Doctoral Dissertation Research: How Low-Level Misdemeanor Courts Regulate Populations

在这个项目中，调查了轻罪法院管理和管制人口的做法。具体地说，这个项目研究法院是否以及如何限制和监督人们，以及这是否会因人而异？S的社会地位。它还调查被告可能如何反应和抵制这一规定。这项研究将有助于对社会控制的社会学研究和理解，因为它在审查轻罪司法时不是关注法院如何监管，而是关注那些正在经历监管的人。该项目的调查结果承诺，通过阐明改善轻罪司法执行的方法，改善人口和社会的普遍福利。在该项目中，将通过人种学方法和访谈研究轻罪法院对人口的管理和管制。这些将包括至少12个轻罪法庭的参与者观察，以及对法庭被告、检察官、法官和辩护律师的采访。根据理论和过去关于影响法院实践的变量(如农村和城市环境)的研究结果，本研究中的法庭将因大小、人口统计、位置和其他特征而有所不同。这将有助于确定最能解释法庭实践和结果的特征。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In this project, the practices through which misdemeanor courts manage and regulate populations are investigated. Specifically, this project studies whether and how the courts may restrict and monitor people and whether that varies according to people?s social position. It also investigates how defendants may react to and resist this regulation. This study will contribute to sociological research on and understanding of social control by focusing in its examination of misdemeanor justice not on how courts regulate but on those who are experiencing regulation. Findings from this project promise to better the general welfare of the population and society by illuminating ways to improve the delivery of misdemeanor justice.In this project, misdemeanor court management and regulation of populations will be researched through ethnographic methods and interviews. These will include participant observation of at least 12 misdemeanor courtrooms and interviews with court defendants, prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys. Based on theory and past findings about variables that affect court practices, such as rural vs. urban settings, the courtrooms in this study will vary by size, demographics, location, and other features. This will facilitate identifying the characteristics that best explain courtroom practices and outcomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.