Research Interests
Howard Henderson is Professor of Justice Administration and the Founding Director of the Center for Justice Research in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Houston Recovery Center and the Center for Science and Law, the Advisory Board of the ABLE Research program at Georgetown Law, and the Agora Strategy Council for the Payne Research Center at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. A Nonresident Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, he is also a Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of Race & Justice and as a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Criminal Justice, Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research, and Criminal Justice and Behavior.
Dr. Henderson is an expert in culturally responsive criminal justice research, program evaluation, and predictive bias. An equity-focused criminologist, his work takes a systems-based approach to understanding how policy and program design shape outcomes. Through a translational research model, his scholarship has demonstrated how ostensibly neutral policies produce disparate impacts, particularly through risk-assessment instruments and decision-making processes. His work advances concrete strategies to reduce inequities across the justice system.
At the center of Howard’s research agenda is a sustained inquiry into how structural conditions, institutional decision-making, and policy design converge to produce unequal outcomes for justice-involved populations. His interdisciplinary work draws on criminology, public health, psychology, sociology, education, and law to examine firearm violence, reentry, diversion, predictive bias, police accountability and use of force, and community violence intervention. Supported by the National Institutes of Health, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, National Science Foundation, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Arnold Ventures, and other public and philanthropic partners, his body of work produces findings with direct implications for policy and practice. Complementing this research agenda, he has developed multi-institutional collaborations that provide mentorship, research training, and professional-development opportunities for underrepresented students and early-career faculty.
Dr. Henderson has testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on federal drug policy and enforcement, placing his research directly in the legislative record. Findings from his body of work have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology, the AMA Journal of Ethics, Race & Justice, and Criminal Justice and Behavior. His public-facing scholarship has appeared in Newsweek, the Houston Chronicle, and other national outlets, and he has provided expert commentary across major media platforms, including CNN, NBC, ABC, CNBC, and FOX. His research has been cited by Politico, Al Jazeera, Vice, and other national and international media outlets, reflecting the reach of his work across policy and public discourse.
Dr. Henderson completed his doctoral training in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, where his focus on equity, decision-making, and system outcomes took shape. He holds an M.S. in Criminal Justice from Tennessee State University and a B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration from Middle Tennessee State University.