Dr. Justin Moody is an Instructional Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice & Legal Studies.
Research Interests
- Judicial decision-making: Examining the legal, attitudinal, institutional, and contextual factors that influence judicial behavior and case outcomes.
- Spatial access to justice: Using GIS and spatial analysis to examine how geography, transportation, institutional location, and resource availability affect access to courts and justice-system services.
- Mental health courts and diversion: Evaluating the accessibility, implementation, and effectiveness of mental health courts and other therapeutic or problem-solving court programs.
- Policy and program evaluation: Applying quantitative, spatial, and mixed-method approaches to evaluate public safety and criminal justice policies, programs, and institutional practices.
Biography
Dr. Justin Moody is an Instructional Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice & Legal Studies at the University of Mississippi. He formerly served as a law clerk/staff attorney for the First Circuit Court District of Mississippi, the Mississippi Supreme Court, and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2015 and his Doctor of Science in Public Safety, with a concentration in Security and Analytics, from Middle Georgia State University in 2026. His research focuses on judicial decision-making, spatial access to justice, mental health courts and diversion, and policy and program evaluation. His work incorporates geographic information systems and spatial analysis to examine how geography, institutional placement, and resource availability affect access to justice and public safety services. Dr. Moody is a member of the Mississippi Bar and has served on various committees within the Bar and its Young Lawyers Division. He has also been named a Fellow of the Young Lawyers Division.
- Justin Moody, Pinching the Vegas Nerve: A Moral Reasoning Approach to Compulsive Gambling as a Criminal Defense, 19 GAMING L. REV. & ECON. 27 (2015).
- Justin Moody, Safety First: How Arming Mississippi Teachers Would Protect Students, 83 MISS. L.J. 1319 (2014).
Courses Taught
- CJ 210 Criminal Law
- LA 303 Civil Litigation I
- LA 421 Special Topics in Legal Studies: Judicial Decision Making
Education
J.D. , University of Mississippi (2015)
DSc Criminology, Law, and Justice, Middle Georgia State University (2026)