The Center for Justice Research is a research center devoted to data-driven solutions for an equitable criminal justice system. The primary focus is to produce innovative solutions to criminal justice reform efforts by utilizing an experienced group of researchers working to understand and address the current challenges of the criminal justice system. The Center provides a culturally responsive research approach to mass incarceration and criminal justice reform. 

​

The Center’s researchers turn data into solutions. Houston, Texas, has the third largest criminal justice system in America, giving our researchers opportunities to investigate problems and solutions to the complexities of criminal justice reform. From initial contact to re-entry into society, the Center for Justice Research advocates for reform in culturally sensitive and approachable solutions.

​

Housed in the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, the Center cultivates a small community of graduate students, as their goal is to increase the number of minority criminal justice researchers and faculty who focus on dismantling the unnecessary barriers between the police and the community, while also providing scientific approaches to the reduction of mass incarceration and racial/ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system through the continued mentorship of underrepresented groups in research on these issues.

​

Sample Publications

 

• Corporate Impact in the Age of Racial Equity and Justice Reform

• Black in America: COVID-19, Police Brutality, and Mental Health

• Restructuring Civilian Payouts for Police Misconduct

• An Analysis of Incarceration, Crime, Unemployment and Rural Spaces

​