Riley Tucker

Criminology and Justice Policy, PhD

Riley Tucker is a doctoral candidate in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Temple University. His research uses big data and computational and spatial methods to probe questions related to place and crime, predominantly drawing from social disorganization and routine activities theories. His dissertation uses a collection of geotagged “tweets” to measure how the demographic characteristics of those occupying urban places changes across spaces and times, considering the potential criminogenic nature of such changes. During his studies he has worked with the Boston Area Research Initiative (BARI) to conduct academic studies and generate publicly available datasets that facilitate research about Boston communities, such as the “COVID in Boston Database”. Additionally, he is currently in his third year serving as BARI’s data consultant, a role in which he focuses on giving trainings to non-profits, industry groups, and the public about the values of civic data and how to conduct urban research. He has taught Criminology and is excited to teach Bostonography, a course that focuses on conducting humanities and social science research about Boston using computational methods.

Related Schools & Departments

School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Related Research Centers

Boston Area Research Initiative

Publications

O’Brien, D. T., Ciomek, A., & Tucker, R. (2021). How and Why is Crime More Concentrated in Some Neighborhoods than Others?: A New Dimension to Community Crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1-27.
Who ‘Tweets’ Where and When, and How Does it Help Understand Crime Rates at Places? Measuring the Presence of Tourists and Commuters in Ambient Populations. 2021. Riley Tucker, Daniel T. O’Brien, Alexandra Ciomek, Edgar Castro, Qi Wang & Nolan Edward Phillips. Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
Michael Gearhart and Riley Tucker. 2020. Criminogenic Risk, Criminogenic Need, Collective Efficacy and Juvenile Delinquency. Criminal Justice and Behavior.
Gregory M. Zimmerman, Riley Tucker, and Jacob I Stowell. 2019. Neighborhood Through a Familial Lens: Examining the Intergenerational Transmission of Collective Efficacy. Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology. 5(4): 498-516.
Riley Tucker, Gregory M. Zimmerman. Jacob I Stowell, and David Squier Jones. 2019. Examining the (Dis)Agreement Between Etiology and Consequences of Adults’ and Youths’ Perceptions of Collective Efficacy in Boston. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 56(6): 888-936.
Braga, Anthony A., and Riley B. Tucker. 2018. “Problem Analysis to Support Decision Making in Evidence Based Policing.” Evidence-Based Policing: An Introduction. Policy Press, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Qiliang Chen, Riley Tucker, and Daniel T. O’Brien. 2020. “Yelp Reviews in Boston, MA”
https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DMWCBT
Mehrnaz Amiri, Riley Tucker and Daniel T. O’Brien. 2020. “Airbnb in Greater Boston, MA”
https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GXLZXF
Edgar Castro, Mehrnaz Amiri, Riley Tucker and Daniel T. O’Brien. 2020. “Craigslist Postings in Massachusetts” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/52WSPT
Daniel T. O’Brien, Nolan Edward Phillips, Saina Sheini, Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, Alina Ristea, and Riley Tucker. 2019. “Geographical Infrastructure for the City of Boston v. 2019”
Daniel T. O’Brien, Alexandra Ciomek, and Riley Tucker. 2019. “Massachusetts Census Indicators” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XZXAUP

Presentations

Riley Tucker, Dan O’Brien, Alexandra Ciomek, and Nolan Edward Phillips. 2019. Who Tweets Where and When? How Does it Help us Understand Crime Rates at Places? American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
McDevitt, Jack and Riley Tucker. 2018. Measurement of Crimes Against Vulnerable Victims. American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
Tucker, Riley. 2018. Assessing the Relationship Between Collective Efficacy, Neighborhood Activism, and Organizational Participation in Chicago Neighborhoods. American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
Tucker, Riley. 2017. The Impact of Collective Efficacy and Satisfaction with Police on Willingness to Report & Crime. American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting,
Philadelphia, PA.
Tucker, Riley. 2016. Policing and Collective Efficacy: Baltimore, Maryland, 1986. American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.

More Student Paths

Charles T. Wallace-Thomas IV

Charles took "Sustainable Renewable Energy Development in the Global South" with Professor Shalanda Baker, which pushed him to further question systems as they exist, no matter their entrenched in society.
He did community service as part of the Ujima Global Leaders Program through the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute. He worked on the Timebank team, helping give back to local communities.
Charles split his time for his first co-op between the Center for Economic Democracy and the Boston Ujima Project, where he analyzed studies on community needs, including infrastructure and childcare.
He was one of the co-creators of the #BlackAtNU campaign and advocated for racial literacy courses and a restorative and transformative justice center on campus.
Charles made his own research project- a macroeconomic index to measure democratic participation in municipal economies, partnering with NU, the Columbus Foundation and the Center for Economic Democracy.
He worked at the Participatory Budgeting Project as a Program Associate, helping city systems and other organizations actively decide how to invest money across different spaces.
Charles graduated in 2022. ..

Casey Greenleaf

Casey took Global Markets and Local Cultures. After traveling, she better saw how the coursework mirrored real life, and knew her education was preparing her for the world.
She went on a DOC to Argentina and Uruguay, and become highly proficient while living in Buenos Aires and visiting the glaciers of the Patagonia region.
Casey completed her first co-op at the Museum of Fine Arts as a community arts program assistant. She gained valuable hands-on experience assisting in arts classes for local communities.
She joined the Sociology & Anthropology Student Association during her third year. It allowed her to get to know her fellow students and mirrored the small school experience she loved.
Casey studied abroad in Nepal for her capstone thesis. She lived alone for a month while she researched and wrote about the lived experience of climate change in the lower Himalayas.
She worked for the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, founded by Professor Sarah Wylie. She produced promotional videos, developed a virtual research event, wrote event programming, and more.
Casey graduated in 2020. ..

Sunita Pfitzner

Sunita took Revolution, Civil War, and Insurrection, taught by Professor Risa Kitagawa. The course invited students to question the motives behind acts of violence against governments.
She traveled on a Dialogue of Civilizations to Jordan and Egypt; while there she grew interested in Middle East politics and the Arabic language.
Sunita worked at the Institute for Economics and Peace in Sydney, Australia, where she analyzed data on the corruption of police forces in Mexico.
Sunita was a member of the International Relations Council and traveled abroad with the club to compete in Model Arab League, Model NATO, and Model UN conferences.
Sunita conducted research with Berna Turam, developing a greater understanding of the Mediterranean migrant crisis. She also researched the feminist response to Covid-19 with Val Moghadam.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2022.
..

Yasser Aponte

Yasser was in the Foundation Year program at Northeastern. The program was a rigorous deep dive into core subject classes that helped Yasser bridge the gap between his high school and college experiences.
He took Issues in Cities and Suburbs with Professor Erin Graves in Fall 2018. As someone deeply invested in urban life, he found the course was an enlightened look at the problems endemic to cities.
Yasser joined the Boston Beer Company as a Program Operations and Event Assistant for his first co-op. He worked on inventory, public relations, brewery events, and workspace organization.
He implemented community gardens all over Boston on deserted plots of land during his time as the Northeastern Campus Director for the campus’ United Nations Millennium Fellowship.
Yasser maintained a farm in Dorchester for The Food Project. He harvested crops, distributed produce through donations and food markets, and worked on overall logistics.
In 2020, Yasser won the Community Service Leadership award, given to students who show exemplary community engagement. He was recognized for his work at The Food Project, Northeastern Crossing, and more.
He graduated 2022 with his Bachelor’s in International Affairs and Religious Studies and his Master’s in Security and Resilience Studies, through Northeastern’s PlusOne program...