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Department of Criminal Justice & Security Studies

Accomplishments & Accolades

September 2026

Refereed Scholarly Journal Articles

1. Alarid, L.F. & Adam Matz. Does failure to register matter? A retrospective comparison of men on probation for sexually-related offenses. Sexual Abuse (OnlineFirst August 25, 2026). https://doi.org/10.1177/10790632261480681
2. Alarid, Leanne F. & Mark Jones. Utility of the PRINT® personality instrument for community supervision: Probation officer perceptions and typology correlates. Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research, 11(4), 163-178. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2025.2541964
3. Curry, Theodore R., & Zavala, Egbert (2026). Is Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory useful for cybercrime? A test of direct and indirect associations. Deviant Behavior, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2026.2715587
4. Guerra, Chris., Ramos, J., Cano, M. (2026). Unauthorized Latinos and procedural justice: Examining the role of prior police contact, acculturation, and social cohesion. Sociological Spectrum. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/02732173.2026.2703777
5. Guerra, Chris. (2026). An exploration of skin color, police-based discrimination, and Latino threat on low profile behavior among Latinos. Sociological Spectrum, 46(5), 349-367. https://doi.org/10.1080/02732173.2026.2642735
6. Larratt-Smith, C., Paradela-López, M., & Guerra, Chris. (2026). Between movement and menace: Irregular migrant vulnerability and victimization in Tapachula. Deviant Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2026.2733459
7. Maes, Angelique Nevarez, Werner, C., Yeoman, M., Jenkins, E.D., Constantin, , Johnson, K., Siuta, R.L., Shewakramani Hanson, V. (2026) Role Conflict and Work‐Life (Dis)Integration During the COVID‐19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Scholars at a Research University. Gender, Work & Organization, 2026; 00:1–14 1. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.70183
8. Reid, Katherine., Collins, C. J., & Tasci, Z. (2026). Organizational Approaches to Incel Deradicalization: A Systematic Review. Journal for Deradicalization, (46), 63–96. https://journal-derad.com/index.php/jd/article/view/1201
9. Zavala, Egbert, & Curry, Theodore R. (2025). Differential Coercion and Social Support Theory: A Test of Mediating Relationships Across Multiple Types of Deviance. Deviant Behavior, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2025.2541284
10. Zhang, Weidong. (2026). Power transition, socialisation and the Clinton administration’s engagement policy towards China: an anomaly?. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 39(2), 189-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2025.2570436
11. Tasca, M., Duke, M.C. & Butler, H.D. (2026). Navigating authority: Role responses and

correctional officer victimization. Crime & Delinquency, DOI: 10.1177/0011128726 1443293.

Books/Monographs

Tasca, M. & Turanovic, J.J. (Monograph; In Press). Managing race on the inside: Collective identity, prison politics, and the use of restrictive housing. Cambridge University Press.

Book Chapters and Other Publications

Tasca, M. (Invited; In press). Prison victimization in context: Sociocultural and political considerations. In J.J. Turanovic and K. Lloyd (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Victims and Victimization. Oxford University Press.

Dr. Tasca coauthored an invited piece for The Conversation, translating research for broader public audiences in response to a recent lawsuit challenging a jail visitation ban in Colorado. The piece was published August 10, 2026 and can be read here: https://theconversation.com/a-colorado-jail-hasnt-allowed-in-person-visits-in-nearly-20-years-heres-what-research-says-about-visitations-effects-286937.

Research Grants and Funding

James Lockhart was awarded a research and travel grant by the President Gerald Ford Foundation for one week in the archives at the Ford Library on the campus of the Univ. of Michigan. Vernon Walters book project.

Katherine Reid received the Career Enhancement Award from the College of Liberal Arts.

Weidong Zhang received the College of Liberal Arts Career Enhancement Award.

Dr. Tasca’s latest grant funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to reduce violence in Arizona’s prison system was featured in the latest COLA newsletter. In partnership with the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, the project uses research to directly inform reforms to prison housing placement policies and practices, which will serve as a model for violence-prevention strategies nationwide.

External Activities, Outside Texas and International

Leanne Alarid completed a 42-day term as a Fulbright Specialist for the Law Enforcement Academy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan during May and June 2026. While there, she developed an online class for them and taught undergraduate and graduate classes and practitioner workshops. She presented at a Cybersecurity conference that was held on their campus.  She mentored students who were completing an honor's thesis and assisted administrators with curriculum development.

James Lockhart agreed to serve as external examiner of a PhD dissertation at the University of Warwick’s Dept. of Politics and International Studies in the UK. Dissertation is on American foreign relations and conflict with the Islamic State. Defense at Warwick scheduled for Oct. or Nov.

James Lockhart also accepted an invitation to speak at the US Naval War College, Dept. of Strategy and Policy in Newport, Rhode Island.

Katherine Reid has been invited to join three affiliations this year. In August, she became a Research Member of the Addressing Violence Extremism and Radicalization to Terrorism (AVERT) Network (Based in Australia) supported by Deakin University’s Alfred Deakn Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. In June 2026, she joined the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium (RGVRC) as an Affiliate Scholar hosted by the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York. Most recently, she was named a Charles E. Scheidt Faculty Fellow in Atrocity Prevention for the 2026 – 2027 academic year at Binghamton University's Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP). This fellowship engages faculty in the process of exploring how their discipline can contribute to atrocity prevention, integrating an atrocity prevention lens into one of their courses.

