assistant professor @TXST_CJC | researching policing, public health, & technology | PhD from @ASUCrimJustice
Phoenix, AZ
Joined April 2018
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Stumbled upon a cool resource for those who share data/code on GitHub: anonymous.4open.science/
A quick and easy way to have your GitHub repo anonymized for the peer review process.
Seth Watts retweeted
📢 We're hiring TWO tenure-track Assistant Professors!
Join the School of Criminal Justice & Criminology at Texas State University! We're seeking scholars committed to research, teaching, & service.
📅 Review begins Oct. 28, 2026
🔗 jobs.hr.txstate.edu/postings…
Please share!
Seth Watts retweeted
Recent prescriptions and policies would have us judge research by non-evidentiary standards, e.g. presumed political impact and scholar identity. In a new essay, Tom Clark and I argue empirical claims should instead be evaluated based on evidentiary strength. We outline a framework for judging evidence, and show its usefulness by revisiting high-profile scholarly disagreements spanning policing, political violence, election administration, and terrorism, before critiquing non-evidentiary approaches. We also argue social science needs a culture that is hospitable to critique—rather than one which condemns critics as “bullies”—if quality standards are to be upheld.
dropbox.com/scl/fi/fsgpflron…
Seth Watts retweeted
OUT TODAY: The U.S. has seen a dramatic, unexpected shift in homicide. After surging in 2020, the rate fell sharply from 2022-2026 and is now at its lowest level since at least 1900.
Why has homicide dropped so much, so fast, and in so many places? ⤵️
counciloncj.org/whats-drivin…
Seth Watts retweeted
New working paper: "Bad Is Bad, Good Is Not Bad, and Great Is Good." First human-perception validation of an AI-based police professionalism measure.
At @CrimRxiv with Kyle McLean, Paige Vaughn, Alexis Fabila, and Geoffrey Alpert.
crimrxiv.com/pub/lof85a0h
Seth Watts retweeted
If you read news stories about police shootings, you'll notice a pattern — a large share of the people shot by police are on probation or parole. What's going on?
In our new working paper, we build a bridge between corrections and policing scholarship to understand this. We call the concept "avertogenic" deaths: police killings shaped by upstream decisions about sentencing, diversion, and release.
The logic is simple. Courts, parole boards, and pardons boards decide who stays locked up and who returns to the community. Those decisions change who is exposed to police contact — and therefore who is at risk of a lethal encounter. Policing scholars study the encounter. Corrections scholars study the sentence. Almost nobody connects the two.
We build a simulation calibrated to national data on felony sentencing, recidivism, and police-involved mortality. Sentencing policy IS policing policy, and we need to talk about it that way.
Live at @CrimRxiv: crimrxiv.com/pub/i432yvg2/re…
w/ @smourtgos and Matt Logan.
Did you know that Axon houses ~100 petabytes of BWC footage data? Equivalent to 25 million copies of “Barbie” the movie: ~3.6 billion minutes (6,849 years of watch time)….
Anyway, new preprint out where my colleagues and I discuss all things AI and BWC auditing.
AI in Policing: Capturing Police Performance (Good and Bad) in Routine, Rare, and Novel Events dlvr.it/TQR828
Seth Watts retweeted
The transfer problem in police training: From training hours to operational readiness dlvr.it/TQNT03
Seth Watts retweeted
#NewResearch ‼️ by Drs. @SethBWatts @BrandondelPozo Mike White & @AiliMalm: "Does automated feedback impact the acceptability of AI-generated police body worn camera review? An implementation science natural experiment," out now! Link below.
link.springer.com/article/10…
Seth Watts retweeted
CrimRxiv Consortium joined by Texas State University, School of Criminal Justice and Criminology dlvr.it/TPM66B
Seth Watts retweeted
From 2020-2023, law enforcement officers "exhibited higher all-cause mortality risk than the working-age population." Circulatory conditions, cancer, suicide, and COVID-19 were leading causes of death for male LEOs and cancer was the leading cause of death for female LEOs.
Seth Watts retweeted
New preprint up @CrimRxiv. We test whether AI-generated police officer profiles can provide a valid, scalable way to study public perceptions of officers.
Led by @UUtah's Chandler Robinson, and alongside Matt Logan and Pete Blair, we varied officer race, gender, and body type across thousands of AI-generated headshots. Participants rated competence, warmth, and agency.
Findings:
1. Male officers seen as more competent/agentic, less warm.
2. Muscular officers rated highest for competence/agency.
3. Heavier officers penalized.
4. Minority race officers viewed as warmer than White officers.
Seth Watts retweeted
#NewResearch ‼️by @SethBWatts & co-authors @AiliMalm, Dr. Mike White, & Genesis Navarrete (@ASUCrimJustice), entitled "Officer Acceptance and Use of AI-Driven Body-Worn Camera Footage Review" now out in the American Journal of Criminal Justice. Link below!
link.springer.com/article/10…
Officer Williams is top-notch. It was a pleasure to have spent all those hours with him on ride alongs this past year for the Tempe Opioid Recovery Project.
Big congrats to @TempePolice Officer Aaron Williams, named 2025 First Responder of the Year by the @TempeChamber! 👏
As our Naloxone Program Coordinator, he ensures our officers are trained & equipped to save lives when seconds matter.
Proud of his life-saving leadership! 💙
#TempePD #FirstResponderOfTheYear #ProudChief #LifeSavingLeadership #TempeChamber
Seth Watts retweeted
How has the normative turn in social science affected our ability to produce and use theory? Using a case study of punishment studies during/after the normative turn, I find authors are mistaking normativity for theory.
Published today in @Theory_Society! link.springer.com/article/10…
A solid Saturday morning read. Great work from @smourtgos per usual.
Probabilities Over p-Values: A Decision Framework for Evidence-Based Policing dlvr.it/TLZfPz
Seth Watts retweeted
"...despite our best efforts, our ability to compel or incentivize criminals to improve their lives remains very limited and may not be worth the effort."
What a read from Matt Logan, John Paul Wright, and Hannah Meyers in @ManhattanInst.
Seth Watts retweeted
#BreakingNews ✨@Logz22 and @SethBWatts will be joining our faculty in Fall 2025! Drs. Somers and Watts both received their PhDs from @ASUCrimJustice and will bring a wealth of knowledge to our School!
cj.txst.edu/about/news/two-n…
