About Daren
Daren Fisher, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice, and Homeland Security at Hampton University. Before joining Hampton, Dr. Fisher served as an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at The Citadel. His research interests include the relationship between government actions and subsequent terrorism, criminological theory, policing, and crime prevention. Dr. Fisher specializes in empirically testing the predictions of criminological theory to better inform government policies that aim to reduce crime using econometric methods and qualitative approaches.
Dr. Fisher received his PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland, where he was awarded an Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship, which supports candidates who have demonstrated excellence in their careers and show promising impact in their dissertation work.
Dr. Fisher has published articles in the Annual Review of Criminology, Justice Quarterly, the European Journal of Criminology, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Women & Criminal Justice, and the American Journal of Criminal Justice. He has also authored book chapters on Sociological and Criminological Explanations of Terrorism (Oxford University Press, eds. Erica Chenoweth, Andreas Gofas, Richard English, and Stathis Kalyvas) and the Emergence of Classical Criminological Theory (Wiley, ed. Ruth A. Triplett).
Dr. Fisher has also received a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours 1) in Criminology from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland.
Research Interests
Counterterrorism
- Fisher, D., & Dugan, L. (2021). The Importance of Governments' Response to Natural Disasters to Reduce Terrorist Risk. Justice Quarterly, 38(6), 1230-1261. DOI
Governance and Society
- Carson, J. V., Fisher, D., & Dierenfeldt, R. (2025). The Influence of COVID-19 Restrictions and Rhetoric in the US: A Multi-Definition and Multi-Method Approach. Justice Quarterly, 42(6), 1019-1042.
Crime Prevention
- Fisher, D., Maimon, D., & Berenblum, T. (2021). Examining the crime prevention claims of crime prevention through environmental design on system-trespassing behaviors: A randomized experiment. Security Journal. DOI
Criminological Theory
- Fisher, D., Abel, M. N., & McCann, W. S. (2023). Differentiating Violent and Non-Violent Extremists: Lessons from 70 Years of Social Control Theory. Journal for Deradicalization, 34, 28-49.