Torri Sperry graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2017 with a B.A. in Sociology and earned her M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland in 2021. She is now a doctoral candidate. 

Torri currently works as an embedded analyst for Prince George's County Police Department. She also works with Dr. Bianca Bersani on various projects through the Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center and Dr. Lauren Porter. She has previously worked with Dr. Greg Midgette, Dr. Peter Reuter, Dr. Zubin Jelveh, and Dr. Rachel Ellis, as well as Thomas Abt as a program manager at the Violence Reduction Center. 

In addition to research appointments through the university, she has also worked with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Crime and Justice Institute, and is a research consultant for Choice Research Associates. 

Torri's dissertation, chaired by Dr. Lauren Porter, analyzes the relationships between the racial disparity in police killings of civilians, community levels of violence, and racial composition, and how these factors are moderated by whether the community is urban, rural, or suburban. Her dissertation also analyzes whether national attention to police use of force against Black civilians is associated with increases or decreases in police killings of civilians, and whether this is moderated by the local context. 

Areas of Interest

  • Racial inequalities in the criminal justice system
  • Community violence reduction
  • Race and policing
  • Evidence-based policing to make law enforcement more efficient and helpful to community well-being
  • Mixed methods

Degrees

  • Degree Type
    BA
    Degree Details
    Sociology, University of Oklahoma
  • Degree Type
    MA
    Degree Details
    Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park

Awards

  • 2024-06-01
    Dr. Anat Kimchi Memorial Graduate Award
  • 2023-06-01
    University of Maryland Summer Research Fellow
  • 2022-01-01
    Faculty-Student Research Award

Conferences

  • Sperry, Toryn. 2024. "Traversing the Urban/Rural Divide: How Community Context Impacts Racialized Police Violence. American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, CA.
  • Sperry, Toryn and Sarah Silberman. 2024. "Understanding the Relationship Between Pro-Violent Social Media Interactions and Violence in DC and Maryland." American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, CA.
  • Sperry, Toryn. 2023. "Place and Police Killings: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Disparities in Fatal Police Encounters." American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Porter, Lauren, Toryn Sperry, Greg Midgette, Brooklynn Hitchens, Thomas Spreen, & Peter Reuter. 2023. "Recreation Centers and Crime: A Mixed Methods Study of Closures in Baltimore City. American Society of Criminology, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Sperry, Toryn. 2021. "Racial Threat, Black Political Empowerment, and Black Civilians Killed by Police." American Society of Criminology, Chicago, IL.
  • Sperry, Toryn. 2017. "The effects of Race on Juvenile Arrest." Oklahoma Sociological Association, Norman OK.
Torri Sperry.
2163 LeFrak Hall
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Email
tsperry [at] umd.edu