Digital Commons Network^™

Past And Present Of The Cvs: Empirical Research And Evidence-Based Policy, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

In this keynote address, I emphasized the critical role of accurate crime measurement in developing evidence-based policies. I discussed the "dark figure of crime," highlighting how many crimes go unreported, and stressed the importance of victimization surveys in uncovering these hidden crimes to provide a more complete picture of criminal activity.

I also explored how technological advancements, particularly AI, are transforming how we collect and analyze crime data. While AI offers significant benefits in predictive policing and resource allocation, I cautioned about the risks of bias and privacy issues that must be managed carefully.

Regional collaboration, standardization, and inclusivity are …

Strategies For Addressing Substance Abuse And Gambling Among Youth, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

This keynote address opens with a description of recent trends in substance use and gambling among youth, sharing insights from relevant research. I highlight that while some global trends indicate a decline in adolescent substance use, other areas, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, have seen increases. I emphasize the importance of comprehensive prevention strategies, such as school-based, community-based, and family-based programs, and effective treatment approaches like behavioral interventions and integrated mental health services.

On the topic of youth gambling, I highlight the rising normalization and accessibility of gambling, particularly through the internet. I describe specific challenges in regions like South …

Failure To Appear Across New York Regions, Stephen Koppel, René Ropac, Michael Rempel

Publications and Research

This study examines failure to appear in New York, a topic with important implications for the delivery of pretrial justice. It explores three primary questions: the nature of pretrial release decisions, the variation in FTA rates across different regions and demographics, and the predictors of FTA after controlling for various factors.

Racial Disparities In New York City Civil Summonses, 2019-2022, Stephen Koppel, Anna Stenkamp

Publications and Research

The purpose of this study is to assess racial and neighborhood disparities in civil summonses issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) under the Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA). The report serves as a companion to a parallel study of criminal summonses. The New York City Council commissioned both reports in March 2021 as part of the Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan. The goals of this plan included increasing public safety, while reducing racial disparities in law enforcement and mitigating potential adverse effects of over-policing on low-income communities.

Racial And Neighborhood Disparities In New York City Criminal Summons Practices, Anna Stenkamp, Michael Rempel

Publications and Research

The purpose of this study is to assess trends in criminal summons practices by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), including if and how they disproportionately impact low income and/or Black and Brown communities. The New York City Council commissioned the study as part of the Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan. Approved March 2021, the goals of this plan were both to document and ameliorate policies and practices that have led to historic injustices and over-policing of low-income New Yorkers and communities of color.

Assessing Progress In Reducing Racial Disparities In New York City Law Enforcement, 2013-2022, Stephen Koppel, Michael Rempel

Publications and Research

As part of New York City's Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan, this study assesses overall trends and racial disparities from 2013 to 2022 in four law enforcement practices: (1) pedestrian stops, (2) desk appearance tickets, (3) arrests, and (4) prosecutions by district attorneys.

Does New York's Bail Reform Law Impact Recidivism? A Quasi-Experimental Test In The State's Suburban And Upstate Regions, René Ropac

Publications and Research

This is the third report in Data Collaborative for Justice's Bail Reform and Recidivism Series. The study builds upon two previous reports examining the impact of bail reform on recidivism in New York City. This study estimated the impact of New York's bail reform on recidivism in the State's suburban and upstate regions. We compared re-arrest rates for people who had bail set or were remanded at arraignment in the first half of 2019 (before bail reform) with similar people who were released without bail in the first half of 2020 (after bail reform).

Evaluating The Impact Of Desk Appearance Ticket Reform In New York State, Olive Lu, Michael Rempel

Publications and Research

This report addresses the extent to which reform led more people charged with low-level offenses to return home swiftly after an arrest, avoid overnight detention, and limit unnecessary system contact. We focused solely on misdemeanors and Class E felonies where the specific charge is subject to a mandatory DAT (excluding domestic violence, sex offenses, and select other charges) and the individual has not failed to appear in the past two years. Thus, we excluded most cases where police officers retained discretion; however, the data could not isolate all carve-outs, such as people who cannot prove their identity, appear to need …

Examining The System-Wide Effect Of Eliminating Bail In New York City: A Controlled-Interrupted Time Series Study, Stephen Koppel, René Ropac

Publications and Research

This builds upon the initial report in the Data Collaborative for Justice's Bail Reform and Recidivism Series - Does New York's Bail Reform Law Impact Recidivism? A Quasi-Experimental Test in New York City. Using controlled-interrupted time series analysis (CITS), this follow-up study estimated effect of New York's initial reform on recidivism in New York City by comparing re-arrest rates between bail-ineligible versus bail-eligible offenses before and after the reforms.

