She is currently completing her co-op as a Research Assistant with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, Research and Data Division, where she supports reports on the jail population, Medication Assisted Treatment programs, use of force, and transportation.
Jianan Hu is a master’s student in Criminology and Criminal Justice whose academic work and co-op experience focus on corrections research, data analysis, and program evaluation within real-world justice settings.
Co-op Experience
Jianan is currently working as a Research Assistant with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, Research and Data Division. In this role, she supports the production of weekly and monthly reports on the population in custody at the Suffolk County Jail and House of Correction. Her work includes analysis of Medication Assisted Treatment programs, use of force, and transportation data.
She also provides research and administrative support for ongoing projects such as the department’s recidivism study and annual statistical report. Her responsibilities include data acquisition, cleaning, analysis, visualization, and documentation. In addition, Jianan is helping develop standard operating procedures and infographics to improve report consistency, accuracy, and reproducibility. The division is also preparing to launch a department-wide program evaluation using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Through this co-op, Jianan aims to deepen her understanding of U.S. correctional institutions while gaining hands-on research experience. One of her key goals is to refine a practical, criminal justice–focused research question and complete a research proposal aligned with her academic interests.
Academic and Research Highlights
Jianan’s research interests center on corrections, gender, and institutional behavior. Her recent projects include:
- Understanding Female Inmates’ Adjustment to Prison
A quantitative, cross-sectional study examining demographic and criminological factors related to institutional misconduct, using data from the Massachusetts EOPSS Cross-Tracking System. - Institutional Misconduct Among Female Inmates
Analyzed socio-demographic and criminological factors influencing physical assault using R and multivariate regression, drawing on data from the 2016 U.S. Survey of Prison Inmates. - Pop Culture Network Analysis
Used Gephi to create sociograms of the film Dìdi (Younger Brother) to visualize networks, crime patterns, and antisocial behavior. - Cybercrime from a Gender Perspective
Authored a position paper using FBI Internet Crime Reports and UNODC data to examine cybercrime motivations, victimization, and workforce dynamics through a gender lens.
Awards and Recognition
- Global Learner Award Scholarship
