Assistant Professor J.Z. Bennett of UC’s School of Criminal Justice is a self-described “Temple Made student,” having earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Temple University in Philadelphia. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Bennett joined the School of Criminal Justice in 2022, where he quickly made an impact with his research into, among other areas, juvenile life without parole, and his work with the Urban Youth Leadership Academy and The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.

Bennett tells us about serving as an editor for the recently published Black Freedom Struggle in Urban Appalachia, a community-centered book featuring various perspectives on Black freedom work being done in Pittsburgh, the largest urban center in Appalachia. The book features a number of contributors — from artists to academics, high school student to organizers — and is organized around five themes central to the exploration of Appalachia as a place and the impact of carcerality on the region.

In this episode, Benett also talks with us about growing up in Philadelphia in a family full of law enforcement officers, as well as experiencing personal tragedy in a city that struggles with the effects of gun violence. He also shares about his experience graduating high school at 15, becoming a first-generation college student while still very much a minor and more.