Summary
Dr. Melissa Jarrell is Professor and Chair of Criminal Justice. She earned her PhD in Criminology from the University of South Florida. Dr. Jarrell recently served as Department Head of Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2021-2023). At Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2005-2021), Dr. Jarrell served in various roles including Dean of University College, Department Chair, and Coordinator of the Masters of Public Administration (MPA) Program.
Dr. Jarrell’s research focuses on how corporations victimize environmental justice communities, the health consequences of that victimization, and how those crimes are portrayed in the media. This research is represented in two books, over 70 articles and chapters, as well as a variety of print/online media and two documentaries. Much of Dr. Jarrell’s research is based on over fifteen years of field work and activism in environmental justice communities in South Texas. She has worked with a coalition of environmental groups, such as Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and others to stop the permitting of a pet-coke processing plant, partnered with federal prosecutors, the U.S. EPA, and other law enforcement agencies in the case of U.S. v. CITGO, which lead to the first case of a U.S. federal court granting victim status to a low-income, fenceline community for violations of the U.S. Clean Air Act, and co-founded the Environmental Justice Housing Fund (EJHF), which lead to the creation of a non-profit that engaged in a multi-million dollar buyout of a fenceline community. This work led to the Praxis Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice. Dr. Jarrell continues to serve as a board member of EJHF and as co-editor of Palgrave Macmillan’s Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology book series.