# overview
Dr. Duran has been at the Texas A&M University since 2018. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Colorado in 2006 and previously was a tenured and promoted associate professor at New Mexico State University (2006-2014) and University of Tennessee (2014-2018). His research focuses upon four areas: 1) gangs; 2) police shootings; 3) disproportionate minority contact for juveniles; and 4) neighborhood segregation shaped by racial and ethnic inequalities. As a criminologist and urban ethnographer, I have primarily concentrated my research on institutions of social control and how they vary between Mexican American barrios, White suburbs, and Black neighborhoods in the Southwest and Southeast along with individual and group efforts to resist unequal treatment. My overall devotion to my academic career is towards assisting grassroots empowerment strategies in marginalized communities by using research to change institutional policies and practices.

# keywords[]
Gangs, Violence, Incarceration, Policing, Family, Structural Racism

# keywords[]
16 Peace, Justice And Strong Institutions

# keywords[]
16 Peace, Justice And Strong Institutions

# keywords[]
16 Peace, Justice And Strong Institutions

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of Colorado Boulder - (Boulder, Colorado, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Weber State University - (Ogden, Utah, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].field
Sociology, minor in Criminal Justice and Psychology

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Sociology Department - Graduate Part-Time Instructor of the Year

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Criminal Justice Department - Professor of the Year

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Glasscock Internal Faculty Residential Fellow

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Hispanic Faculty/Staff Caucus - Junior Faculty of the Year

# publications[].label
The Policing of Youth on the U.S.-Mexico Border: A Law Enforcement Perception of Leniency

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# publications[].label
Gang Life in Two Cities An Insider's Journey

# publications[].label
Policing Life and Death: Race, Violence, and Resistance in Puerto Rico

# publications[].label
No boundaries: Transnational Latino gangs and American law enforcement

# publications[].label
Racism, Resistance, and Repression: The Creation of Denver Gangs, 1924-1950

# publications[].label
Pinta Fearz: A Chicano Sociologist's Life on the Edge of the Law

# publications[].publisher
Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life (University of California, Berkeley)

# publications[].label
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE Examining Controversial Officer Involved Shootings

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# publications[].label
Mexican American Law Enforcement Officers:  Comparing the Creation of Change Versus the Reinforcement of Structural Hierarchies

# publications[].label
Book Review: Michael J. Lynch, E. Britt Patterson, and Kristina K. Childs Racial Divide: Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Criminal Justice System. Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press, 2008. $37.00. 301 pp. ISBN: 978-1-881798-86-6

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# publications[].label
Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Land of Enchantment: Juvenile Justice Disparities as a Reflection of White-Over-Color Ascendancy

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# publications[].label
Gay and Lesbian Cops: Diversity and Effective Policing

# publications[].label
Policing the Barrios: Exposing the Shadows to the Brightness of a New Day

# publications[].label
Gangs of the El Paso-Juarez Borderland: A history

# publications[].label
The war on gangs and gangsters The Latino/a experience with settler colonialism

# publications[].label
Southern New Mexico/Texas Gang Update. Class of 2008.

# publications[].publisher
Previously on my departmental website at NMSU and University of Tennessee. These web pages no longer exist.

# publications[].label
"Jesus Saved an Ex-Con": Political Activism and Redemption after Incarceration.

# publications[].label
Book Review | The Stickup Kids: Race, Drugs, Violence, and the American Dream

# publications[].label
Ethnographic Reflexivity: Geographic Comparisons of Gangs and Policing in the Barrios of the Southwest

# publications[].label
The Core Ideals of the Mexican American Gang Living the Presentation of Defiance

# publications[].label
Gang organization: Slangin', gang bangin' and dividin' by generation

# publications[].label
Institutionalizing Community Oversight of the Police

# publications[].label
Suspended: Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety

# publications[].label
The Gang Paradox Inequalities and Miracles on the U.S.-Mexico Border

# publications[].label
An Attempt to Change Disproportionate Minority Contact by Working in Youth Corrections

# publications[].label
Drug mules: Women in the international cocaine trade.

# publications[].label
Exploring the two trigger fingers thesis: racial and ethnic differences in officer involved shootings

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# publications[].label
Covert Human Intelligence Sources: The "Unlovely'' Face of Police Work

# publications[].label
Legitimated Oppression Inner-City Mexican American Experiences with Police Gang Enforcement

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# publications[].label
Southern New Mexico/Texas Gang Update III. Class of 2012.

# publications[].label
A Call to Disrupt Institutional Racism: Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the Criminal Justice System

# publications[].label
Legitimated Suppression: Inner-City Mexican-Americans and the Police

# publications[].label
Human Targets: Schools, Police, and the Criminalization of Latino Youth

# publications[].label
Urban Youth Encounters with Legitimately Oppressive Gang Enforcement, 2nd Edition

# publications[].label
Borders, Immigration, and Citizenship:  The Latino Experience with Gringo Justice

# publications[].label
Gangs, gangsters, and the impact of settler colonialism on the Latina/o experience

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# publications[].label
Over-Inclusive Gang Enforcement and Urban Resistance: A Comparison Between Two Cities

# publications[].label
Southern New Mexico/Texas Gang Update. Class of 2010.

# publications[].publisher
Previously on my departmental website at the University of Tennessee. This web page no longer exist.

# publications[].label
Policing the Barrios: Latinos and Law Enforcement Over the Years

# publications[].label
Economics and Youth Violence: Crime, Disadvantage, and Community

# publications[].label
Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality

# publications[].label
Officer Involved Shootings of Latinos: Moving Beyond the Black/White Binary

# publications[].label
Falling Back: Incarceration and Transitions to Adulthood among Urban Youth

# publications[].label
Alfredo Mirande: Toward the Development of Chicana/o/x Sociology

# publications[].label
The racialized patterns of police violence: The critical importance of research as praxis

# publications[].tags
16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

# inTheNews[].label
"Droga Fácil Para la Juventud en la Frontera"

# inTheNews[].label
‘Divergent Social Worlds’: Amid COVID-19, Increased Violence Lays Bare Class, Racial Difference in Knoxville

# inTheNews[].label
Episode 138 - Dr. Robert Duran: "Smile Now, Cry Later": Gang Life - An Insider's Journey

# inTheNews[].label
El Paso defies expectations of violence despite long history of gangs, experts say

# inTheNews[].label
Ogden Gang Member Turned Professor Says Political Tactics Flawed

# inTheNews[].label
65 Percent of Denver Police Shootings Questionable or Problematic, Study Says

# inTheNews[].label
To Fight Gangs, Police Departments Turning to Anti-Mob Tactics

# inTheNews[].label
Inside Injunction: Q&A with professor, former Ogden gang member

# inTheNews[].label
“Gang Life in Two Cities: Dr. Robert J. Durán”

# inTheNews[].label
“Police Officers Are Rarely Prosecuted or Convicted in Arizona. Here Are Some of the Hurdles”

# inTheNews[].label
Need for belonging, lack of opportunity drive Knoxville gang membership