ABSTRACT

RACE/ETHNICITY, CRIME, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE:
DIVERSE RESEARCH AND PARTICIPATION IN THE ACADEMY

ABSTRACT
Intellectual Merit. This project builds on the successful collaboration of a group of scholars from
diverse backgrounds (African American, Latino, White, etc.), disciplines (Criminology or
Criminal Justice, Family Relations, Law, Public Policy, Political Science, Social Work, and
Sociology), and stages of career (assistant-, associate-, and full-professors, and graduate students)
whose work is oriented to improving the quality of research on the interlinkages among
race/ethnicity, crime, and criminal justice, and on broadening perspectives and participation in
research on this topic. These scholars recently published a book, The Many Colors of Crime, in
which they lay out a critical new research agenda (see Peterson, Krivo and Hagan 2006). The
first goal of this project is to undertake the kinds of studies called for in the volume, and thereby,
begin to provide a deeper, and more nuanced, understanding of the interrelationships among
race/ethnicity, crime, and criminal justice than heretofore available. The second goal of this
project is to advance the research and professional development of young scholars from
underrepresented groups for carrying out innovative research on crime and justice by establishing
an annual Summer Research Institute as a follow up to a 2006 pilot institute. The overarching
purpose of the institute is to support the advancement of ethnoracial minorities engaged in the
study of crime and justice in order to further democratic inclusion in academe, and advance
knowledge in this area by supporting the potentially diverse perspectives these scholars can offer.
Approaches to Achieving Project Goals. To facilitate achieving the project objectives, the PIs
will undertake a series of workshops that bring group members together, and hold a summer
research and professional development institute for young scholars from underrepresented
groups. The workshops will be both idea- and product-oriented and serve as the mechanism for
planning and making progress on collaborative projects. The summer research institute will take
place in a "safe" and resource-rich environment and be structured to provide the support, training,
and mentorship needed by young faculty for completing a research project for journal publication
or grant proposal. The institute will culminate with participants presenting their work at the
RDCJ-N workshop where they will gain feedback and develop networks with other senior and
junior scholars in the field.

Broader Impacts. This project is structured to have two important broader impacts on scholarship
and the academy. First, it will draw on the expertise of scholars who are diverse along a number
of dimensions (e.g., race and ethnicity, disciplinary training, and stage of career) to develop and
carry out significant innovative crime and justice research. This work will have as its central
premise the need to take into account the complexity of race/ethnicity and embed analyses in the
differential positioning of groups in society. Through collaborative, multi-method, and
comparative studies, the researchers will produce a body of original multidisciplinary work that
emphasizes the variable significance of race for crime/criminal justice, and how racialization
relates to the understanding of citizenship and democracy, nationally and around the world.
Second, the project will broaden participation in crime and justice research by fostering the
careers of scholars from underrepresented groups. Together the workshops and summer research
institute will have a general impact in bringing diversity in perspectives and participation to
research and curricula on crime and criminal justice.

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