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Author: Fink, Joshua
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Fink, Joshua
Crime, Policing, and Social Status: Identifying Elusive Mechanisms Using New Statistical Approaches
Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, Duke University, 2017
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)
Keyword(s): Arrests; Bayesian; College Education; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Drug Use; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Social class is often discussed in crime and social control research but the influence of class in these contexts is not well understood. Stratification studies have identified effects of socioeconomic status on a diverse collection of important outcomes in many facets of society, but the influence of class on criminality and punishment remains largely unidentified. Scholars attempting to connect class position to criminal behavior or risk of arrest and incarceration have either concluded that a robust relationship does not exist, or been confronted with inconsistent or weak evidence. Indeed, despite substantial interest in the influence of social class on criminality and punishment, researchers have been unable to make very many empirical connections between the two. The present study advances understanding about the influence of social class on criminality and punishment, addressing limitations of previous research using new approaches and statistical methods across three studies: (1) a study of the relationship between immigration rates and societal preference for increased police protection and law enforcement spending, (2) a study of heterogeneity in the effect of class on latent categories of self-reported delinquency, and finally, (3) a study of illicit drug use and rates of drug arrest among young adults, and how college attendance may contribute punishment inequality for non-violent drug offenses.
Bibliography Citation
Fink, Joshua. Crime, Policing, and Social Status: Identifying Elusive Mechanisms Using New Statistical Approaches. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, Duke University, 2017.
2. Fink, Joshua
Drugs, Dorms, and Disparities: How College Contributes to Punishment Inequality
Presented: San Francisco CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2014
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Arrests; College Enrollment; Crime; Criminal Justice System; Drug Use; Housing/Housing Characteristics/Types; Life Course; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Modeling, Latent Class Analysis/Latent Transition Analysis

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Recent trends in United States' drug laws and law enforcement practices have inspired much research on punishment inequality and the mass incarceration of illicit drugs users. Existing studies have identified important contributing factors, such as racial discrimination and unequal access to sufficient legal counsel, but many mechanisms that could potentially contribute to punishment inequality have not been examined. Using the life-course perspective and ideas present in differential institutional engagement theory, this study examines how college enrollment and residency impact who is arrested and punished for drug charges. With data from the NLSY97, I analyze between- and within-individual variation in drug arrests and charges using random, fixed, and hybrid effects regression. I also examine latent trajectories of drug arrests for respondents enrolled and not-enrolled in college using group-based finite mixture modeling. I find college enrollment and living in a college dormitory decrease an individual's risk of being arrested and charged with a drug offense. Further, I find the effects of college enrollment on the probability of a drug arrest hold net of the level of illegal substance use. I conclude that campuses and dormitories protect drug using college students from punishment, and college enrollment may be an important, unexamined mechanism driving inequalities in drug arrests and incarceration.
Bibliography Citation
Fink, Joshua. "Drugs, Dorms, and Disparities: How College Contributes to Punishment Inequality." Presented: San Francisco CA, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, August 2014.