My research lies at the intersection of psychology, criminal justice, and investigative practice. Across several interconnected areas, I examine how behavioral evidence can strengthen investigations, how technology changes the dynamics of interpersonal offending, and how investigative and systemic failures can produce lasting injustice.
My scholarship is organized around three core areas:
- Technology-facilitated sexual violence and abuse
- Behavioral analysis, offender profiling, and crime linkage
- Wrongful convictions and their aftermath
Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence and Abuse
Technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) encompasses a wide range of behaviors, including image-based sexual abuse, cyberstalking, digital surveillance, sexual harassment, impersonation, threats, and technology-enabled coercive control.
My research examines the prevalence, risk factors, and consequences of these behaviors, as well as the psychological and interpersonal dynamics underlying their perpetration. A central focus of this work is understanding how offender behavior varies according to objectives, victim–offender relationships, and the role assigned to the victim.
I also examine how research on TFSV can inform investigation, prevention, survivor support, legal responses, and institutional policy.
Book
- Sorochinski, M. (forthcoming). Digital Shadows: An Investigative Psychology Approach to Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence. Routledge.
Selected Publications
- Sorochinski, M., & Wall, A. K. (2025). Rates, risk factors, and consequences of technology-facilitated sexual violence in the U.S. adult population: A survey study. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2025.2517546
- Sorochinski, M., & Borukhov, E. (2024). Digital shadows: Confronting the rise of technology-facilitated sexual violence and the quest for systemic solutions. Contemporary Justice Review: Issues in Criminal, Social, and Restorative Justice. https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2024.2363429
- Gauthier, A., LaPierre, A., Sorochinski, M., Higgs, T., & Bouchard, J.-P. (2024). Les cyberviolences sexuelles dans les relations intimes: Enquête sur un phénomène en expansion [Sexual cyberviolence in intimate relationships: Investigation into a growing phenomenon]. Annales Médico-Psychologiques.
- Sorochinski, M., & Varvaro, J. (2023). Technology-facilitated sexual violence and abuse: Exploring the what, who, where, why, when, and how of the 21st-century interpersonal crime. Contemporary Justice Review: Issues in Criminal, Social, and Restorative Justice, 26, 111–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2023.2216717
Behavioral Analysis, Offender Profiling, and Crime Linkage
My work in investigative psychology focuses on the systematic analysis of behavioral patterns in serious violent crime. This research examines how offenders differ from one another, the extent to which their behavior remains consistent or changes across a crime series, and how behavioral evidence may be used to support crime linkage and offender profiling.
Rather than relying on intuition-based or stereotypical approaches to profiling, my work emphasizes empirically derived models, multidimensional methods, and careful consideration of the limits of behavioral inference. Much of this research has focused on serial sexual assault, serial homicide, offenses involving sex-worker victims, and the role of time in patterns of serial offending.
Books
Gupta, S., Sorochinski, M., & O’Donohue, W. (Eds.). (2026). The Psychology of Serial Murder: Current Evidence. Springer.
View on Springer
Selected Journal Publications
- Sorochinski, M., Salfati, C. G., Libretti, R., & Gupta, S. (2023). The fourth dimension: Differentiating timeline trajectories in violent serial crimes. The Police Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X231213723
- Salfati, C. G., & Sorochinski, M. (2021). Evidence-based offender profiling of serial sex-worker-victim homicides. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 36, 679–690.
- Sorochinski, M., & Salfati, C. G. (2019). Sex-worker homicide series: Profiling the crime scene. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X19839274
- Salfati, C. G., & Sorochinski, M. (2019). MATCH: A new approach to differentiating and linking series of sex-worker homicides and sexual assaults. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology.
- Sorochinski, M., & Salfati, C. G. (2017). A multidimensional approach to ascertaining individual differentiation and consistency in serial sexual assault: Is it time to redefine and refine? Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-017-9235-z
- Sorochinski, M., & Salfati, C. G. (2015). Thematic classification of planning and violent behaviors in serial homicide: A cross-national comparison between South Africa and the United States. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1427
- Salfati, C. G., Horning, A., & Sorochinski, M. (2015). South African serial homicide: Consistency in victim target and behaviors across series. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1428
- Salfati, C. G., Labuschagne, G., Horning, A., Sorochinski, M., & De Wet, J. (2015). Demographics of all solved serial homicides in South Africa, 1930–2007. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1425
- Sorochinski, M., Hartwig, M., Osborne, J., Wilkins, E., Marsh, J. J., Kazakov, D., & Granhag, P. A. (2014). Suspect interviewing strategies: When to disclose the evidence? Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-013-9121-2
- Sorochinski, M., & Salfati, C. G. (2010). The consistency of inconsistency in serial homicide: Patterns of behavioral change across series. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 7, 109–136.