Ethnographic Activism And Critical Criminology, David C. Brotherton

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

A Statewide Analysis Of The Impact Of Restitution And Fees On Juvenile Recidivism In Florida Across Race & Ethnicity, Alex R. Piquero, Michael T. Baglivio, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

Whether the imposition of monetary sanctions is related to juvenile recidivism is explored overall and across race and ethnicity. Leveraging a statewide sample, logistic regression was used to predict fees and restitution assignment based on youth/case characteristics, hierarchical linear and logistic random-effects regression examined the association between neighborhood characteristics with fees and restitution, and propensity score matching examined whether fees and/or restitution are related to reoffending. No race/ethnic differences were found in the proportion of youth receiving court fees, yet when fees were administered both black and Hispanic youth received higher fees. Neighborhood characteristics have minimal impact on whether (or …

Weird Winter Weather In The Anthropocene: How Volatile Temperatures Shape Violent Crime, Christopher Thomas, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

Purpose: Current evidence suggests volatile temperatures are becoming more common because of climate change and can be expected to become even more frequent in the future. By focusing on recent temperature variability, we attempt to estimate one important dimension of the impact of climate change on violent crime. We also explore whether sudden upward temperature anomalies have stronger positive impacts on violent crime in the coldest months of the year, as routine activities are likely to change more drastically during this period.

Methods: This study explores the association between sudden temperature anomalies (both upward and downward) and the daily incidence …

Dynamic Risk Trajectories, Community Context, And Juvenile Recidivism, Kevin T. Wolff, Michael T. Baglivio, Jonathan Intravia

Publications and Research

Purpose

While the implementation of risk assessment has expanded, the extent to which there are different trajectories of risk/protective factors among adjudicated youth during supervision in the community remains unanswered. The goal of the current study is to identify the distinct trajectories in dynamic risk and protective factors among youth on probation and assess whether different patterns in risk over time are associated with continued offending.

Method

Group-based trajectory modeling is used to identify distinct trajectories across multiple domains of risk/need. The individual- and neighborhood-level factors associated with these trajectories are then explored, prior to examining their relationship to continued …

'I Can’T Vote If I Don’T Leave My Apartment’: The Problem Of Residential Violence And Its Impact On The Politics Of Black American Women Living Below The Poverty Line, Alex J. Moffett-Bateau

Publications and Research

Prior research examining political behavior outside of the United States, has shown that violence can have a mixed impact on political engagement. Building on that work, this research examines whether violence shapes the political lives of poor Black women within the United States. I argue, neighborhood violence in the United States can and often does, shape the political behavior of Black women living below the poverty line in public housing. I use ethnographic data to parse out a conceptual framework which articulates connections between residential violence experienced by Black women living in poverty and their politics. Ultimately, my analysis shows …

Eddie Ellis, Credible Messengers And The Neo-Liberal Imagination Of Anti-Violence, David C. Brotherton

Publications and Research

I trace the socio-historical pathway of the concept of the credible messenger and related youth anti-violence interventions from the 1930’s to a more radically imagined iteration by Eddie Ellis in the 1980s. The focus shifts to its present-day iterations as I review two widely adopted anti-violence programs. I conclude that today credible messengers and anti-violence interventions are: (i) primarily imagined within a framework of neo-liberal possibility; (ii) valued for their contributions on individual and/or group behavioral change; and (iii) conceived in programs outside of any discourse on the structural roots of crime, collective agency, or the historical struggle for social …

Minor Role: Youth Under Age 18 And New York City Violence, Jeffrey A. Butts, Sheyla A. Delgado, Richard A. Espinobarros

Publications and Research

Media outlets attribute recent concerns about increased violent crime in New York City to the behavior of juveniles and associate the increase with New York State's policy governing the handling of 16 and 17-year-olds in family courts rather than adult criminal courts. This databit explores age differences in violent crime arrests and shooting victimizations in New York City and finds the recent concerns to be misplaced.

