About the Institute
Grounded in practice. Focused on research.
Graffiti Research Institute brings together practitioner expertise and empirical inquiry to advance the understanding of graffiti, offender behavior, and gang communication. Our mission is to contribute to criminological scholarship and develop evidence that informs public policy, investigations, and municipal responses.
Founder
Timothy Kephart
Timothy Kephart is the founder of Graffiti Tracker, launched in 2006. He is a court certified graffiti expert and has consulted with local municipalities for 25+ years on graffiti related issues.
He holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from California State University, Long Beach, and is a co-author of research published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.
A dedicated research home
From structured records to answerable questions.
The Institute’s role is to support careful inquiry: define questions, identify appropriate records and methods, acknowledge limits, and publish the results responsibly when work is undertaken.
Discuss a research partnership