Soraya K. Kawucha

Biographical Sketch

Soraya "Kris" Kawucha is an adjunct professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of North Texas. She received her AS in Administration of Justice from Riverside Community College, California in 2003, her AA in History from North Central Texas College in 2004, her BS in Criminal Justice from UNT in 2004, and her MS in Criminal Justice and History from UNT in 2006. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University.

She is a retired deputy sheriff from the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department in California where she worked the custody, patrol, and fugitive transport divisions. She is a member of Phi Theta Alpha, Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Phi Sigma and a past president of the Iota Theta chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma at UNT.

Her research interests include prison gangs, the history of crime and criminal law from Ancient Rome to Early Modern Europe, constitutional issues of the 4th and 5th Amendments, and the history of execution methodology. She recently co-authored The Great Divide: Prison Gangs, Race, and Institution Control with Dr. Trulson of UNT and Dr. Marquart of UT-Dallas, published by the American Correctional Association in 2006.