How Do Graduate Students Approach College Teaching? Influences Of Professional Development, Teaching Assistantships, And Big Five Personality Traits, Elizabeth S. Che, Patricia J. Brooks, Anna M. Schwartz, Ethlyn S. Saltzman, Ronald C. Whiteman

Publications and Research

Introduction: Graduate students engage in college teaching with varied attitudes and approaches. Their teaching practices may be influenced by professional development experiences related to pedagogy, and their personality traits.

Methods: Through an online survey of graduate students teaching undergraduate courses (N = 109, 69.7% women, M age = 30 years, 59% psychology), we examined whether self-reported participation in professional development related to pedagogy, teaching assistantship (TA) experience, academic discipline (psychology vs. other), and Big Five personality traits were associated with variation in teaching practices.

Results: Participation in professional development correlated positively with years of undergraduate teaching experience and with …

Transnational Dominican Activism: Documenting Grassroots Social Movements Through Esendom, Nelson Santana, Amaury Rodriguez, Emmanuel Espinal

Publications and Research

Dominican-descended people are one of the most dynamic Caribbean and Latin American ethnic and cultural communities in the United States. Whether in the Dominican Republic or as members of a transnational community, the Dominican population has a long and rich history of challenging the powers that be, confronting unjust acts, and opposing oppressive laws within the communities they inhabit through their civic engagement. This paper addresses one question: As Dominican society and the world have evolved, what has been the role of U.S.-based online media in sustaining, disseminating, and rescuing the long tradition of civic involvement and struggle exemplified by …

Working Towards Promotion To Full Professor: Strategies, Time Management, And Habits For Academic Librarian Mothers, Marta Bladek

Publications and Research

After briefly sharing my experience as an academic librarian mother, the chapter places it within the larger context of academia in which women, especially mothers, lag behind men in attaining the full professor rank. It then outlines the strategies that have enabled me to gradually make progress towards promotion. The chapter discusses strategies to use at the institutional level (familiarity with local requirements, personnel process and related trainings, as well as the availability of leaves and grants), at the departmental level (workflow adjustments, scheduling arrangements, and strategic choice of projects and service commitments), and then at the individual/personal level (seeking …

Technology In The Security Sector: Mexico, Vanessa J. Gutierrez, Melina Ponte, Angiee Rosario, Arleen Castillo, Henry Saldarriaga, Hector Tejeda, Stephanie Reich, Rosemary Barberet

Publications and Research

The use of technology in policing seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the daily duties police officers may encounter. However, there is mixed empirical data on the use of technology and if it is really contributing to the institutional goals of the security sector, or, if it is contributing to other factors. This report provides an exploratory approach to understanding what information technology is being used in Mexico at the state level, in order to compare where broader application of information technology could make impactful contributions to the security situation in the country.

With a focus on six …

Gender Equity Commission Priorities: An Archival Study And Prospects For The Future, Maria D' Agostino, Nicole M. Elias

Publications and Research

This research explores the priorities of the gender equity commission in New York City over forty-five years. Archival commission data was organized thematically to understand the history of gender equity and suggest future possibilities for gender equity beyond New York City. In our historical analysis, we see an expansion of the definition of gender and an adoption of an intersectional approach to gender. We identify four historical gender priorities: sexual harassment and violence, pay equity and economic advancement, health and safety, and gender recognition and celebration. To address systemic issues of gender inequity, we recommend local level administrators embed an …

Moving Beyond Niceness: Reading Bell Hooks Into The Radical Potential For The Discipline, Alex J. Moffett-Bateau, Jenn M. Jackson

Publications and Research

In honor of bell hooks’ legacy, we engage with her Black feminist scholarship to parse out what she offers to the study of Black politics. We explore the ways hooks rebuffed compulsory calls for niceness and obligatory congeniality via respectability politics. By interrogating the politics of the Black middle class, we locate hooks’ intellectual works as a repudiation of a “politics of niceness” that seeks to maintain the violent status quo of white capitalist heteropatriarchy. We then draw out why the rejection of a politics of niceness matters within broader discussions of race, power, politics, and oppression.

