At the Center for Justice Research, we recognize that socioeconomic determinants of health make up many of the root causes of crime and are aggravated by interactions with the criminal legal system. Our mission is to reduce both violent crime and mass incarceration in Houston and beyond by bringing together researchers, local organizations, and community members with lived experience to collaboratively form solutions that address these core issues. In doing so, we also aim to reduce racial, ethnic, gender, ability, and class-based disparities within the criminal legal system.
The Problem
Houston, along with many cities across the United States, suffers from high poverty, unemployment, and homicide rates. These social distress factors and crime rates coincide with high incarceration rates, as Houston contains four of the top 30 most incarcerated zip codes in Texas. Texas has a higher incarceration rate than the national average, and Houston and Harris County, like counties all over the country, disproportionately incarcerate Black youth and adults.

Criminal legal system involvement negatively affects employment opportunities and achieved socioeconomic status, housing access, mental health, and other health outcomes, and many of these factors, in turn, predict criminal legal system involvement. The cyclical nature of incarceration and violent crime is clear, and there is an urgent need for community-informed solutions.
43K
Americans die from gun violence every year - An average of more than 116 per day
52%
of all homicide victims are Black males
25x
How many times more likely Americans are to be killed in a gun homicide than people in other high-income countries.
3
million children are directly exposed to gun violence per year, resulting in death, injury and lasting trauma
19.4%
The proportion of Houstonians living under the poverty line, including over 520,000 children under 18 years old
8.4%
The unemployment rate in Houston, compared to 6.3% nationally
59K
The number of people who interacted with the Homelessness Management Information System in 2022 in the Tri-County area
700K+
The number of people experiencing food insecurity in the Greater Houston Area
Mission
Our mission is to reduce both violent crime and mass incarceration in Houston and beyond by bringing together researchers, local organizations, and community members with lived experience to collaboratively form culturally-responsive, data-driven solutions. In doing so, we also aim to reduce racial, ethnic, gender, and class-based disparities within the criminal legal system.
The HBCU Criminal Justice Research Hub, funded by the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity, brings together HBCU researchers, local organizations, and community members to collaboratively address violent crime and mass incarceration. We believe community input is vital to this work and that community members with lived experience are the true experts in this field. Together, we aim to develop non-punitive solutions to violent crime, given the negative effects of criminal legal system involvement for individuals, families, and whole communities.

In the first two years of this project, we will conduct a public safety needs assessment in Houston, and researchers will develop needs assessment research plans for their respective communities. The Houston needs assessment, combined with community input gathered at our multiple Hub meetings, will allow us to determine culturally-responsive, data-driven interventions and policy recommendations. The Hub will also focus on researcher development, cultivating a diverse cohort of criminal justice researchers and social engineers.

Ultimately, the Hub aims to expand the capacity of HBCUs to address the root causes of mass incarceration and violent crime and inform interventions that are led by and for impacted communities.
Project Manager

Kiana Henley

Kiana Henley is the HBCU Criminal Justice Research Hub Project Manager and also supports various writing and editing projects for the Center for Justice Research. Her background is in nonprofit consulting and academic editing in a wide range of fields, with a specific focus on the social sciences.

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Community Advocates

Tammie Lang Campbell

Tammie Lang Campbell is a nationally recognized civil rights leader, author, and founder of the Honey Brown Hope Foundation, an award-winning 501(c) 3 non-profit that works from the schoolhouse to the courthouse to offer programming, resources, and support aligned with its causes—civil rights and environmental stewardship.

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Gary owens

Gary Owens works with the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department. He manages facility operations.

LaTosha Selexman

LaTosha Selexman has worked in public health for more than 10 years providing services and supports for underserved populations in the Greater Houston community.  She currently serves as the Bureau Chief for the City of Houston Health Department’s Bureau of Youth and Adolescent Health, the Community Reentry Network Program and the My Brother’s Keeper ReDirect Diversion Program.

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Damion Walker

Damion JaDonne Walker, the founder of Kognitive Enterprises Inc., and Cognitive Justice Intl.(501c3) has received Congressional Recognition by US Representative Al Green, as a "CraigWashington Scholar”, because of his commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of others. However, in 1993 at 16, Damion was arrested, certified as an adult for several aggravated offenses and after 17 years of incarceration he was released at the age of 33.

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Researchers

Juan J. Barthelemy

Juan J. Barthelemy is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Houston. He earned his Doctorate of Philosophy in Social Work from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2005, a MSW from Washington University in St. Louis in 1999, a Master of Arts in Education in the area of Educational Psychology from the University of Northern Iowa in 1995, and a B.A. in Psychology from Southern University at New Orleans in 1993.

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NICOLA D. Bivens

Nicola Davis Bivens is a Professor of Criminology at Johnson C. Smith University where she also serves as the Program Coordinator and is the 2023 recipient of the school’s Par-Excellence Teaching Award, 2022 Sit Lux Faculty Award, and the 2012 of the CATO Par-Excellence Teaching Award.  She is also a Research Fellow at the Homeland Security and Workforce Development Institute at North Carolina Central University.

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David A. Rembert

David A. Rembert is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice Studies in the College of Juvenile Justice and Psychology at Prairie View A&M University. His current research, teaching, and consulting interests focus on violence, child maltreatment fatalities, corrections, and juvenile delinquency, especially as they relate to social justice.

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Johnny RicE

Johnny Rice II, Dr.PH., MSCJ serves as Department Chair and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Coppin State University in Baltimore, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). He is also a Research Fellow in the Bishop L. Robinson Sr. Justice Institute where he is leading a student research team exploring the factors that influence young black men to possess firearms.

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Subject Matter Experts

Paul Elam

Dr. Elam is responsible for diversifying the Institute’s portfolio to address cutting edge issues that affect the health and well-being of our society. His deep understanding of youth violence and prevention, crime and justice, and child maltreatment is nationally recognized.

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Amber Goodwin

Noni Gaylord-Harden is a Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University and Director of the Youth Rising Lab (youthrisinglab.com). Dr. Gaylord-Harden is a clinical psychologist and her research focuses on the impact of exposure to community violence and traumatic loss on Black adolescents and families in disinvested, urban communities.

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Noni Gaylord-Harden

Noni Gaylord-Harden is a Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University and Director of the Youth Rising Lab (youthrisinglab.com). Dr. Gaylord-Harden is a clinical psychologist and her research focuses on the impact of exposure to community violence and traumatic loss on Black adolescents and families in disinvested, urban communities.

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George Rhyne

George E. Rhyne, Jr. is currently employed as the Administrator for the Texas Anti-Gang Center – Houston. Mr. Rhyne has over thirty-nine (39) years of law enforcement experience with the Texas Department of Public Safety, where he served as a Trooper, Corporal and Sergeant in the Traffic Law Enforcement Division and a Sergeant Investigator, Lieutenant, Captain and Major in the Criminal Investigations Division.

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Moderator

Carla Brailey

Dr. Carla D. Brailey exudes an extraordinary presence, radiating brilliance, influence, and unwavering passion across every aspect of her life. As a distinguished Professor of Sociology and inaugural Senior Fellow of the esteemed Barbara Jordan Institute of Policy Analysis at Texas Southern University, she has cemented her status as an unparalleled thought leader and trailblazer.

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