Deborah J. Burris-Kitchen, Ph.D., is a Professor of Criminology and Department Chair at Tennessee State University in Nashville. She is the author of Female Gang Participation (Edwin Mellen Press, 1997). She co-authored with Dr. Gloria Morrow and Dr. Aghop Der-Karabetian an article on racism in higher education in the College Student Journal (2000). Other publications include a book titled Short Rage: an autobiographical look at heightism in America (2002); a book chapter (July 2010) titled “Pathways to prison: Implications for the Health and Mental health in the African American Community” in Handbook for African American Health Psychology: Evidence-based treatment and prevention practices (edited by Robert Hampton & Ray Crowell); she co-authored with Paul Burris From Slavery to Prisons: A Historical Delineation of the Criminalization of African Americans (2010); she also published a journal article titled Short Rage Revisited (2018), Deviance and Control, Kendall and Hunt (2020) and the second edition of Deviance and Control was released by Kendall and Hunt in 2021.

Dr. Burris-Kitchen is also an activist who fights against violence, racism, exploitation, and greed.