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

在这个项目中，轻罪法院管理和规范人口的做法进行了调查。 具体而言，本项目研究法院是否以及如何限制和监督人们，以及这种限制和监督是否因人而异？的社会地位。 它还调查被告如何应对和抵制这一规定。这项研究将有助于社会学研究和理解的社会控制，在其审查轻罪司法的重点不是法院如何监管，但对那些谁正在经历的监管。 该项目的研究结果有望通过启发改善轻罪司法的方式来改善人口和社会的总体福利。在该项目中，轻罪法院的管理和人口的监管将通过人种学方法和访谈进行研究。 这些将包括参与者观察至少12个轻罪法庭和与法庭被告，检察官，法官和辩护律师的访谈。 根据理论和过去关于影响法院实践的变量的研究结果，如农村与城市环境，本研究中的法庭将因规模、人口统计、位置和其他特征而异。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

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.