Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this microspatial analysis of crimes reported to the police, we analyze the pattern of rape in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC for the period 1994 through 2006. The point-pattern distribution is analyzed using both a census-block group aggregation and a neighborhood analog aggregation of these crimes. The neighborhood analog is developed using a half-mile grid superimposed on the overall jurisdiction. First, all rapes are analyzed for spatial clustering. Then rapes are disaggregated into three categories: 1) cleared by arrest, 2) clear by exception, and 3) open/unsolved; and each category is tested for spatial non-randomness. The temporal patterning of each category is then analyzed for spatial clustering by time-of-day and day-of-week. The subsequent maps are animated to give a time-lapse perspective on the daily and weekly evolution of the rape pattern. Implications for rape investigations are discussed.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: Detective Sergeant Robert A. Harms
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Police officers must act upon the verbal and nonverbal communication shown by people they interact with every day, whether it is a traffic accident, domestic disturbance, or a homicide investigation. The same principles that apply to criminal situations in which a police officer identifies individuals with bad intentions can apply to terrorism situations where an individual harbors bad intentions. This discussant will describe his over 20 years worth of experience addressing the day to day realities of observing people and making judgments in life or death situations, as well as his experience dealing with scholars and attempting to rectify how and where scholarly work can help or even hinder officers like himself who we, as a society, trust to keep us safe.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper presents a method of adapting Poole’s Optimal Classification to smooth ideal points into time trends by recovering legislator estimates from localized subsets of the data. Specifically, each legislator trend consists of a series of nearest neighborhood kernel estimates, one for each roll call on which the legislator casts a vote. This is analogous to taking snapshots of a legislator’s voting record from a “moving window.” The moving window is coupled with a weight function that values errors relative to their temporal distance. The end result is a set of LOESS-like trends that describe legislator movement through time, thus marking the first roll call scaling method capable of summarizing legislator movement within and across legislative periods. The estimation procedure is illustrated using a scaling of the 80th through 110th US Senates.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: By performing a content analysis of 246 Japanese comic strips published on Mother’s Day (MD) and Father’s Day (FD) from 1950 to 2004, this study replicated the research of LaRossa, Jaret, Gadgil, and Wynn (2001) who examined gender disparities in American comic strips published on the same holidays from 1945 to 1999. Each comic strip was examined with the following questions in mind: 1) How often were females and males portrayed? 2) How often were fathers and mothers portrayed as being outside? 3) How often were fathers and mothers portrayed reading? 4) How often were fathers and mothers portrayed sleeping? 5) How often were fathers and mothers portrayed wearing an apron? 6) How often were fathers and mothers portrayed performing household chores? A combination of the different measures was used to calculate a gender disparity score for each half-decade. Ultimately this study, alongside the work of LaRossa et al., reinforces the values of comparatively examining comic strips in cross-cultural research. By comparing and contrasting the findings between Japan and the United States, this research presents how gender disparities were produced and altered over time in Japan. In addition, it demonstrates the role of comic strips in cross-cultural studies.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Social stratification scholars have, for some time, denoted processes of social closure that exclude or limit the access of subordinate groups to valued resources and institutions. Housing represents one such arena within which processes of closure may play out – a fact denoted by the substantial literature on racial residential segregation and its persistence. The literature on housing discrimination has articulated well processes of social exclusion, mostly through the use of large aggregate housing audits. Yet, we continue to know little about other dimensions of housing discrimination, particularly interactional and day-to-day processes that occur once minorities are housed. Important to any conceptualization or analyses of social closure, we suggest, is explicit recognition of its exclusionary and interactional dimensions – two distinct, yet mutually reinforcing, dimensions that reproduce inequality. Analyses, which draw on unique qualitative and quantitative data on over 1,000 serious housing discrimination cases that occurred between 1988 and 2002, highlight the utility of our approach. Specifically, analyses reveal both exclusionary and day-to-day interactional forms of housing discrimination, how they unfold, who they affect, and the unique consequences of each for inequality. Results inform prior work on housing segregation by systematically delineating how discrimination may be playing a role in generating aggregate segregation patterns highlighted in prior work, while also extending conceptualization to patterns of interactional harassment that affect individuals’ everyday residential lives. We conclude by discussing the implications of our argument and analyses for the future conceptualization and study of processes of housing discrimination.