REU Site: Population Studies and the Legal System

This 8-week intensive summer research program for 12 undergraduate students cultivates a new generation of scholars to conduct research on criminology and public safety with relevance for research, policy, and practice. Through a combination of activities including classroom learning, workshops on skill development, mentored research projects, and community engagement, students will develop research skills and advance interdisciplinary research. The goals of the program are to enhance student skill development and enable students to contribute to scientific advances on ongoing research projects with research-active faculty scholars. Students will receive training in classrooms, research labs, individual mentored research projects, and in partnership with community organizations in policy and practice settings. Classroom activities will focus on the impacts of institutional systems on educational, economic, health, political, and social structures in the U.S. Student engagement in research labs and on mentored research projects will help them to develop research skills and support their scholarship on the causes and consequences of legal system involvement. Through the involvement of practice and policy partners, the program aims to bridge barriers between basic and applied research and facilitate research with policy and practice relevance as well as support students to communicate research insights in scholarly and public spaces. Students will have the opportunity to research exposure to the legal system, impacts of legal system contact, and the implementation and consequences of policy and practice innovations in related areas. The intellectual work done by students can help move the discourse on the legal system in new ways and broaden the way we think about the criminal justice system and its impact. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.