Victoria Sytsma

Victoria Sytsma

Associate Professor

PhD (Rutgers)

Sociology

Queen's University

victoria.sytsma@queensu.ca

(613) 533-2172 ext. 32172

Mackintosh-Corry Hall, D523

Office Hours By Appointment

People Directory Affiliation Category

  • Applied Criminology
  • Policy and Program Evaluation
  • Canadian and American Policing
  • Open-air drug markets
  • Opportunity theories of crime
  • Quantitative Data Analysis

Victoria is an applied criminologist who specializes in policy and program evaluation and quantitative data analysis. She has done evaluations in a wide range of areas, including student mentoring, police run organized-crime countermeasures, and juvenile offender reentry. She has published papers on open-air drug markets and municipal policing and often employs quantitative or mixed methods approaches.

Victoria has taught courses in data analysis, research methods, policing, immigration and crime, organized crime, and youth justice.

Victoria is actively seeking graduate students to undertake research in the areas of criminology, criminal justice program/policy evaluation, policing, drug markets, and opportunity theories of crime.

Victoria is the co-principal investigator on a research team which has secured a grant in the amount of $110,346.69USD from The Charles Koch Foundation, Criminal Justice & Policing Reform Program to complete a study titled, Identifying Situational Determinants of Police Use of Force: A Systematic Social Observation of Body Camera Footage in Newark, NJ.

Saulnier, A., & Sytsma, V. (Submitted). Body-worn camera videos and public perceptions of police: Positive video exposure and community-police relations. 

Piza, E.L., Connealy, N., Sytsma, V.A., & Chillar, V.F. (Forthcoming). Situational factors and police use of force across micro-time intervals: A video systematic social observation and panel regression analysis. Criminology. 

Piza, E.L., & Sytsma, V.A. (forthcoming). Video data analysis of body-worn camera footage: A practical methodology in support of police reform. In M. Craig and K. Blount Hill (Eds.). Transforming the institution: Can we achieving justice and legitimacy in policing? New York: Routledge. 

Piza, E.L. & Sytsma, V.A. (2022). The impact of suspect resistance, informational justice, and interpersonal justice on time until police use of physical force: A survival analysis. Crime & Delinquency.  

Sytsma, V.A., Laming, E., & Pohl, E. (2021). Situational and ecological predictors of conducted energy weapon application severity. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice.  

Chillar, V.F., Piza, E.L., & Sytsma, V.A. (2021). Conducting systematic social observations of body-camera footage: Methodological and practical insights. The Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology.  

Sytsma, V.A., Piza, E.L., Chillar, V.F., & Grossman, L. (2021). Measuring procedural justice policy adherence during use of force events: The body-worn camera as a performance monitoring tool. Criminal Justice Policy Review.

Sytsma, V.A., Chillar, V.F., & Piza, E.L. (2021). Scripting police escalation of use of force through conjunctive analysis of body-worn camera footage: A systematic social observational pilot study. Journal of Criminal Justice, 74.  

Sytsma, V.A. (2021). Opportunities for crime in the Mushroom Kingdom: Applying rational choice perspective and routine activity approach to Super Mario Bros. p. 69-86 In S. E. Daly (Ed.). Theories of crime through popular culture (pp. 69-86). London: Palgrave Macmillan.  

Sytsma, V.A., Connealy, N., & Piza, E.L. (2021). Environmental predictors of a drug offender crime script: A systematic social observation of Google Street View images and CCTV footage. Crime & Delinquency, 67(1), 27-57.  

 Sytsma, V.A., & Laming, E. (2019). Exploring the barriers to researching the economics of municipal policing. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 61(1), 15-40.  

 Sytsma, V.A., & Piza, E.L. (2018). Quality over quantity: Assessing the impact of frequent public interaction compared to problem-solving activities on police officer job satisfaction. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 14(2), 526-541.  

 Sytsma, V.A., & Piza, E.L. (2018). Script analysis of open-air drug selling: A systematic social observation of CCTV footage. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 55(1), 78-102.

Sytsma, V.A., & Piza, E.L. (2017). The influence of job assignment on community engagement: Bicycle patrol and community-oriented policing. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 19(4), 347-364.  

Piza, E.L., & Sytsma, V.A. (2016). Exploring the defensive actions of drug sellers in open-air markets: A systematic social observation. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 53(1), 36-65.  

 Sytsma, V.A. (2015). Exploring police-resident racial equality and violent crime. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 1(1), 4-18.  

 Sytsma, V.A. (2011). Chapter 20: Applying RTM to aggravated assault. In J.M. Caplan, & L.W. Kennedy (Eds.), Risk Terrain Modelling Compendium for Crime Analysis (p. 83-84). Newark, NJ: Rutgers Center on Public Security.  

 Gabor, T., Kiedrowski, J., Sytsma, V.A., Melchers, R.F., & Morselli, C. (2010). Community effects of  law enforcement countermeasures against organized crime: A retrospective analysis. Ottawa: Public Safety Canada. Report No. 006.