Research

Northeastern University Public Evaluation Lab (NU-PEL) is an interdisciplinary lab comprised of faculty and student teams conducting evaluation research on what is or is not successful in various community programs that leads to healthier communities and enhances the lives of those living within them. The lab is a collaboration of the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research in Bouvé College of Health Sciences and the Center on Crime, Race, and Justice in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities. The overall vision of NU-PEL is to build a community-academic partnership to improve our communities and the well-being of the people living in them through the use of evaluation research. This is accomplished by bringing together expertise and resources to advance the theory, practice, and utilization of evaluation through research, education, and service.

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To address the disturbing gaps in attorney quality and availability for juvenile cases in rural communities, the University of Nebraska College of Law (COL) and the Center on Children, Families, and the Law (CCFL) developed the Children's Justice Clinic (CJC) and the Children's Justice Attorney Education Program (CJAE), led by child welfare and juvenile justice experts, is increasing the ability and accessibility of court-appointed and juvenile county attorneys to better serve rural children and families, including low-income, Latinx, and Indigenous populations.

The evaluations examine progress toward three main goals for both projects: 1.) providing attorneys and clinic students with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively represent children in legal settings, 2.) increasing attorney and law student interest and confidence in representing children's interests in legal settings, and 3.) increasing the accessibility of high-quality legal representation for children across Nebraska. The process and outcome evaluations rely on the program records, court records, surveys, and interviews to measure progress toward these goals. 

See an example CJC and CJAE annual report here. 

Much psychological and legal scholarship has examined what due process of the law, or fairness, means for those who interact with the legal system. However, little research has examined how decision makers (e.g., police officers, judges, case workers) perceive their own decision-making processes as compared to decision audiences or how their social identity and relative social power moderates those perceptions. My programs of research draw on both my psychological and legal expertise to examine how social identity, social power, and role influence how decisions are made, how they are perceived by both decision makers and decision audiences, and the consequences of those decisions for both groups’ well-being and case outcomes.

The pilot evaluation of the Fitchburg State University Police Program and Academy examines student, alumni, faculty, and professional perceptions, satisfaction, and experiences with the Police Program (PP). Using focus groups and surveys, we are examining the anecdotally and initially indicated gap between those who enroll in the PP and those who complete the PP as well as why students, specifically female and racial/ethnic minority students, leave the PP without attending the Academy. Additionally, we are examining stakeholders’ perceptions of the goals of the PP as well as their experiences with and perceptions of how well the program achieves these goals. The proposed pilot evaluation will result in a descriptive report and recommendations to be used for improving the PP curriculum, advising and recruiting PP students, enhancing racial and gender equity, and improving program retention rates.