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Author: Williams, Tiana
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Williams, Tiana
Punishing Race and Suspending Futures: The Effects of Suspension on Young Adult Involvement in the Criminal Justice System
Honors Thesis (B.A.), Harvard College, March 2012
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Department of Sociology, Harvard University
Keyword(s): Arrests; Criminal Justice System; Gender Differences; Incarceration/Jail; Modeling; Racial Differences; School Suspension/Expulsion; Undergraduate Research

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

Previous research has identified that a racial discipline gap exists in school punishments and that suspensions hinder academic achievement and foster delinquent behavior. However, researchers have given little attention to discovering the connection between the racial discipline gap in the education system and the disproportionate representation of minorities in the criminal justice system. Therefore, my research adds to the existing body of work by exploring how school discipline strategies affect young adult involvement in the criminal justice system. Specifically, I will examine three questions. How do factors such as race, class, and delinquency influence suspension risk for students? How do suspensions influence arrest risk for young adults over time? Finally, how do students’ shape their own risk of incarceration by adopting certain attitudes?

I address these questions by conducting an empirical analysis of young adults nationally using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 (NLSY97). I begin with a breakdown of the race and gender patterns in delinquency, suspensions, arrest, and attitudes. Then I conduct two survival analyses to identify how race and gender impact time to suspension and time to arrest for all respondents in the NLSY97. Finally, I run a series of Cox regression models to identify how factors such as race, socio-economic status, educational attainment, and attitude impact students’ risk of suspension and incarceration.

Bibliography Citation
Williams, Tiana. "Punishing Race and Suspending Futures: The Effects of Suspension on Young Adult Involvement in the Criminal Justice System." Honors Thesis (B.A.), Harvard College, March 2012.