Selected Book Chapters
- Gupta, S., & Sorochinski, M. (2026). What is serial homicide? Definition, historical perspectives, and evolution in understanding. In S. Gupta, M. Sorochinski, & W. O’Donohue (Eds.), The Psychology of Serial Murder: Current Evidence. Springer.
- Sorochinski, M., & Gupta, S. (2026). Science and research methods in the study of serial murderers. In S. Gupta, M. Sorochinski, & W. O’Donohue (Eds.), The Psychology of Serial Murder: Current Evidence. Springer.
- Sorochinski, M., Gupta, S., & Salfati, C. G. (2026). Understanding the time dimension in serial homicide. In S. Gupta, M. Sorochinski, & W. O’Donohue (Eds.), The Psychology of Serial Murder: Current Evidence. Springer.
- Salfati, C. G., & Sorochinski, M. (forthcoming). Offenders who target sex workers. In E. Hickey, J. Roach, B. Walters, & J. Crowe (Eds.), Sex Crimes and Criminal Paraphilia. Cognella.
- Salfati, C. G., & Sorochinski, M. (2018). Sex-worker victims: Consistency versus inconsistency in victimization patterns by serial sexual homicide offenders. In J. Proulx & E. Beauregard (Eds.), International Handbook of Sexual Homicide.
- Sorochinski, M., & Salfati, C. G. (2017). Assumptions underlying behavioral linkage revisited: A revised approach to ascertaining individual differentiation and consistency in serial rape. In P. A. Granhag, R. Bull, A. Shaboltas, & E. Dozortseva (Eds.), Psychology and Law in Europe: When West Meets East (pp. 51–78). Taylor & Francis/CRC Press.
Wrongful Convictions and Their Aftermath
My wrongful-convictions research examines both the causes of miscarriages of justice and their consequences for the people and families affected by them.
One part of this work focuses on investigative and evidentiary risk factors, including false confessions, eyewitness misidentification, flawed forensic evidence, confirmation bias, and failures to recognize connections among serial offenses. Another focuses on what happens beyond conviction and exoneration—particularly the emotional, relational, social, and financial consequences experienced by families.
This research is intended to contribute to more reliable investigations, meaningful policy reform, and better support for exonerees and their families.
Selected Publications
- Sorochinski, M., Sigman, M., & Borukhov, E. (2026). Wrongful convictions in sexual assault cases: DNA testing, evidentiary failures, and policy lessons from 35 years of exonerations. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2026.100856
- Sorochinski, M., & Dellavella, C. (2026). In the shadow of injustice: A qualitative study of the emotional, social, and financial impact on families of the wrongfully convicted. International Review of Victimology. https://doi.org/10.1177/02697580261417365
- Sorochinski, M. (2025). Evidence, rigor, and the intolerance of bad science: A reply to Beyer’s mischaracterization of false-confession research. Criminal Justice Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/07340168251352483
- Sorochinski, M. (2025). “Justice Served”: The dual purpose of academic service-learning programs for exoneree reintegration and transformative experience for students. Journal of Criminal Justice Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511253.2025.2460824
- Sorochinski, M. (2024). Beyond the badge: A scholarly critique of B. Beyer’s “Rethinking the false confessions phenomenon.” Criminal Justice Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/07340168241297129
- Sorochinski, M. (2024). Casting light on the unseen victims: A comprehensive review of the ramifications of wrongful convictions and exonerations on families. International Review of Victimology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269758024126587
- Sorochinski, M., Johnson, M. B., & Gharib, R. (2023). The weakest link? Investigative issues in serial sexual assault that lead to wrongful conviction for single crimes within a series. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 75, 100632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2023.100632
- Sorochinski, M. (2021). Wrongful conviction in sexual assault: Stranger rape, acquaintance rape, and intra-familial child sexual assaults. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 48(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854821995864
Selected Book Chapters
- Sorochinski, M., & Deskovic, J. (forthcoming). From exoneration to justice: Policy reforms and systemic change for those affected by wrongful convictions. In T. Van Camp (Ed.), Support for People Affected by Wrongful Convictions. Routledge.
- Sorochinski, M. (2026). Wrongful convictions in serial homicide: Investigative failures, systemic bias, and paths to reform. In S. Gupta, M. Sorochinski, & W. O’Donohue (Eds.), The Psychology of Serial Murder: Current Evidence. Springer.
Research Collaboration and Professional Engagement
I welcome opportunities to collaborate with researchers, practitioners, agencies, advocacy organizations, and multidisciplinary teams working in these areas.
My research can also be translated into customized presentations, professional training, policy consultation, and practitioner-oriented workshops.
For a complete record of my scholarship, please visit my Google Scholar profile or ORCID profile.