for same sex and opposite sex intimate partner violence after the legalization of same sex marriage in the United States. In H. Fradella and M. Ball (Eds.), LGBTQ+ Issues in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Routledge: London.
  • Garcia-Jimenez, M., Durfee, A., Cala-Carrillo, M.J., & Trigo, M.E. (2022). Psychosocial separation and women’s disengagement from prosecutions against abusive intimate partners in Spain. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37 (11-12). https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520984424
  • Messing, J.T., Bagwell-Gray, M.E., Ward-Lasher, A.*, & Durfee, A. ‘Not bullet proof’: The complex choice not to seek a civil protection order for intimate partner violence. International Review of Victimology, 27(2), 173-195. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0269758021993338
  • Durfee, Alesha (2021). The use of structural intersectionality as a method to analyze how the domestic violence civil protective order process replicates inequality.Violence Against Women. 27(5), 639-665. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801220958495
  • Durfee, Alesha & Goodmark, Leigh (2021). Is there a protective order to prison pipeline? Gendered dimensions of cross-petitions for protective orders. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. 30(4), 471-490. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10926771.2019.1685044
  • Vega, Sujey, Durfee, Alesha, & Messing, Jill T. “Entre mujeres platicamos”: The role of informal social networks among Latina survivors of intimate partner violence. In V. Lopez & L. Pasko (Eds.), Latinas in the Criminal Justice System: Victims, Targets and Offenders (pp. 17-41). NYU Press.
  • Durfee, Alesha & Goodmark, Leigh (2020). Domestic violence mandatory arrest policies and arrests for same sex and opposite sex intimate partner violence after the legalization of same sex marriage in the United States. Criminal Justice Studies, 33(3): 231-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/1478601X.2020.1786279
  • Durfee, Alesha (2016). Arresting girls for dating violence - The importance of considering intersectionality. In S.F. Sharp, S. Marcus-Mendoza, K.A. Cameron, & E.S. Daniel-Roberson (Eds.), Across the Spectrum of Women and Crime: Theories, Offending, and the Criminal Justice System, pp. 55-75. Carolina Academic Press.
Selected podcasts and other publications:

Honors and Awards

  • Center for Victim Research, Victim Researcher-and-Practitioner Fellowship. Durfee, A., PI & Mesa Municipal Court, Co-PI. Gender, Victimization, and Victim Service Needs among Community Court Defendants ($14,983, 2018-2019).
  • National Institute of Justice, Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships. Durfee, A., PI, Mesa Municipal Court & National Center for State Courts, co-PIs. Investigating the Impacts of Institutional and Contextual Factors on Protection Order Decision-Making ($369,928, 2016-2018). Grant no. 2015-IJ-CX-0013.
  • National Science Foundation, Law and Social Sciences. Durfee, A., PI & Messing, J.T., co-PI. Legal Mobilization and Intimate Partner Victimization ($179,175, 2012-2014). Grant no. 1154098.
  • National Science Foundation, Law and Social Sciences. Durfee, A., PI & Messing, J.T., co-PI. Research Opportunities for Undergraduates (REU) Supplement for Legal Mobilization and Intimate Partner Victimization ($9,831, 2012-2013).
  • National Science Foundation, Law and Social Sciences. Durfee, A., PI & Messing, J.T., co-PI. Research Opportunities for Undergraduates (REU) Supplement for Legal
  • Mobilization and Intimate Partner Victimization ($4,990, 2013-2014).
  • Catalyst Award. Committee for Campus Inclusion, Arizona State University (2018).
  • Badass Woman of ASU. Arizona State University HerStory Committee. (2018).
  • Distinguished Mentor. Arizona State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Residential College (2014).

Professional Organizations and Associations

Current professional position:
Deputy Editor, Feminist Criminology

Community Work and Service

  • Arizona State University Clothesline Project
  • Multiple Researcher-Practitioner partnerships
  • Volunteer Victim Advocate, Seattle Police Department, DV Victim Support Team (2002-2004).
  • Domestic Violence Victim Advocate. King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Victim Assistance Unit (2001-2002).