Conferences: Domestic and International

Misty Duke presented her Academic Accomplishments "Improving intelligence analysis and education with stronger foundations in statistical literacy" at the International Association for Intelligence Education-European Chapter Annual Conference September 8-10 at Brunel University of London.

James Lockhart joined Renata Keller (UNR), Greg Grandin (Yale), Thomas Field (Embry-Riddle), and Christy Thornton (NYU) to debate “US Intervention during the Cold War: Balancing Antiimperialist Critiques against Alternative Global Contexts and Latin American Agency" at Latin American Studies Association, Paris, May 2026.

Katherine Reid presented her research, "Weapons Inscription," at the Biennial Conference on Terrorism and Social Media, held in Swansea, United Kingdom in June 2026

Misty Duke, Quintan Crough (UTEP Department of Psychology), and Katherine Hoogesteyn were invited (based upon a submitted abstract) to write a chapter, “Rapport building with suspects in investigative interviews”, to be included in the edited book Advances in Psychology and Law (Miller, M., DeMatteo, D., and Krause, D.).

Chris Guerra presented his Academic Accomplishments, "Procedural Justice and Legal Cynicism: The Role of Optimism Among El Paso, Texas, Residents," at the European Society of Criminology Annual Meeting (EuroCrim) September 9-12 at the University of Warsaw in Warsaw, Poland.

Amanda Goodson pesented her Academic Accomplishments, " Exploring College Students' Perceptions of Sexual Consent Communication," at the European Society of Criminology Annual Meeting (EuroCrim) September 9-12 at the University of Warsaw in Warsaw, Poland.

Community and Industry Engagement/Non-Academic Stakeholders

After three semesters of planning and collaboration, an initiative developed by CJSS Student Organization students and faculty advisors Becky Pastrana and Stacie Ordóñez has come to fruition with the launch of a DEA Collegiate Academy. In partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Academy provides students with unique access to federal law enforcement professionals, firsthand exposure to DEA operations and investigations, and valuable insight into federal career pathways.

Stacie Ordoñez facilitated internship placements for 17 CJSS students for the Fall 2026 semester, and established a new agency affiliation with the Office of the Mayor of El Paso, expanding experiential learning and professional development opportunities available to students.

Stacie Ordoñez redesigned CRIJ 4315 to incorporate a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) component, establishing an international academic partnership with Dr. Cheryl Alvarez Torres and students from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Through this collaboration, students from both institutions will engage in shared lectures, cross-cultural discussions, collaborative projects, and presentations that examine criminal justice and social issues from U.S. and Mexican perspectives. The COIL initiative provides students with an opportunity to develop intercultural communication, global awareness, and collaborative problem-solving skills while engaging directly with international peers without the need for study-abroad travel.

Adjunct Professor Creslan Williams is working with Sandra Morales of UTEP Engage to continue his annual organizing of off-campus experiences to CJ&SS students to venues such as the El Paso County Downtown Detention Facility, the El Paso County Jail Annex, and the El Paso Police Department Academy.

Adjunct Professor Dr. Angelique Nevarez Maes and Mrs. Cheryl Ordaz- Landeros are working with Dr. Oralia Loza and Dr. Joao B. Ferreira-Pinto from UTEP’s Department of Public Health Sciences to conduct a program evaluation of Judge Robert Anchondo’s DWI Court. We are working to reveal the needs of the program as well as highlight strengths to address the pressing issues related to DUI’s in the county of El Paso. We are also working on a publication based on an evaluation of one specific component of this program. It evaluates the Peer Coaching element on DWI Intervention and Treatment Program outcomes.

Assistant Professor of Practice Luis Arias served as a faculty mentor and collaborator on a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) research paper, currently under review, in partnership with Dr. Maria de los Angeles Flores of the Department of Communication.

Professor Luis Arias created and initiated the Professor Exchange Initiative (PEI), fostering interdisciplinary faculty collaboration through reciprocal course engagement. The initiative will bring together Dr. Flores’s Communication Research Methods course with his Immigration Law course. The initiative provides students with opportunities to engage across disciplines and benefit from complementary faculty expertise.

Professor Luis Arias created and initiated the Visiting Professor Series, bringing distinguished legal and academic professionals into the classroom and creating opportunities for students to engage directly with nationally recognized scholars and practitioners. Featured guests have included Jennifer Chacon, Stanford Law Professor; Associate Chair and Clinical Associate Professor William Lopez, University of Michigan;  Claire Thomas, Professor at New York Law School; and, Stephanie (Ellie) Norton, Senior Staff Attorney with the National Immigration Project, and former Professor at Princeton University.

Professor Luis Arias created and launched the Justice Unraveled podcast, an academic public-service initiative designed to bring legal and justice-related scholarship and discussion to a broader community audience. Season One consists of six episodes broadcast on KTEP public radio, extending the department’s academic engagement beyond the traditional classroom and into the public sphere.

Paul Ashby began teaching the new Defense and Strategic Studies Fellowship program face-to-face at the US Army Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (USANCOA) at Fort Bliss in late August. 10 new students began their studies with US Grand Strategy and Strategic Survey Americas, working 9am-12pm, Monday through Thursday as they prepare to become instructors for Sergeants Major in 2027. New online students from the Academy began classes, too.

Cheryl Ordaz-Landeros has partnered with the Texas Department of Public Safety to create a mentorship/academy that gives students the opportunity to learn about the agency, network, and participate in activities. Each semester for the past several years, roughly 5-10 students have taken advantage of this opportunity. Students also earn a certificate they can add to their job portfolios.