Erin Orrick, PhD
Associate Professor
Program Director, Criminal Justice Programs
Office Hours: By appointment
Bio
Dr. Erin A. Orrick is an Associate Professor and Director of Criminal Justice Programs in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research focuses on corrections, criminal careers, and reentry, with particular attention to specialized populations and longitudinal patterns of criminal behavior.
Dr. Orrick has published extensively in top-tier journals including Justice Quarterly, Crime & Delinquency, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and the Journal of Quantitative Criminology. Her scholarship examines critical issues in correctional systems, from halfway house programming and institutional misconduct to the intersection of immigration status and incarceration. She has secured numerous research grants and maintains strong partnerships with criminal justice agencies, bringing a practitioner-informed perspective to her academic work.
Prior to joining CU Denver in 2025, Dr. Orrick spent 12 years as a faculty member in the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, where she also served as Research Director of the Correctional Management Institute of Texas. Notable projects include developing assessment tools for the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and conducting comprehensive program evaluations for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's reentry initiatives.
Areas of Expertise
Corrections and Sentencing, Criminal Careers and Recidivism, Prisoner Reentry, Immigration and Criminal Justice, Program Evaluation, Quantitative Research Methods, Criminal Justice Policy
Education, Licensure & CertificationsDoctor of Philosophy in Criminology
University of Texas at Dallas
Master of Arts in Criminology of Criminal Justice
University of Maryland
Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice
Texas Christian University
Curriculum Vitae