Justice Insights

In this episode, we unpack findings from research published in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education examining faculty retention, institutional barriers, and solutions for Black scholars in criminology.

Despite decades of campus diversity initiatives, Black scholars account for only 8% of faculty in doctoral-granting criminology programs. Most strikingly, 75% of Black criminologists report considering leaving academia entirely—a national retention crisis driven by racialized isolation, mentorship deficits, heavier uncompensated service loads, and evaluation bias. Black faculty also face an average 5-year delay in reaching full professor compared to white peers, resulting in cumulative career earnings deficits exceeding $240,000.

To combat these structural inequities, researchers at Texas Southern University’s Center for Justice Research evaluated a 12-month culturally responsive faculty development program hosted at a Historically Black University (HBCU). Supported by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the program provided a safe space for technical skill acquisition in grant writing, research design, counter-networking, and navigating academic dynamics.

Tune in to learn how culturally grounded interventions enhance scholarly confidence, foster disciplinary belonging, and serve as a model for sustained institutional reform across higher education.

When researchers examined more than 30,000 arrests in Houston, findings did not uncover a story about dangerous people or perilous neighborhoods. What emerged instead was evidence of structural conditions - concentrated poverty, limited opportunity, under-resourced schools, and unequal enforcement - left unaddressed for generations, now visible through records.

Racial patterns run deeper than identity. Mapping where disinvestment has been most severe reveals institutional response heaviest there too. This episode unpacks that distinction, arguing reduction of violence demands confronting underlying causes, not simply expanding documentation of harm. Findings originate from peer-reviewed scholarship published in the Race and Justice journal.

What drives public safety disparities in Houston? This episode examines findings from the Houston Public Safety Needs Assessment, a two-year community-informed study produced by the HBCU Criminal Justice Research Hub in the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University. Researchers found that racial disparities in Houston's criminal justice system are not the product of individual behavior.

Five ZIP codes account for a disproportionate share of the city's violent crime, and every one of them shares the same structural profile: concentrated poverty, chronic unemployment, disinvestment, and unmet basic needs.

This episode walks through what those root conditions are, why geographic concentration matters for how we allocate public safety resources, and what upstream interventions the evidence actually supports. If the structural conditions producing these outcomes are identifiable and well-documented, the more pressing question becomes: what is the cost of continuing not to act?

In the latest episode from the Justice Insights podcast by the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University, researchers from CJR, Stetson University, and Elon University examine the complex relationships between community factors, mental health, violent crime, and suicide across 100 large U.S. municipalities. Key findings reveal that communities with higher proportions of Black residents show notable resilience to suicide, while lower high school graduation rates correlate with increased suicide rates. Paradoxically, better income equality associates with higher suicide rates, consistent with international data. The study highlights how mental distress, education, and social factors interconnect to influence community wellbeing, emphasizing the need for culturally-informed interventions and educational investments to address these critical public health challenges.

You can find all current episodes of our Justice Insights podcast on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, serving as a crucial platform for sharing research from the academic sphere to the public space. There has never been a better time to disseminate facts and solutions, making these insights accessible to a broader audience outside the ivory tower.

In the latest episode from the Justice Insights podcast by the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University, researchers examine racial disparities in welfare fraud prosecution across Harris County, Texas, analyzing 7,757 cases spanning three decades (1990–2023). Key findings reveal that African Americans comprised 70% of defendants despite representing only 18% of families in poverty, with women, particularly Black women, constituting 90.2% of those prosecuted. The study exposes how ostensibly race-neutral enforcement of federal benefit programs produces systematically harsher sentencing outcomes for Black defendants, even when controlling for legal representation and bond amounts. Researchers demonstrate how criminal justice systems transform survival strategies among economically marginalized populations into felony convictions, highlighting the urgent need for fundamental reconsideration of prosecutorial approaches to poverty-related program violations.

You can find all current episodes of our Justice Insights podcast on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, serving as a crucial platform for sharing research from the academic sphere to the public space. There has never been a better time to disseminate facts and solutions, making these insights accessible to a broader audience outside the ivory tower.

