B.J. Houston currently serves as the Director of the Criminal Justice Program at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. She is responsible for directing the program as well as teaching legal courses such as Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Criminology, and Ethics. B.J. has been with Harding since August 2001. In addition to her duties at Harding, B.J. continues to serve as a legal instructor / private consultant for law enforcement agencies and corporations across the country.

Prior to accepting the position at Harding, B.J. was with the Criminal Justice Institute (CJI) in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she served as a Law Enforcement Legal & Management Specialist from November 1997 to August 2001. She was assigned to the Law Enforcement Management Center (LEMC) at CJI where, in addition to her responsibilities with LEMC, she also utilized her legal and educational experience with the National Center for Rural Law Enforcement (NCRLE) and other areas of CJI. B.J. has maintained her association with CJI by continuing to teach for CJI as a contract instructor.

Prior to joining CJI, B.J. served as a deputy prosecuting attorney for the Twentieth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (Faulkner County) from September 1995 through October 1997. She was responsible for preparation for and presentation of trials and all other docket activities in the First and Third Divisions of Circuit Court plus all general duties associated with the Office of the Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney.

During her tenure as a prosecutor, B.J. took 32 cases to trial (21 jury, 11 bench). Of those, she obtained 28 convictions, lost two and had two mistrials. Her biggest win, timewise, was a life sentence consecutive to a prior life sentence on a rape case. Her preferred areas of prosecution are: sex crimes, murder/battery/assault cases, and drug prosecutions.

B.J. holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law and is licensed to practice law in the state of Arkansas. She is admitted to practice in Arkansas Circuit Court, U.S. District Court – Eastern and Western District of Arkansas, and in the U.S. Court of Appeals – Eighth Circuit. B.J. is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association, White County Bar Association, Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers, Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police, and Arkansas Narcotics Officers Association. She is also a member of the International Law Enforcement Educators & Trainers Association (ILEETA), American Society for Law Enforcement Training (ASLET), the American Criminal Justice Association – Alpha Theta Omega Phi Chapter. In addition, she is qualified as a Certified Law Enforcement Instructor by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training.

She has also served as Special Prosecutor for the Fifteenth Judicial District Circuit Court (Yell County), the Eighteenth Judicial District Municipal Court – Criminal Division (Montgomery County) and, during her tenure at CJI, for the Twentieth Judicial District Circuit Court (Faulkner County). Since joining Harding University, B.J. has served as a Special Prosecutor for the Seventeenth Judicial District (White County).

B.J. has a Master of Science Degree and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business from Henderson State University. She has fifteen years of university teaching and management experience with Ouachita Baptist University where she taught in the Department of Economics and Finance. While at O.B.U., she served as chair of the Department of Economics and Finance for three years as well as served as a member and/or chair of numerous standing committees. She also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1991 to 1998.