Timothy Barnum, Ph.D.

Timothy C. Barnum is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Sam Houston State University and a Research Affiliate at the Institute, where he previously served as a Senior Researcher. His re­search examines how individuals perceive and respond to crime-relevant situations, with a focus on decision-making processes underlying violence, victimization, and intervention. Integrating criminological theory – particularly rational choice perspectives – with insights from psychology, his work investigates the ways in which situational cues, social context, and individual characteristics shape appraisals of risk, threat, and opportunity. At the Institute, Timothy Barnum contributes to projects using experimental and immersive methodologies, including Virtual Reality (VR) and video-based scenarios, to study bystander decision-making and the underlying mechanisms of guardianship, with the goal of ad­vanc­ing theory and informing policy related to crime prevention and public safety.