Cortney Fisher, JD, PhD is Principal at Finch Strategies, LLC and Professional Track Faculty at the University of Maryland – College Park. In these roles, Dr. Fisher teaches a variety of undergraduate courses and advises government and non-profit organizations in the field of victimology, the intersection of trauma victims and systems, criminology, and organizational management for justice and victim services organizations. Dr. Fisher has over twenty years of experience working for community-based, campus-based, and government organizations providing victim services to victims and survivors of all crime. Dr. Fisher teaches or has taught undergraduate courses in Victimology, Criminal Law, Ethics in the Criminal Justice System, and Violence Against Women. Recent major consulting work has focused on coordinated response systems for victims of community violence in disadvantaged communities, developing performance measures and benchmarks for victim-serving organizations, and building continuums of care that are culturally responsive and trauma centered.
Prior to Dr. Fisher’s full-time commitment to teaching, researching, and consulting, she served as the Deputy Director of the Greater Washington Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA), where she managed the victim support services, prevention initiatives, and educational programming to the community regarding domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence, elder abuse, and workplace harassment. Before moving back into the private sector, Dr. Fisher was the Deputy Director for Victim Services in the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants in the District of Columbia, where she managed the policy and program development initiatives of the agency, including management of the DC Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program, the District’s continuums of care for domestic violence and sexual assault victims, the District’s victim services response in a mass disaster, performance and evaluation initiatives related to victim services, and services for victims of homicide and attempted homicide. Dr. Fisher’s resume includes tenures as the Executive Director of the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, Senior Victim Advocate at the Office of the Victim Advocate at the University of Maryland, Attorney Advisor for the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation, and Director of Policy and Program Development at the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center. Dr. Fisher received her PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland in Fall 2014, with research interests in victims’ rights, victims in the criminal justice system, violence against women, victim services program development and program and policy evaluation and her Juris Doctorate from New England Law – Boston in 2002.