Sue-Ming Yang

Associate Professor

Place-based criminology, racial stereotypes and urban disorder perception, experimental methods, international terrorism

Sue-Ming Yang is an associate professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. She received her PhD from the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland. Her current research focuses on understanding the relationship between stereotypes, race, and perceived disorder in urban settings. She also studies place-based criminology, disorder-crime association, experimental research methods, and international terrorism. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology. Prior to her appointment at Mason, she was an associate professor at National Chung Cheng University and received the Young Scholar Award in 2012.

Selected Publications

Carson, Jennifer V., Laura Dugan, and Sue-Ming Yang. (2019). A comprehensive application of rational choice theory: How costs imposed by, and benefits derived from, the U.S. federal government affect incidents perpetrated by the radical eco-movement. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. DOI: 10.1007/s10940-019-09427-8 (authors contributed equally).

Yang, Sue-Ming, Joshua Hinkle, and Laura A. Wyckoff. (2018). Using Multitrait-Multimethod (MTMM) Techniques to Examine the Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Social Disorder. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. DOI: 10.1177/0022427818771109.

Yang, Sue-Ming and I-Chin Jen. (2017). An Evaluation of Displacement and Diffusion Effects on Eco-Terrorist Activities after Police Interventions. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. DOI 10.1007/s10940-017-9367-4.

Yang, Sue-Ming and Chi-Chao Pao. (2015). Do You “See” the Same Thing?: An Experimental Look into the Black Box of Disorder Perception. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 52(4) 534-566.

Hinkle, Joshua and Sue-Ming Yang. (2014). A New Look into Broken Windows: What Shapes Individuals’ Perceptions of Social Disorder? Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(1), 26-35.

Yang, Sue-Ming and Laura A. Wyckoff. (2010). Perceptions of Safety and Victimization: Does Survey Construction Affect Perceptions? Journal of Experimental Criminology, 6(3), 293-323.

Yang, Sue-Ming. (2010).Assessing the Spatial-temporal Relationship between Disorder and Violence. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 26(1): 139-163.

LaFree, Gary, Sue-Ming Yang, and Martha Crenshaw. (2009). Trajectories of Terrorism: Attack Patterns of Foreign Groups that Have Targeted the United States, 1970 to 2004. Criminology and Public Policy, 8(3), 445-473.

Grants and Fellowships

2022-2024 Principal Investigator. “Coalition to Enhance the Capacity of Policing Mental Health Problems in Virginia.” Bureau of Justice Assistance. ($1,483,000).

2022 Co-Principal Investigator. “DHS SIMEX FY22” (with Stephanie Dailey, PI). Contracted through MITRE Corporation. ($40,000).

2021-2023 Principal Investigator. “Partners in Crisis: Improving Police Response to Individuals in Moments of Crisis by Providing Service Alternatives.” National Institute of Justice. ($385,434)

2015-2019 Principal Investigator: “Improving Police Response to Mental Health Crisis in a Rural Area” (with Charlotte Gill, Co-PI). Bureau of Justice Assistance (Smart Policing Initiative) 2015-WY-BX-0007. Total funding: $627,482 to Roanoke County Police Department. GMU funded amount: $250,000.

2017-2019       Co-Principal Investigator. “An Examination of the Rising Star Hypothesis in Formal Mentoring” (with Changya Hu, PI). Ministry of Science and Technology. Taiwan. ($547,537).

2013-2015       Principal Investigator: "Exploring the Mechanisms of Social Control in a Relational Society: A Comparison of the Explanatory Effects of Social Ties and Collective Efficacy in Taiwan." National Science Council. Taiwan ($70,000).

2013-2014      Principal Investigator: “Eco-Terrorism and the Corresponding Legislation Efforts to Intervene and Prevent Future Attacks.” The Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society (TSAS). ($10,876).

2012-2013       Principal Investigator: “Examining the Mechanism Underlying the Perceptions of Disorder.” National Science Council. Taiwan ($25,000).

Courses Taught

CRIM 315 Research Methods and Analysis in Criminology

CRIM 562 Crime and Place

CRIM 782 Statistics I

CRIM 783 Statistics II

CRIM 795 Urban Disorder and Crime

CRIM 491 Honors Seminar I

CRIM 492 Honors Seminar II

Dissertations Supervised

Megan Stoltz, Police Decision-Making in Encounters with Persons with Mental Health Conditions: Content Analysis of Officers’ Narrative CIT Reports (2021)