Fahad Bin Islam Khan
Ph.D. Student in Criminal Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice · City University of New York
M.S. in Criminal Justice · University of Mississippi, 2026
My research sits at the intersection of drug policy, law, and social inequality, with a commitment to scholarship that informs reform and centers the experiences of those most affected by the criminal justice system.
Biography
Fahad Bin Islam Khan is an incoming Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY) whose research focuses on U.S. drug policy, criminal justice systems, and comparative criminology. His work examines how legal structures, law enforcement practices, and policy implementation produce and perpetuate unequal outcomes across communities, institutions, and jurisdictions.
Research Focus
His primary research examines U.S. drug policy as a site of institutional inequality, analyzing how drug law enforcement, sentencing disparities, and prosecutorial discretion reproduce structural disadvantages along lines of race, class, and geography. He approaches criminal justice systems not as neutral institutions, but as politically constructed mechanisms that reflect and reinforce existing power relations. His analysis draws from criminological theory and socio-legal research to interrogate how policy decisions translate into institutional practice.
Academic Background
He completed his M.Sc. in Criminal Justice at the University of Mississippi, where his graduate research applied institutional strain theory to examine how perceived racial discrimination shapes adolescent marijuana use. That work established his analytical framework for connecting race and justice, institutional inequality, and drug-related behavior within the broader context of criminal justice policy. He continues this trajectory at John Jay, an institution internationally recognized for scholarship in criminology, law, and public policy.
Current Research Agenda
His research agenda encompasses marijuana legalization and its institutional consequences, drug tourism as a criminological phenomenon, capital punishment disparities, policing and punishment under prohibition regimes, and criminal justice reform as both policy and practice. He is particularly interested in the disjuncture between formal reform and persistent structural inequality: why drug policy changes frequently fail to disrupt entrenched patterns of race and justice across U.S. institutions. View the full research agenda and publications.
Comparative & Global Perspective
Beyond the U.S. context, his work engages comparative criminology and environmental criminology, with research spanning Bangladesh, Nigeria, and cross-national comparative frameworks. This dimension situates American drug policy and criminal justice systems within a broader global landscape, identifying both the particularity of U.S. prohibition regimes and the structural parallels that connect criminal justice systems across different national and political contexts.
Future Research Direction
His doctoral work at John Jay will deepen his engagement with socio-legal systems, comparative criminal justice policy, and the political sociology of punishment. He intends to produce scholarship that is theoretically rigorous, empirically grounded, and directly relevant to ongoing debates in criminal justice reform and drug policy analysis. This website serves as a platform for research, academic writing, and ongoing scholarly development in criminology and criminal justice.
Research Areas
Academic Affiliation
Current
Ph.D. in Criminal Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
City University of New York (CUNY)
Previous
M.Sc. in Criminal Justice
University of Mississippi
Quick Facts
- Ph.D. Student, John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
- M.S. in Criminal Justice, University of Mississippi (2026)
- M.S. in Criminology and Police Science, MBSTU Bangladesh
- New York City, New York
- Five-Year Doctoral Fellow, John Jay College / CUNY
- ASC · Bangladesh Society of Criminology
- ASC Annual Meeting 2025, Washington D.C.
Research Keywords
Professional Memberships
- ▸American Society of Criminology (ASC)
- ▸Bangladesh Society of Criminology
Education
Ph.D. in Criminal Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY)
Expecting 2031
Departmental Fellow and Graduate Research Assistant. Doctoral research in criminology: drug policy, institutional inequality, race, law enforcement, and comparative criminal justice systems.
Master of Science in Criminal Justice
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
2026
Thesis: "Institutional Strain and Substance Coping: Analyzing Perceived Racial Discrimination As A Predictor Of Adolescent Marijuana Use." Committee: Dr. D'Andre Walker, Dr. Francis Boateng, Dr. Katharine Brown. CGPA: 4.0/4.0
Master of Science in Criminology and Police Science
Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU), Bangladesh
2023–2024
Internship: Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST). CGPA: 3.72/4.0
Bachelor of Science in Criminology and Police Science
Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU), Bangladesh
2017–2023
Monograph: Legal Compliance of Waste Management in Savar BSCIC Tannery Industrial Estate. CGPA: 3.70/4.0
Fahad Bin Islam Khan
Master of Science in Criminal Justice
University of Mississippi
Academic workshop presentation
Teaching & Public Scholarship
Fahad brings the same intellectual rigor to the classroom and public forum that drives his research. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Mississippi, he contributed to undergraduate criminology education while developing his scholarly agenda.
His public-facing work extends to academic workshops and professional settings where he communicates complex questions of drug policy, sentencing equity, and criminal justice reform to diverse audiences, translating scholarship into conversations that matter.
Presenter, American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., November 2025
Thesis Research
Fahad’s master’s thesis, “Institutional Strain and Substance Coping: Analyzing Perceived Racial Discrimination as a Predictor of Adolescent Marijuana Use,” applies institutional anomie and strain theories to examine how perceived racial discrimination shapes substance use behaviors among adolescents.
The research was completed at the University of Mississippi under a committee chaired by Dr. D’Andre Walker, with Dr. Katharine Brown and Dr. Francis Boateng serving as committee members.
MSc in Criminal Justice · University of Mississippi · May 2026
Master's Thesis Defense
University of Mississippi · May 2026