Research
I spend my time exploring the complex intersections of crime, policy and the legal system. I get to think, talk, and write about justice and injustice every single day. I love my job.
My research focuses on four main areas: wrongful convictions, severe sentences such as the death penalty and life without parole, prisoner re-entry and hate crimes. My research interests reflect these central beliefs:
Innocent people are wrongly convicted of all kinds of crimes more often than we could ever imagine. Way. More. Often.
The criminal justice system unfairly targets poor people and people of color. It has created an entire caste of people who are permanent social outcasts because they have been branded “criminals” and saddled with criminal records.
Sentencing policies are way too severe, and result in people being punished more harshly than is needed to meet any legitimate goal.
All people, including convicted criminals, are more than the worst thing they have ever done.
I was honored to be named the 2022 Montclair State University Distinguished Scholar, an award given to one faculty member each year in recognition of outstanding research and scholarship. I now have the opportunity to spend Spring of 2023 working on a research project. I am truly grateful.
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
2023 Jessica S. Henry, Women and No Crime Wrongful Convictions: The Misclassification Error, 17 Law J. Soc. Just. 15.
2022 Jessica S. Henry, The Wrongful Convictions of Women and What We Can Learn from Them, 75 Rutgers L. Rev. 1417.
2018 Henry, Jessica S. Smoke but No Fire: When Innocent People Are Wrongly Convicted of Crimes That Never Happened. American Criminal Law Review, 55:2.
2018 Henry, Jessica S., Salvatore, Christopher, Pugh, Bay-ese. Virtual Life Sentences: An Exploratory Study. The Prison Journal 98:3, 294-313.
2015 Henry, Jessica S. Reducing Severe Sentences: Role of Prison Programming in Sentencing Reform. Criminology and Public Policy. 14:2, 397-405.
2014 Promoting the Study of Wrongful Convictions in Criminal Justice Curricula. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 25:2, 236-251.
2014 Where Poverty is the Worst Crime of All: A Film Review of Gideon’s Army, Criminal Justice Policy Review, vol. 25 no. 5, 653-656.
2013 Bias-Based Cyberbullying: The Next Hate Crime Frontier. Criminal Law Bulletin, 49:3, 481-503.
2009 Beyond Free Speech: Novel Approaches to Hate on the Internet in the United States. Journal of Information and Communications Technology Law. 18:2, 235-251.
2009 The Second Chance Act of 2007. Criminal Law Bulletin, 45:3: 416-436.
2009 New Jersey’s Road to Abolition. Translated into Chinese for use in death penalty reform conference with Chinese high court, politicians, academics and policy makers.
2008 New Jersey’s Road to Abolition. Justice Systems Journal, 29: 408-422.
2008 Criminal History on a “Need To Know” Basis: Employment Policies that Eliminate theCriminal History Box on Employment Applications, Justice Policy Journal, 5:2, 15-25, www.cjcj.org/justice_policy_journal.
2008 Closing the Legal Services Gap in Reentry. Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society. 21(1): 15-27.
2007 Ban the Box to Promote Ex-Offender Employment. Co-author with Jim Jacobs. Criminology and Public Policy, 6(4): 755-763.
2007 Treating Bigots Like Pedophiles: Posting Personal data of Convicted Bias Offenders on the Web. L.A.E. Journal of the American Criminal Justice Association. 16-19.
1996 The Social Construction of a Hate Crime Epidemic. Co-author. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.
Book Chapters
2023 Jessica S. Henry, No “Criminal” Here: Lessons Learned from a Wrongful Conviction, in What is a Criminal: Answers from Inside the US Justice System, edited by K. Gaudet (Routledge, 2023).
2012 Death in Prison Sentences: Overutilized and Underscrutinized. In Sarat, A. and Ogletree,C. (eds.) Life Without Parole (New York University Press: New York).
2009 Hate Crime Laws: A Critical Assessment. In Perry, B. and Levin, B.(eds.) Hate Crimes: Perspectives and Approaches (Greenwood Publishing Group: Connecticut).
REVIEWS, COMMENTS AND SHORT ESSAYS
2018 “Miller’s Children.” Contemporary Justice Review.
2016 “Blue Lives Matter Has No Place in Hate Crime Law.” Jurist: Academic Commentary, http://www.jurist.org/forum/2016/06/jessica-henry-hate-crimes.php
2010 “Engaging the Millennial Learner through the “Expert” Approach.” The Paralegal Educator (Winter).
2008 “Hate Crimes.” Contemporary Justice Review, 11:293-295.
2008 “Police Brutality.” In Gregg Barak (Ed.), Battleground: Criminal Justice. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
2007 “Hate Crimes,” in America Sociology Association: Teaching About Ethnoviolence and Hate Crimes Resource Guide, edited by Abby Ferber and Kimberly Holcomb, 2007.
2006 “Making the Case for Public Sector Paralegal Internship Placements.” The Paralegal Educator, 20:2 (Fall)
1994 With Jacobs, J. “Book Review, Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed: Hate Crimes,” Criminal Justice Review, 19: 291 (Fall 1994)