Broadening Participation And Perspectives On Crime And Justice Research

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Intellectual Merit This project builds on the successful collaboration of an interdisciplinary and diverse group of scholars and disciplines, whose work seeks to improve the quality of research on the linkages among race/ethnicity, crime, and criminal justice. This group, known as the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice Network (RDCJN) established a Summer Research Institute (SRI) and annual summer workshops with prior NSF support. To date, the group has supported 44 young scholars and produced several volumes of innovative scholarship, including books and special issues of top-ranked specialty journals in the field. The current project seeks to build on these successes. To advance the science of broadening participation, the project will pursue two closely interrelated goals: First, it will expand the scope of collaborative projects that improve our understanding of the interrelationships among race/ethnicity, crime, and criminal justice. Second, it will advance the research and professional development of young scholars in this branch of the STEM pipeline, including graduate students from underrepresented groups. Achieving Project Goals The PIs will hold additional SRIs for underrepresented faculty and advanced graduate students to enhance their research achievements and success in the academy. The institutes will provide a constructive environment that supports, trains, and mentors young and aspiring faculty in the completion of papers/proposals for journal publication or grant review, offer a tool-kit of information for survival in the university, and reduce isolation of young scholars. In the long run, these activities will contribute to a critical mass of scholars from underrepresented groups whose work is visibly placed, and whose presence and success encourages students-of-color, women, etc. to pursue research and teaching careers. Summer workshops, held separately, will enable participants to develop collaborative projects in the field. These workshops will provide scholars from different disciplines, backgrounds, and career stages with the means to develop, report, and improve on on-going research. Workshops will also support the broadening participation activities of the SRI, especially by integrating underrepresented junior scholars into an energetic network of scholars. Institutes and workshops will also focus direct attention on contemporary issues such as Housing, Lending Patterns and Crime; Race, Crime and Justice in Comparative and International Contexts; and Youth, Peer Culture, and Criminal Justice.Broader ImpactsThis project has the potential for broader impact in multiple areas. First, the central premise of this work is that the complexity of social relations, including race/ethnicity, shapes our understanding of crime and criminal justice. Participants employ collaborative, multi-method, multi-disciplinary and comparative studies. Findings may improve our understanding of how racialization relates to our understanding of citizenship and democracy, nationally and around the world. Thus, findings may be of interests to the law enforcement and social service providers, urban planners, the law enforcement and policy communities, as well as the general public. Second, the project draws on the expertise of diverse scholars to carry out innovative crime and justice research and purposely seeks to broaden participation in the field by fostering the careers of scholars from underrepresented groups. The workshops and SRIs will enhance not only future research but also training and curricula in criminology and criminal justice fields.