Neighbors At Risk, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno, Richard A. Espinobarros

Publications and Research

Most New York City neighborhoods did not experience high rates of shootings in recent years, but others clearly did. Comparing crime rates across these relatively small geographic areas is important for officials considering where to invest in resources that support public safety and community wellbeing.

Linking Critical Consciousness And Health: The Utility Of The Critical Reflection About Social Determinants Of Health Scale (Cr_Sdh), Liliane Cambraia Windsor, Alexis Jemal, Jacob Goffnett, Douglas Cary Smith, Jesus Sarol Jr.

Publications and Research

Introduction: Critical consciousness (CC) theory has been proposed as a framework to inform health interventions targeting a wide variety of health conditions. Unfortunately, methodological limitations have made it difficult to test CC as a mediator of health outcomes. Specifically, standardized and widely accepted measures of health- related CC are needed. The goal of this study was to develop and test a measure of critical reflection on social determinants of health (SDH). This measure focused on critical reflection, an essential dimension of CC.

Methods: Community-based participatory research principles and a mixed methods design were used with three samples: (1) experts in …

Interest Groups, Local Politics, And Police Unions, Daniel Disalvo

Publications and Research

Police unions raise issues of great importance for political scientists. Yet, the field has neglected them. This essay argues that political scientists should see police unions as important interest groups, empowered by state collective bargaining laws, that are important players in local politics and shapers of the criminal justice system in America. The organizational properties that make police unions important interest groups are described. The important political questions that arise once we consider police union as interest groups are examined. The existing research on police unions—especially their impact on government costs and police behavior—is detailed. Ultimately, the study of collective …

The Effect Of The Seattle Police-Free Chop Zone On Crime: A Microsynthetic Control Evaluation, Eric L. Piza, Nathan T. Connealy

Publications and Research

Research Summary:

Nightly confrontations occurred between protestors and officers outside of the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD’s) East precinct in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. On June 8, 2020, the SPD abandoned the East precinct in an attempt to calm the situation. Following closure of the precinct, the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP) took hold in the surrounding 6-block area. The CHOP occupation lasted until July 1, 2020. Over this time period, CHOP operated as an autonomous zone, with police officers not patrolling and generally not responding to calls for police service within the area. We used the microsynthetic control …

Organizational Practices And Second-Generation Gender Bias: A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Career Progression Of Us State-Level Managers, Maria J. D’Agostino, Helisse Levine, Meghna Sabharwal, Ai C. Johnson-Manning

Publications and Research

Ely and Meyerson’s gendered organizations framework reconceptualizes traditional gender differences defined by biology and lack of structural opportunities, to a complex set of social relations in the workplace. We apply this framework to second-generation gender bias to further understand impediments to women’s career progression in the public sector workplace. In-depth interviews of state-level administrators in U.S. public sector agencies indicate that “narratives” perpetuate second-generation gender bias that is deeply ingrained in organizational practices and policies, especially for women and women of color. This framework can be applied to future studies examining the gendered nature of organizations in different workplace settings. …

Rainbow Research: Challenges And Recommendations For Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity And Expression (Sogie) Survey Design, Seth J. Meyer, Nicole M. Elias

Publications and Research

A growing number of people around the world identify, in some way, as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+); yet, these voices are noticeably absent from nonprofit research. To address issues of equity and the historic marginalization of LGBTQ+ people both societally and in the nonprofit sector, this manuscript seeks to answer the following questions: Why is it important to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) survey questions in nonprofit surveys? What are best practices for including SOGIE survey questions in nonprofit research? We present LGBTQ+ inclusive research strategies and suggested questions for inclusive SOGIE survey …

Making The Case For Addressing Second-Generation Gender Bias In Public Administration, Helisse Levine, Maria J. D’Agostino, Meghna Sabharwal

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Police Accountability And Legitimacy, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

As the institution responsible for exercising the state monopoly on violence within U.S. borders, the legitimacy of policing depends on its accountability through the democratic process. Ideally, police in a democracy are authorized by the voting public to use force in a manner that is limited, justifiable, and clearly in service of the aims of public safety and law enforcement - in other words to prevent the social harms associated with criminal behavior. A combination of factors including structural inequality, historical associations with white supremacy, and hyperlocal oversight structures present significant challenges to police legitimacy, especially in highly policed communities …