Doctoral Dissertation Research: Causes and Effects of the Incarceration of Minority Individuals

在这个项目中，不成比例监禁的原因和后果是为一个不为人所知或了解的群体进行检查的。本研究的第一个组成部分是通过检查犯罪模式和逮捕差异，确定刑事司法系统中人数过多的原因，与一般人群相比。第二个组成部分是确定和记录该群体通过刑事司法系统的轨迹，从最初接触到逮捕或拘留，到监禁，最后重新进入社会。这一群体的成员可能在进程的每一步都面临挑战，这些挑战可能导致健康状况恶化、就业困难和住房不稳定等负面后果。此外，他们可能更有可能在重返社会后再次犯罪，对自己和更广泛的社区构成潜在的更大风险。该项目的研究结果与决策有关，这可能会降低这一人群的犯罪风险，并使康复和重返社会过程更加成功。它们还提供可能有助于改进执法做法的信息。在该项目中，有三个目标：1)确定州级政策和州级社会气候对群体药物滥用和犯罪的影响；(2)记录与执法部门互动过程中的共同经验；(3)确定重新加入该组织的成员所面临的独特挑战。使用了几种方法。对于定量部分，构建了一个国家级政策和社会气候的综合数据集，并将其与现有的具有全国代表性的数据集合并，以测试这些政策和气候对药物滥用变量的影响。第二个具有全国代表性的数据集扩展了分析。定性部分包括对50名面临执法的小组成员的采访。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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 causes and consequences of disproportionate incarceration are examined for a group for which these are not well known or understood. The first component of this study is to identify the causes of overrepresentation in the criminal justice system as compared to the general population by examining offending patterns and arrest disparities. The second component is to identify and document trajectories of the group through the criminal justice system, from initial contact via arrest or detainment, through incarceration, ending with re-entry to society. Members of this group are likely to face challenges at each step of the process that can cause negative consequences such as poorer health, difficulties finding employment, and housing instability. Further, they may be more likely to re-offend following re-entry to society, posing a potentially increased risk to themselves and their broader communities. Findings of this project are relevant to decision making that may lead to decreased risk of offending among this population and more successful rehabilitation and reentry processes. They also provide information that may contribute to the improvement of law enforcement practices.In the project, three aims are addressed: 1) identifying the impact of state-level policies and state-level social climates on substance abuse and criminality in the group; (2) documenting common experiences during interactions with law enforcement; and (3) identifying unique challenges faced by reentering members of the group. Several methods are used. For the quantitative portion, a comprehensive dataset of state-level policies and social climates is constructed and merged with an existing, nationally representative dataset to test the effects of these policies and climates on substance abuse variables. A second nationally representative dataset expands the analyses. The qualitative portion consists of 50 interviews with group members who have faced law enforcement.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.