College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Bishop L. Robinson Sr. Justice Institute
We provide students and justice practitioners training, certification, and research opportunities within the fields of corrections and public safety.
The Next Generation of Public Safety Leadership
The Justice Institute is a unique cross-disciplinary initiative that adds a liberal arts, public health, and mental health education perspective to any curriculum. Managed by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, the Justice Institute offers training and academic certifications approved by the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) as well as the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commission.
The Institute works with the Department of Criminal Justice and provides hands-on career enhancement and retooling skills to help students prepare for advanced study and/or entry into federal, state, county, municipal, and private criminal justice and corrections agencies.
The Justice Institute at Coppin will enhance the professionalism of public safety services encouraging leadership and innovation through education and training.
Bishop L. Robinson Sr.
Workforce Enhancement
Maryland has critical workforce shortages across several high-growth areas, including correctional services, health care, parole counseling, homeland security, school-based police support, transit systems, and private security details.
Program Areas
We've framed our program to:
- promote innovation and practice improvement across law enforcement, correction, and juvenile services.
- conduct research on effective policy and service delivery.
- foster effective partnerships between criminal justice, law enforcement, corrections, public safety, public health and non-criminal justice disciplines.
The Institute provides a prototype for customized cross-disciplinary training programs that link cutting–edge research to field practice. While participating in the Institute, students have access to our state-of-the-art facility with smart classrooms, forensics laboratory, moot court room, and a crime scene laboratory.
Recent Research
Coppin State University Gun Violence Study
Dangerous Recipe: Ingredients Contributing to African American Gun Violence
Purpose of Study: Principal Investigator and associate professor of criminal justice Dr. Johnny Rice II, and a trained team of Coppin State University student researchers investigated the contemporary causes of gun violence, specifically exploring why Black males ages 15-24 in marginalized urban communities possess and carry guns. The team also explored factors that influence the impulse to carry a gun and what serve as triggers for gun use, based on the perceptions of African American men interviewed, who live in affected communities in Baltimore City.
The study comprised two phases:
- a quantitative secondary analysis of existing data sources of each study site and
- a qualitative participant component in which each site conducted qualitative in-depth interviews.
The project was housed and supported by the College of Behavioral Sciences and the Bishop L. Robinson Sr. Justice Institute. The Coppin State University research team interviewed eligible study participants, Black males aged 15-24 who reside in Baltimore City and have a history of gun possession. To learn more and to read the findings please review the publications below:
- Unlocking Gun-Violence Solutions: The Necessity and Power of Lived Experience
- Learning from Lived Experiences to Identify Gun Violence Solutions
- Understanding the Perception of Place and Its Impact on Community Violence
Background: The Grant award of $105,290 was to conduct qualitative interviews during PHASE II of the study. This research grant was awarded to CSU by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), which received a $1 million grant from the National Collaborative for Gun Violence Research. To implement the study, TMCF brought together leading HBCU Criminal Justice researchers in Houston, TX (Texas Southern University), Wilmington, DE (Delaware State University/Lead Research Partner for the collaborative project), and Jackson, MS (Jackson State University) to leverage the experience, knowledge, and status of HBCUs in the African-American community to conduct research on attitudes toward guns ownership, possession, and usage by urban youth; the dynamics of social transmission of gun ownership and possession, carrying a gun, using a gun to threaten someone; and escalation to gun violence.