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Chris Melde

Chris Melde
  • Professor
  • School of Criminal Justice
  • PhD 2007, University of Missouri - St. Louis
  • MA 2004, University of Missouri - St. Louis
  • BA 2001, Loras College
  • 448 Baker Hall
  • 655 Auditorium Rd.
  • East Lansing, MI 48824
  • (517) 353-0850

Links

Curriculum Vitae

Google Scholar

National Center for School Safety

Biography

Chris Melde is a Professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) in the Office of the President at Michigan State University. He began his duties as FAR in March of 2025. His primary research interests include street gangs, gun violence prevention, and individual and community reactions to crime and victimization risk. He is a research associate at the Michigan Justice Statistics Center, the State’s official statistical analysis center. He is on the statewide advisory board for Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Violence Intervention Division and was appointed by Governor Gretchen Witmer to serve on Michigan’s Automobile Theft Prevention Authority Board of Directors. He serves as a subject matter expert for the National Center for School Safety, focusing on the role of law enforcement in school-based delinquency prevention and comprehensive approaches to school safety. He is currently the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on several funded projects, including a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) funded long-term follow-up of respondents from the second national evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (G.R.E.A.T.) that began in 2006 when participants were in the sixth or seventh grade. He also serves as a research partner for Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) gang and gun violence prevention programs in Detroit, Jackson, and all cities in the Western District of Michigan. Dr. Melde is a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology and was awarded the 2015 Tory J. Caeti Memorial Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Juvenile Justice and Delinquency section for his work on gangs and youth violence prevention.

Selected Publications

Melde, C., Circo, G., Zeoli, A., Wolfe, S., Sadler, R.C., Oliphant, S., Almanza, M., O’Brien, M. (2025). Drunk and dangerous? Exploring the tenuous links among drunk driving, alcohol arrests, and firearm violence in an urban context. Journal of Criminal Justice.

Rogers, E., Melde, C., Williams, J.*, Heinze, J., & McGarrell, E. (2024). Adolescent Mental Health and Resilience Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health.

Brantingham, P.J., Carter, J.G., MacDonald, J.M., Melde, C., & Mohler, G.O. (2021). Is the recent surge in violence in American cities due to contagion? Journal of Criminal Justice.

Pyrooz, D., Melde, C., Coffman, D., & Meldrum, R. (2021). Selection, Stability, and Spuriousness: Testing Gottfredson and Hirschi’s Propositions to Reinterpret Street Gangs in Self-Control Perspective. Criminology.

Melde, C., Berg, M., & Esbensen, F.A. (2020). “Nerve” and Violent Encounters: An Assessment of Fearlessness in the Face of Danger. Criminology.