Brian Wyant, Ph.D.

Brian R. Wyant is a professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. He earned his B.A. in Sociology from McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College), his M.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of Baltimore, and his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Temple University in 2010. His research generally focuses on the geography of crime and policing. He has examined the perceptions of the police as well as relationships between firearm arrests and shootings. Further, Dr. Wyant has worked as an expert consultant for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation conducting data analysis to investigate stop, frisk, and search patterns by large city police departments.

Although his work has primarily focused issues of policing, firearm violence and more broadly the spatial distribution of crime, his recent work has examined the role of copayments on inmate utilization of health services in prison. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and Criminology and Public Policy. At La Salle University, Dr. Wyant regularly teaches, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Criminology, Policing: Theory and Dynamics, Crime Mapping and Statistics. Originally from Maryland, Brian, his wife, and their daughter and son now live in Glenside, PA.

Recent Publications

• Wyant, Brian R., Kathleen Bogle, and Brian Lockwood. (2025) Student attitudes and motivations towards viewing videos of police fatal encounters in a classroom setting. Teaching Sociology.
• Wyant, Brian R. and Brian Lockwood. (March, 2025). Heat, space, and safety: The spatial dynamics of juvenile shootings in relation to public facilities and environmental conditions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, Boston, MA.
• Taylor, Ralph B., Brian Lockwood, and Brian R. Wyant. (2024). Are streetblock 311 physical incivility call counts acceptable proxies for on-site assessments?: Gauging ecological construct validity of trash calls. The Journal of Crime and Justice, 47(1), 130-152.