Kristen M Fite

Graduate Research Assistant

Victimization, help seeking behaviors, intimate partner violence, mental health

Kristen Fite is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society. Her current work focuses on the help-seeking behaviors among victims of intimate partner violence and sexual violence.

She is a part of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy (CEBCP), currently working with Drs. Yang and Irvin-Erickson on a project focused on enhancing police response to individuals experiencing mental health crises in Virginia.

Selected Publications

Fite, K. M. (2026). Reporting Intimate Partner Violence at the Intersection of Race and Citizenship. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 41(19-20), 7276-7302. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605261451873

Irvin-Erickson, Y., Yang, S., Fite, K. M., Drummond, C., Lu, Y., & Ramsdell, J. (2026). Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training: A case study of the perceptions of officers, leadership, and CIT trainers in a suburban-rural police department. Journal of Criminal Justice, 102, 102597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2026.102597

Guzman, L. E., Fite, K. M., Frank, H. E., Martinez, R. G., & Bridges, A. J. (2025). Understanding Treatment Barriers for Major Depressive Disorder in the Latino Community: A Qualitative Study Stratified by Language Preferences. Transcultural Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634615251359457

Education

M.A. in Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University (2025)

B.A. in Criminology and Sociology, University of Arkansas (2023)

Recent Presentations

Fite, K. M., Yang, S.-M., Lu, Y.-F., & Irvin-Erickson, Y. “The Impact of Crisis Intervention Training: Enhancing Police Response to Mental Health Crises.” Paper presented at American Society of Criminology (ASC) 80th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. November 12-15, 2025.

Fite, K. M. “The Role of Citizenship Status in Help-Seeking Behaviors and Reporting to Police Among Domestic Violence Survivors.” Paper presented at American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA. November 13-16, 2024.

Fite, K. M. “What the NCVS Tells Us About Police Reporting Among Domestic Violence Victims and the Impact of Immigration.” Poster presented at the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Student Research Expo, Virtual. October 29, 2024.