Dr. Boman works with governmental organizations (local, state, and federal), reentry organizations, public health organizations, police departments, correctional institutions, educational institutions, non-profits, courts, energy organizations, and scientists from a variety of other fields. He is an experienced evaluator and creative problem solver adept in original data collection and secondary data analysis. His pragmatic research is agency-based and primarily quantitative.
Dr. Boman’s active funded projects showcase a series of advanced research designs (including randomized control trials) and, when appropriate, use advanced predictive modeling strategies (e.g., multilevel modeling, longitudinal data analysis, item-response modeling, structural equations) that often have embedded latent variables.
Dr. Boman’s current and past projects span several areas:
Prior to his arrival at American University as a Research Professor, Dr. Boman was a tenured professor at Bowling Green State University’s Department of Sociology (2017 – 2025) and a tenure-track professor at the University of Wyoming’s Department of Criminal Justice (2013 – 2017). Dr. Boman is also a fully certified and currently practicing firefighter with ten years of service time.
Widdowson, A.O., Boman IV, J.H., Fisher, B.W., Viano, S., & Kratzwald, H.M. (2025). School security measures and adolescents’ academic, behavioral, and social outcomes: Examining whether the associations have changed over time. Journal of School Violence. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2025.2552199.
Boman IV, J.H., Souza, N., Light, J., Holt, D., Jones, S., King A., Berryman, M., Shuda, S.A., Borrelli, M., Logan, B.K., Mohr, A.L.A., & Wildschutte, H. (2025). Opportunistic pathogens and poly-cocktail drugs fuel dynamic public health threats during the opioid crisis. PLOS One 20(8): e0326200. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0326200
Wentzlof, C.A., Boman IV, J.H., Pryor, C., & Hemez, P. (2021). “Kicking the can down the street”: Social policy, intimate partner violence, and homicide during the opioid crisis. Substance Use & Misuse 56(4), 539-545. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2021.1887251
Boman IV, J.H. & Gallupe, O. (2020). Has COVID-19 changed crime? Crime rates in the United States during the pandemic. American Journal of Criminal Justice 45, 537-545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09551-3
Culhane, S.E., Boman IV, J.H., & Schweitzer, K. (2016). Public perceptions of the justifiability of police shootings: The role of body cameras in a pre- and post- ferguson experiment. Police Quarterly 19(3), 251-274. Featured by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance.
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Research Coordinator
On November 21, 2024, American University and Verizon co-hosted Voices of Valor: Transformative Journeys Through Veterans Treatment Courts at Verizon’s Technology Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The event marked the launch of a compelling publication by the same name dedicated to advancing awareness and efforts surrounding Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs).