Howard Henderson is a nonresident senior fellow in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution, founding director of the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University, and professor of justice administration. His work examines how criminal justice institution’s function—identifying structural reforms needed to improve performance and ensure equitable outcomes.
Henderson analyzes the factors that perpetuate bias and inequality within the justice system. He evaluates how risk assessment instruments embed disparities into sentencing and probation decisions, proposing specific protocols that courts and agencies can adopt to mitigate bias. His research on prosecutorial decision-making examines discretion and accountability, offering frameworks that improve transparency and consistency in charging practices. Recent projects assess systemic challenges in justice responses and youth firearm violence prevention, recommending reforms that enhance coordination across law enforcement, health, and community agencies.
His congressional testimony has informed legislative debates on justice reform, providing policymakers with empirical analysis of how policy structures—from mandatory minimums to pretrial detention—affect public safety and fairness. Henderson leads multi-university evaluations designed to answer the operational questions policymakers face: What works? For whom? Under what conditions?
He serves on the boards of the Houston Recovery Center and the Center for Science and Law, advising on strategies that align policy with practice. As associate editor for Race and Justice and former editor in chief of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Law Review, Henderson shapes scholarly discourse on institutional reform in criminal justice.
His research appears in Criminal Justice & Behavior, Journal of Criminal Justice, Race & Justice, Sociology of Race & Ethnicity, and the AMA Journal of Ethics. Media outlets including CNN, HuffPost, the Houston Chronicle, and the Texas Tribune feature his analysis, raising awareness of reform opportunities in the justice system.
Henderson holds degrees from Middle Tennessee State University (B.S.), Tennessee State University (M.S.), and Sam Houston State University (Ph.D.).
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Current Positions
- Founding Director of the Center for Justice Research in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs, Texas Southern University
- Professor of Justice Administration, Texas Southern University
- Advisory Board Member of the Rural Jail Research Policy Network, Vera Institute
- Member of the National Scientific Advisory Committee at the Institute of Justice Research and Development, Florida State University
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Education
- Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University
- M.A. in Criminal Justice, Tennessee State University
- B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration, Middle Tennessee State University