Professor Darin Haerle received bachelor’s degrees in psychology and kinesiology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. After graduation, she worked in Aurora, Colorado, as a group living counselor at Excelsior Youth Center, a nonprofit residential treatment facility for female juvenile offenders. Working in direct care with those youth was the catalyst for her to start graduate school in criminal justice. After receiving her master’s degree at the University of North Texas, she completed her PhD in Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine.
Professor Haerle’s dissertation uses a mixed methodological approach to explore the carceral experiences of youth committed to California state juvenile correctional facilities. This project focuses on the institutional misconduct and experiences of juvenile offenders waived to adult court compared to that of their juvenile court counterparts. Professor Haerle is also a member of the Eurogang Program of Research, which facilitates her other areas of study including delinquency and crime among gang youth, comparative criminal justice, and juvenile sentencing reform.
Outside of work, Professor Haerle can be found cycling, hiking, or swimming. She grew up playing basketball, and March Madness is still her favorite time of the year. Professor Haerle’s latest project is (trying) to train Miles, her newly adopted black lab/border collie pup.