Black and Latinx students are often regarded as an aside in research on transitions to postsecondary education and work. When they are centered, much of this literature focuses on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged youth and emphasizes their purported deficiencies. Few scholars have attempted to compare high achieving African Americans and Latinxs to Whites. Sociologist Tomeka Davis will examine the arc of high-achieving Black and Latinx students beginning in high school and throughout early adulthood.

The continued rise in student debt has negatively affected socioeconomic mobility among young American adults, with Black Americans bearing the brunt of student debt burden. Though Americans romanticize entrepreneurship as a path to socioeconomic mobility, little is known about the consequences of student debt burden for business ownership and success, and how such consequences vary by race. While some research contends that higher education increases business ownership and success, we know little about whether and how this relationship varies by race.

A recent study that analyzed over 20 years of administrative data found that within two years, marginal misdemeanor defendants who were prosecuted were more likely to be arrested, charged, prosecuted, and convicted of another crime. This is contrary to conventional wisdom that such prosecution should deter criminal involvement. What might explain this finding?