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?
Baby’s First Years (BFY) is the first randomized control trial of the effects of unconditional cash transfers on the development of young children. To understand whether and how increased income allows parents to invest in their children, it is important to understand how parents think about money. Similarly resourced parents, whose money comes from distinct sources (e.g., cash welfare versus wages), may deploy their resources differently. In this study, sociologist Sarah Halpern-Meekin and psychologist Katherine Magnuson aim to better understand parents’ choices.
Co-funded with the JPB Foundation
Co-funded with the JPB Foundation
Recent research shows that more monetary sanctions are issued in communities with a higher number of Black or Latinx residents. However, these studies have not examined the extent to which these sanctions resulted from legitimate infractions. Based on preliminary findings in Chicago, sociologist Kasey Henricks finds that more than one in eight tickets were erroneously issued. She will further analyze the data to answer three questions: 1) Are erroneous tickets more likely to be issued in neighborhoods with higher numbers of Black or Latinx residents?
The American Voices Project (AVP), a joint initiative of Stanford and Princeton Universities, conducts qualitative interviews on social and economic attitudes and behavior with a nationally representative sample and is intended to supplement other forms of qualitative research.
The police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, among others, re-ignited public debates about how, when, and why the police should use lethal force. At the same time, advances in technology have changed how police do their job, as many police departments use virtual simulation systems to train officers. Sociologist Samantha Simon will conduct 50 in-depth interviews and an ethnography of firearms training at a small police department in Missouri, to address the following questions: (1) How are police officers trained to use firearms?