Justin Pickett is a professor of criminal justice at the University at Albany, SUNY. He received his PhD in Criminology from Florida State University in 2011 and received the American Society of Criminology's Cavan Young Scholar Award in 2015. His research interests include public opinion, survey research methods, theories of punishment, and police–community relations.

Special topics highlighted in this episode include criminological research and public opinion and policing and diversity

Richard Wright retired from the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2014, having spent 30 very happy years there. He then joined the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University as chair, before retiring again in 2021. Wright has published widely in the area of offending decision making, with particular focus on urban street criminals.

Richard speaks to us about his journey into criminology, his work on active offender research, and his thoughts on the field.

In this episode we speak with Dr. Brae Young. Brae is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Texas Christian University. Her research largely focuses on family and support among offending populations as well as broader issues within the juvenile justice system. Her recent work has appeared in Justice Quarterly, Journal of Developmental and Life Course Criminology, and Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.

We spoke to Brae about her work surrounding adolescents who have been incarcerated. Specifically we discuss the benefits of these teens getting visits and what may or may not prevent their loved ones from visiting them. Our discussion then moves to being a teen parent while incarcerated and the challenges that brings.