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Roberto Aspholm

Associate Professor

  • Education
  • PhD, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago

    MSW, Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago

    BSW, Loyola University Chicago

  • Expertise
  • Street gangs

    Community violence

    Violence prevention

    Race and inequality

    Social policy

Roberto has spent more than a decade working in community practice and research capacities on issues affecting young people in marginalized urban neighborhoods, particularly street gangs, community violence, and violence prevention. His work in these capacities has taken place primarily on the South Side of Chicago and in East St. Louis, Illinois, an industrial suburb of St. Louis and the city with the highest homicide rate in the United States. Roberto is a Minneapolis native and avid professional basketball and boxing fan.


Aspholm, R. R. (2020). Views from the streets: The transformation of gangs and violence on Chicago’s South Side. Columbia University Press.

Aspholm, R. R. (2020, August 15). To talk about racial disparity and COVID-19, we need to talk about class. Jacobin. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/08/racial-disparity-covid-19-coronavirus

Aspholm, R. R., & Hagedorn, J. M. (2020, April 30). How the coronavirus and Chicago’s gun violence are related. Chicago Sun-Times. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/4/30/21243053/coronavirus-african-american-chicago-violent-crime-covid

Aspholm, R. R., St. Vil, C., & Carter, K. (2019). Interpersonal gun violence research in the social work literature. Health & Social Work, 44(4), 224–231.

Hagedorn, J., Aspholm, R., Córdova, T., Papachristos, A., & Williams, L. (2019). The fracturing of gangs and violence: A research based reorientation of violence prevention and intervention policy. Great Cities Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago. https://greatcities.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/The_Fracturing_of_Gangs_and_Violence_in_Chicago.pdf

Hagedorn, J. M., Aspholm, R., Córdova, T., Papachristos, A., & Williams, L. (2019, April). Chicago’s gangs have changed. Our violence intervention strategies should too. Chicago Reporter. https://www.chicagoreporter.com/chicagos-gangs-have-changed-our-violence-intervention-strategies-should-too/

See Roberto Aspholm curriculum vitae for full listing of publications, presentations, practice experience and professional engagement.