Associate Professor and Chair
Wilson-Short 112, WSU Pullman
509-335-5465
m.neuilly@wsu.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Doctorate Human Sciences, 2008, Université de Rennes II, Rennes, France
Ph.D., Criminal Justice, 2007, Rutgers University, New Jersey
M.A., Criminal Justice, 2003, Rutgers University, New Jersey
M.A., Psychology, 2000, Université de Rennes II, Rennes, France
B.A., Psychology, 1999, Université Catholique de l’Ouest, Angers, France
Profile
Melanie-Angela Neuilly, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology. Prior to joining the department in 2011, Dr. Neuilly taught for five years at the University of Idaho. She received a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University in 2007, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Université de Rennes in France in 2008. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on criminological theory, criminal justice study abroad, homicide and violent crime, and research methods.
Generally speaking, Dr. Neuilly conducts comparative research on violence and violent death. More specifically, she is interested in issues surrounding measurement and data collection processes, particularly as they pertain to medico-legal practices of classifying death.
In 2024, Dr. Neuilly was a recipient of the prestigious HF Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar award for her research on the impact of medicolegal practices on mortality statistics in France. In this project, she analyses the influence of a change in the French death certificate in 2018 on the quality of mortality statistics.
Dr. Neuilly is also finalizing a monograph compiling the vast range of results from her long-term research projects on medicolegal practices in the United States and abroad. These include ethnographic studies of medicolegal offices in France and in the United States, quantitative analyses of data extracted at these sites, and a tri-national factorial vignette survey conducted in France, the United States, and Australia, both on medicolegal practitioners and general populations. This research was partially funded by a WSU Seed Grant and an International Travel Research Grant from the WSU Office of International Programs.
Dr. Neuilly’s research helped inform SSB 5256 “The Confidentiality of Certain Autopsy and Postmortem Reports and Records,” which was passed during the 2013 Washington State Legislative session.
Aside from fulfilling her departmental obligations, she has served as Chair of the WSU President’s Commission on the Status of Women, Chair of the WSU Task Force on Paid Parental Leave, as a representative for the WSU Faculty Senate, and before becoming chair, was the Interim Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development. Dr. Neuilly is also an active member of her Moscow community. In all these roles, she strives to promote social justice, gender equity, and anti-racism.
Courses Taught
Criminological Theory, Research Methods, Qualitative Methods, Comparative Criminal Justice and Criminology and the Salem Witch Trials, Criminal Justice Study Abroad.
Research Interests
Lethal violence; public health; medico-legal practices; mortality statistics; comparative criminal justice; qualitative methods.
Select Publications
Neuilly, Mélanie-Angela, Sources of bias in death determination: a research note articulating the need to include systemic sources of bias along with cognitive ones as impacting mortality data. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 67(5), 2032-2039, Open Access, first published June 20th, 2022. DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.15080. Selected as 2022 Noteworthy Article by Journal Editors
Neuilly, Mélanie-Angela, Hamilton, Zachary K., Hsieh, Ming-Li, Kigerl, Alex. Data Missingness Patterns in Homicide Datasets: An Applied Test on a Primary Data Set. Journal of Violence and Victims, 35(4).
Mothering from the Field. This edited volume published by Rutgers University Press surveys the experiences of women who have to conduct field research while parenting. The book’s main foci are policy recommendations and practical tips for aspiring field researchers in quest of work-life balance.
How Do Victims of Sexual Violence Benefit from Mutual Disclosure? An Exploratory Study of Women in South Korea, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2018.
Comprehensive Statue Analysis of Death Certification-Related Matters across all Fifty U.S. States, Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2018. Selected as 2018 Noteworthy Article by Journal Editors. Selected as 2018 Noteworthy Article by Journal Editors
From doldrums to progressing knowledge: Identifying stifling issues in criminological theory building and testing, International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, 2017.
Exploring the Characteristics of Violent Death Reports for Children in the United States, Child Abuse and Neglect, 2017.
Within and Inter-Institutional Difference Between Death Certifiers on Autopsy Conclusions, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2016.
The Art of Conferencing, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 2016.
The Reality of Field Research with a Family: Turning a Nightmare into Memories, The Criminologist – Criminology Around the World Feature, 2015.
Isolating Modeling Effects in Offender Risk Assessment, Springer Science, 2015
Violent Roots: Lethal Violence in Two Counties in Early Statehood Washington, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2014
Putting the Public Back in Public Health: An Argument for the Articulation of Fatality Reviews and Coroners’ Inquests, Homicide Studies, 2013
Predicting Recidivism in Homicide Offenders Using Classification Tree Analysis, Homicide Studies, 2011
Using a Comparative Framework to Understand Violence as a Social Construct, Victims and Offenders, A Journal of Evidence-Based Policies and Practices, July 2011
When Murder is Not Enough: Toward a New Definition of Community Violence, Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2007
Dr. Neuilly’s Book:
