Skip to content
Jack McDevitt
Director of the Institute on Race and Justice
617.373.3482
Expertise
Criminal Justice Organizations, Hate Crimes, Race and Justice

Jack McDevitt in the Press

Jack McDevitt for Northeastern Global News

Mike Davis holding his award posing with two other people.

Northeastern’s Michael Davis receives prestigious award for his work as a trailblazing police chief 

Vice president of global safety and policing, Davis was named a distinguished fellow of the George Lewis Ruffin Society.
Silhouette of a line of police officers

Here’s how policing in the US could be reformed

Police departments need to increase diversity, create a system that allows officers to report racist behavior, and allow the public to have a voice in police oversight to prevent the unprovoked killing of Black people, says Jack McDevitt, the director of Northeastern’s Institute on Race and Justice who studies hate crime and racial profiling.

Here’s one way to counter the spread on social media of hate crimes like the New Zealand mosque shooting

Short of regulating extremist content on their platforms, tech giants such as Facebook and YouTube should offer countering or alternative viewpoints, said Northeastern professor Jack McDevitt, an expert on hate crimes, following the mass shooting during a prayer service Friday afternoon in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Can data help make racial profiling by police a thing of the past?

Jack McDevitt, who directs the Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern, is leading a study of police stops and searches in Douglas County, Kansas, where black people have been jailed at a disproportionately high rate.

Boston police to expand use of body cameras after Northeastern report shows they boost trust, lead to fairer trials

Police body cameras increase public confidence, de-escalate citizen-police encounters, and improve confidence in the courts, according to Northeastern’s analysis of the use of body cameras by the Boston Police Department. The city has decided to expand the program this year by more than doubling the number of officers who use the cameras.

Northeastern report finds stricter gun laws don’t prevent law-abiding citizens from getting guns

Tougher gun licensing laws don’t make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms, according to a new Northeastern study. “States are concerned that if they have a licensing provision, people will be denied their constitutional rights, and I think Massachusetts is a strong example showing that doesn’t have to be the case,” said lead author Jack McDevitt, director of Northeastern’s Institute on Race and Justice.

3Qs: Safety measures at the Republican National Convention

More than 10,000 people are expected to protest outside the Republic National Convention in Cleveland this week. Tensions are running high, particularly because of the recent spate of terrorist attacks and shootings both near and far, but the consensus among city officials is that they’re ready to address a potentially chaotic scene. “We are prepared,” […]

The hidden world of labor trafficking

A new study conducted by Northeastern University in collaboration with the Urban Institute examined the comprehensive state of labor trafficking networks in the U.S.

3Qs: Race, justice, and Ferguson

Jack McDevitt, director of Northeastern’s Institute for Race and Justice, examines the events unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri, and some of the university’s research efforts around law enforcement and social justice.

The immigration debate in America

As part of Northeastern’s educational series on civic sustainability, a trio of Northeastern scholars led a discussion on immigration issues in the U.S. from a legal, philosophical, and criminal justice perspective.