Jessica Trapassi is a first-year Ph.D. student in The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. In 2015, she graduated from Rhode Island College with a B.A. in Justice Studies and went on to earn her M.A. in Criminology from USF in 2017.

While at USF, Ms. Trapassi had the opportunity to work with Dr. John Cochran and Dr. Dwayne Smith, as well as Dr. Sondra Fogel from the Department of Social Work. She was also a Teaching Assistant for Dr. Scot Boeringer. It was during this time that she became interested in mitigation in sentencing, and wrote her master's thesis, "Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Role as Mitigators for Youthful and Non-Youthful Offenders in Capital Sentencing Cases." At Northeastern, Ms. Trapassi is expanding her studies, which includes research involving the Massachusetts Department of Corrections as a member of Dr. Natasha Frost's research team.

Ms. Trapassi looks forward to receiving her Ph.D. in Criminology and Justice Policy from Northeastern in 2021. She hopes to pursue a career in academia, and to continue studying sentencing and mitigation as well as Adverse Childhood Experiences from a criminological perspective.