Research Interests: Race & Crime, Networks & Social Capital, Problem-Solving Courts, Prison Programming & Reentry, Community Violence, GIS Mapping, Restorative Justice
Talia LaSane (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD student and University Fellow in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University. Her research explores how disparities in spatial environments and social connections—where one lives and who one knows—shape access to resources, opportunities, and involvement in the criminal legal system. In other words, she examines how structural and social conditions influence who enters the system, how they are treated within it, and what supports are available before, during, and after contact
Grounded in the words of Ida B. Wells, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,” Talia addresses racial disparities and systemic harms through community-centric research, applied scholarship, and policy reform. She uses mixed methods, including GIS mapping, social network analysis, and qualitative approaches, to examine the intersection of race, place, and social capital.
Talia lives a life of service, inspired by her father, a former correctional/police officer, and her late mother, who supported individuals with special needs and mental health challenges. Raised in Las Vegas, she began her academic journey as a Gates Millennium Scholar at Tuskegee University before transferring to Temple, where she earned her B.A. in Criminal Justice in 2020 and M.A. in 2023. She is now based near St. Louis, Missouri, completing her dissertation research.
She has served as Research Director for the social justice organization Down North Foundation, a Data Analyst with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office DATALab, and a Research Assistant on a national study of drug court treatment quality and equity. She currently supports policy research at the Southern Poverty Law Center and contributes to mental health advocacy as a Technical Writer for the initiative KijijiLink.
Faculty Advisor: Jason Gravel
Curriculum Vitae