Building and sustaining diversity in Criminal Justice research and establishing a network of systemic change in education for Black graduate students and faculty.
The Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University has received $410,000 in funding from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to continue its work in building and sustaining diversity within criminal justice research. The contribution also supports the center’s continued efforts to drive systemic change in education for graduate students and faculty.
The problem
Diverse researchers are needed to evaluate public programs, policies, and procedures that align with unique culturally sensitive and community-based goals. However, there are very few cost-effective training opportunities to support faculty and graduate student researchers at institutions of higher learning.
The number of programs available to support individuals interested in pursuing culturally responsive research approaches is even smaller, which presents a significant problem given the need for these solutions to address the current racial and social injustice challenges facing our communities.
The solution
CJR Researcher Development and Training Institute (CJR-RDTI)
The Center for Justice Research Researcher Development and Training Institute (CJR-RDTI) has previously developed programming, which was funded through the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) by the National Hockey League (NHL) to address the lack of culturally responsive research training and development opportunities for students and faculty. Now, the work continues.
The new funding opportunity enables the next step forward in building and sustaining diversity in solutions-oriented social justice research and establishing a wide-reaching network of culturally competent graduate students and faculty eager to drive systemic change through social justice research.
The Center for Justice Research will develop and execute a five-year program sponsoring three small cohorts of researchers, consisting of a mix of faculty or doctoral student participants, that will participate in a series of workshops targeted towards strengthening their knowledge and abilities in pursuing criminal justice and social justice program evaluation and research.
Program and Priorities
The next generation of CJR-RDTI has three key priorities:
- Identify and develop cohorts of faculty and graduate researchers to gain knowledge and competencies in criminal justice and social justice research
- Identify diversion programs in the criminal justice system that effectively align with community-based goals
- Develop a website resource tool that will provide evidence-based approaches to diversion
