Roberta O’Malley

Assistant Professor
Department of Criminology
University of South Florida

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Roberta Liggett O’Malley, Ph.D.

Criminologist studying the overlap between technology, violence, and deviance.

I am an Assistant Professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida. My research examines cyber-violence and cybercrime, technology-facilitated sexual offending, and deviant online communities.

Before completing my Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, I received a Masters of Arts Degree in Psychology from New York University and my Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Eckerd College.

My current research focuses on image-based abuse, especially sextortion. Sextortion is the threat to distribute private, sexually explicit media unless a demand is met. These demands are varied, and may include paying a ransom, remaining in an unwanted relationship, or to generate more explicit media.

I use both quantitative and qualitative methods to address my research questions. Trained in both psychology and criminal justice, I often apply a cross-disciplinary lens to my work.