Johnny Rice

faculty

Johnny Rice II DrPH, MSCJ

Chairperson and Associate Professor
he/him
Health and Human Services Building
5th Floor, Room 518-C

2500 W North Ave
Baltimore, MD 21216

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Biography

Dr. Rice serves as Department Chair and Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Coppin State University in Baltimore, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). He is also a Research Fellow at the Bishop L. Robinson Sr. Justice Institute where he is leading a student research team exploring the factors that influence young black men to possess firearms.

Before joining Coppin, he worked as a senior program associate at the Vera Institute of Justice in their Center on Victimization and Safety. He has spent the past 23 years providing leadership, technical assistance, and support to organizations that serve low-income fathers and families in the areas of child welfare, youth development, and criminal justice in efforts to create safe and stable communities. Before joining Vera, he worked as a public administrator for the Maryland Department of Human Services (formerly the Department of Human Resources). At DHR, he served as the state administrator for the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Program, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) Domestic Violence Program, the Rape Crisis and Sexual Assault Program, and federal and state-funded Responsible Fatherhood programs. His portfolio also encompassed Emergency Food and Homeless Services programs.

Previously Dr. Rice held the position of Chief Operating Officer and Director of the nationally recognized Men's Services Responsible Fatherhood Program at the Center for Urban Families in Baltimore. At CFUF, he assisted in developing a partnership with the House of Ruth Maryland Gateway Project, cited by Health and Human Services as one of the first collaborations in the nation between a responsible fatherhood service provider and a domestic violence abuser intervention program. Dr. Rice has served in the role of consultant, speaker, workshop presenter, and faculty member for the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), Futures Without Violence, Office of Family Assistance (OFA), and other recognized governmental, social justice, and fatherhood organizations. He formerly served as Board President for the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV). Dr. Rice is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., Baltimore Alumni Chapter "The Benchmark". He resides in Maryland and is a proud husband and father.

Additional Background (Early Career):

Dr. Rice's past employment experience covers a significant cross-section of diverse areas. While employed as a foster care worker for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services Mr. Rice was given the task of the reunification of families. He would often assist in devising treatment plans for parents in efforts to strengthen the fragile family unit. He has worked at a secured residential treatment center as a youth counselor providing structure and guidance for adolescents with emotional and behavioral challenges who were deemed suicidal, homicidal, and AWOL risks. As an addictions counselor within the Maryland correctional system, Dr. Rice worked with incarcerated inmates teaching classes in Moral Problem Solving and Relapse Prevention. Working in corrections exposed Dr. Rice to low-income noncustodial fathers who were in need of a comprehensive array of support services (i.e., ongoing substance abuse treatment, domestic violence counseling, child support issues, and access and visitation concerns). He actively pursued resources to meet fathers’ needs. Before entering Human Services, Dr. Rice was employed in various capacities in the field of safety and security in the private sector.

Recent Publications

Jones-Eversley, S., Rhoden-Trader, J. & Rice, J. (In Press). Examining Homicide Through the Spatial, Criminological, Social, and Legal Lenses of Epidemiology. In K. Parker, R. Stansfield, and A. Mancik (Ed), In Taking Stock of Homicide: Trends, Emerging Themes, and the Challenges. Temple University Press.

Nistch. L, & Rice II, J. (2023). Engaging Abusive Persons Involved in Intimate Partner Violence. In T. Bent-Goodley (Ed), Interpersonal Violence: The Social Work Response (pp. 215-226). NASW Press.

Rice J., West C.M., Cottman K., & Gardner G. (2020) The Intersectionality of Intimate Partner Violence in the Black Community. In: Geffner R., Vieth V., Vaughan-Eden V., Rosenbaum A., Hamberger L., White J. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62122-7_240-1

Department Chair, Criminal Justice 2021-Present

  • Bachelor of Science, Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore, 1995
  • Master of Science, Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore, 1997
  • Doctor of Public Health, Public Health (Violence Prevention Focus), Morgan State University, 2011
  • 2022-2023: New Faculty Welcome Committee (University Level)
  • 2023-Present: Academic Dishonesty Committee (University Level)
  • 2020-2021: Provost/VP Search Committee (University Level)
  • 2018-Present: College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (CBSS) Program and Curriculum Committee Co-Chair (College Level)
  • 2017-Present: Full Curriculum Standards and Policy Committee (University/College Level)
  • 2018-Present: Criminal Justice Club (Departmental Level)
  • 2017-Present: Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast Planning Committee (University Level)
  • 2017-2018: Campus Affairs Committee (University Level)
  • 2021-Present: Association of Inspectors General Partnership Development
  • 2022-Present: Police Executive Research Forum and Baltimore City Police Internship Partnership

Memberships

  • Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS)
  • American Society of Criminology (ASC)
  • American Public Health Association (APHA)
  • National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ)
  • National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA)
  • Scholars Strategy Network (SSN)

Dr. Rice’s research interests are Epidemiological Criminology, Public Health, Race and Culture, Media, Youth Delinquency, Victimology, Family Studies (Fatherhood and Child Welfare), Urban Sociology, and Qualitative Social Research. Prior to Coppin he formerly served as Senior Program Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice in the Center on Victimization and Safety.

Grantsmanship:

Funded Project: National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, October 2021-Present, Project Role: Site Lead-Investigator. Title of Project: “A Dangerous Recipe: Ingredients Contributing to African American Gun Violence”. Amount Funded: $105, 290; The 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, Wilmington, DE, Jackson, MS, and Baltimore – leveraging 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.

Funded Project: Johns Hopkins University and Arizona State University, September 2022-Present, Project Role: University Site Lead Investigator. Title of Project: “A Comparison of Firearm-Related Intimate Partner Homicide in Texas and Maryland: Prevalence, Identification of Those at Risk, and Firearm Regulations (The PAIRS Studies)”. Amount Funded: $59,845; The Grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and CSU is a subrecipient under Johns Hopkins grant. As a research partner, the CSU team will extract case file (medical examiner and police) interview data to compare the histories of IPH victims (cases) to those of a random sample of victims of non-fatal physical IPV in the past two years (controls). The CSU team will also conduct Proxy interviews of family members connected to deceased victims of domestic violence to gather data that will contribute to achieving the study's aims.

  • National Criminal Justice Month Community Engagement Award (Departmental); Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for Year 2022
  • “Faculty Excellence in Research Award” Coppin State University (2022)
  • “Certificate of Appreciation” Maryland National Guard (2020)
  • “Distinguished Alumni Award” Morgan State University (2016)

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