In the latest Justice Insights podcast by the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University, researchers present the Houston Public Safety Needs Assessment, revealing how economic hardship drives crime and incarceration in specific neighborhoods. The episode examines stark racial disparities. Black residents are 19% of Harris County's population but 51% of the jail population, and explores violence concentrated in zip codes 77088, 77036, 77016, 77093, and 77033. Community voices identify unemployment, poverty, and lack of resources as primary crime causes, while 76% report damaged trust in law enforcement. The discussion advocates for investing in jobs, higher wages, youth programs, and genuine community-police collaboration as pathways to safer Houston neighborhoods.

You can find all current episodes of our Justice Insights podcast on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, serving as a crucial platform for sharing research from the academic sphere to the public space. There has never been a better time to disseminate facts and solutions, making these insights accessible to a broader audience outside the ivory tower.

In this episode of Justice Insights from the Center for Justice Research (CJR) at Texas Southern University, scholars explore the overlooked role of Black Funeral Home Directors (BFHDs) in reducing gun violence and premature deaths. The conversation highlights staggering disparities—such as Black teen boys facing homicide rates more than 25 times higher than their white peers—and examines how BFHDs, as trusted community leaders, can partner with social workers to deliver trauma-informed care and violence prevention. This episode underscores the power of culturally grounded institutions to break cycles of grief and create safer, healthier communities.

You can find all current episodes of our Justice Insights podcast on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, serving as a crucial platform for sharing research from the academic sphere to the public space. There has never been a better time to disseminate facts and solutions, making these insights accessible to a broader audience outside the ivory tower.

In this episode of Justice Insights from the Center for Justice Research (CJR) at Texas Southern University, scholars explore the overlooked role of Black Funeral Home Directors (BFHDs) in reducing gun violence and premature deaths. The conversation highlights staggering disparities—such as Black teen boys facing homicide rates more than 25 times higher than their white peers—and examines how BFHDs, as trusted community leaders, can partner with social workers to deliver trauma-informed care and violence prevention. This episode underscores the power of culturally grounded institutions to break cycles of grief and create safer, healthier communities.

You can find all current episodes of our Justice Insights podcast on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, serving as a crucial platform for sharing research from the academic sphere to the public space. There has never been a better time to disseminate facts and solutions, making these insights accessible to a broader audience outside the ivory tower.

In the latest episode of the Justice Insights podcast by the Center for Justice Research (CJR) at Texas Southern University, researchers from CJR and Baylor College of Medicine examine how racialized economic segregation influences stillbirth disparities in Houston. Using census tract-level data and the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE), the episode reveals that neighborhood privilege lowers stillbirth risk for White mothers but not for mothers of color. Additionally, it highlights how factors like low maternal education, obesity, and residential segregation only partially explain the racial gap, pointing to deeper systemic disparities in maternal health.

You can find all current episodes of our Justice Insights podcast on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, serving as a crucial platform for sharing research from the academic sphere to the public space. There has never been a better time to disseminate facts and solutions, making these insights accessible to a broader audience outside the ivory tower.

In the latest episode from the Justice Insights podcast by the Center for Justice Research (CJR) at Texas Southern University, researchers from CJR and Stetson University utilize zip code-level data to examine the relationship between economic factors and crime rates in Houston, Texas. The episode highlights a significant correlation between unemployment and violent crime and explores connections between poverty, population density, and property crime rates. Additionally, it delves into a surprising finding: higher academic performance is associated with increased property crime rates. This comprehensive analysis underscores the potential benefits of enhancing economic and educational opportunities in underprivileged areas to effectively reduce crime rates.

You can find all current episodes of our Justice Insights podcast on our website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, serving as a crucial platform for sharing research from the academic sphere to the public space. There has never been a better time to disseminate facts and solutions, making these insights accessible to a broader audience outside the ivory tower.

In this episode of Justice Insights, we examine Texas's ongoing voter suppression issues that heavily impact justice-involved and minority communities. Our researchers discuss historical and recent obstacles, including strict ID laws and limited polling sites, which disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic voters in Harris County. Tune in as we explore the critical need for policy reforms to ensure fair voting access, empowering communities and supporting successful reentry efforts.