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Current Projects

Seventh Annual Symposium -- A Public Forum on Violence

On February 22, 2007, the IVRP hosted its Seventh Annual Symposium -- A Public Forum on Violence, featuring a panel of researchers from area universities, followed by the panel of democratic mayoral candidates. First up was the researchers panel, who presented their recommendations for violence reduction in Philadelphia, in the forum titled "If You Had Ten Minutes With the Mayor..." Joseph Tierney from the University of Pennsylvania served as moderator, and the panelists included:

  • Patrick Carr, Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University

  • Scott Charles, Trauma Outreach Coordinator, Director: Cradle-to-Grave Program, Temple University Hospital

  • Ralph Taylor, Professor and Chair of the Criminal Justice Department, Temple University

  • John Rich, Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University; also, a 2006 MacArthur Prize winner.

Saint Joseph's University was further honored to welcome the keynote panel, which included four of the announced Democratic mayoral candidates, who presented their "Strategies for Reducing Violence in Philadelphia." Moderated by John DiIulio, Jr., Professor of Political Science, from the University of Pennsylvania, and formerly the first head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives established under President Bush in 2001. The panelists included:

  • Dwight Evans, State Representative, 203rd Legislative District

  • Chaka Fattah, U.S. Congressman, 2nd District

  • Tom Knox, Entrepreneur

  • Michael Nutter, former City Councilman, 4th District

U.S. Representative Bob Brady cancelled his appearance at the last minute, but sent State Representative Louise Bishop in his place.

The highlight of the evening came when Moderator John DiIulio challenged the candidates to pledge a personal commitment to reduce gun violence: "The pledge is simple," he stated, "I will not run for re-election if the number of murder victims exceeds [last years' number of homicides]." While Evans, Knox, and Nutter signed on to the pldge, Fattah declined, leaving it to voters to decide if they would re-elect him given this scenario. DiIulio advised, "If a candidate will not take that pledge, my advice is don't vote for them."

 

Left to right: Nutter, Evans, Kefalas, Fattah, and Knox

The MacArthur Foundation Study of Transitions to Adulthood: The Heartland Sample, Iowa

  • The project is part of a larger study commissioned by the MacArthur Foundation's Network of Transitions to Adulthood.  The Network's charge is to examine the multiple transitions to adulthood - leaving home, entering and/or leaving school, finding employment, marriage, cohabitation, childbearing - and the variety of combinations and sequences in which they occur.  
     
    The Network is also concerned with how development in one area relates to the others, and how societal institutions (such as churches, community colleges and universities, families, and the military) may facilitate the transition from adolescence to adulthood.   
     
    This part of the project, which also has research sites in new York and San Diego, focuses on how young people in the rural Midwestern town in Iowa negotiate these pivotal transitions.

Key Links:  

  • Program on Human and Community Development: Network on Transitions to Adulthood: HTML
  • The Immigrant Second Generation in Metropolitan New York

Evaluation of Philadelphia Green Initiative in New Kensington Philadelphia

  • The IVRP is currently coordinating an evaluation of the Philadelphia Green Initiative in New Kensington Philadelphia. The initiative, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, seeks to clean up open spaces, attack blight and disorder and stabilize property values. There are two main parts to the evaluation. The research team assembled the available quantitative data on a number of indicators. The IVRP has subcontracted with Dr. Susan Wachter of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania to analyze real estate data to chart the trends in property values in the neighborhood, especially in those sections that have been most impacted by the initiative. Second, researchers conducted intensive open-ended interviews with thirty-five resident homeowners of the New Kensington/Fishtown neighborhood. These interviews elicited information on a broad range of issues, including residents’ knowledge and opinions about the open space initiative, their perceptions of crime and disorder in the neighborhood, what factors increase or decrease their stake in the community and what would make them leave. The final report will be presented in December 2002.

Victims of Juvenile Crime   

  • The IVRP has recently published a report commissioned by Family Court in Philadelphia on the experiences of victims of juvenile crime. Principal Investigators Patrick J. Carr and Kim A. Logio and their research assistants interviewed over 250 people that had been the victim of juvenile crime in Philadelphia during the period May 1999 to April 2000. In addition the researchers conducted a number of focus groups with victims The research was funded by a Juvenile Accountability and Incentive Block Grant, issued through the Pennsylvania Commission for Crime and Delinquency and the Philadelphia Mayor's Office.

Youth and Crime Control   

  • The IVRP is also sponsoring a multi-method comparative study of African American, Latino and white youth residing in high crime neighborhoods. The study, being conducted by Principal Investigators Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas, examines how delinquent and non-delinquent youth living in high crime neighborhoods may act in ways that reduce crime. Second, this project evaluates what impact school, employment, childbearing, family structure, and/or leaving a parent/guardian's household may have on informal social control. Third, this research considers what factors increase risk or offer protection from crime for young people living in high crime, urban communities. The first wave of data from this study is currently being collected and preliminary results will be presented at the American Society for Criminology meetings in Atlanta in November 2001. The research is being funded by a Faculty Research Start-up grant from St. Joseph's University.

Violent Victimization of Women: "Public Housing Residents: Does Level of Collective Efficacy Make a Difference?"  

  • Economically disadvantaged women who live in public housing developments face an elevated risk of violent victimization, particularly by intimates and acquaintances. Criminological research in disadvantaged neighborhoods, however, has found that the level of collective efficacy in the neighborhood – that is, the level of mutual trust among neighborhoods and neighbors’ willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good – lowers rates of violent victimization (Sampson et al., 1998). This theory has not been tested by public housing nor with regard to women’s violent victimization by intimates and acquaintances.

The present research will test the hypothesis that high collective efficacy in public housing developments contributes to lower violent victimization, including victimization by partners and acquaintances, of female residents. Approximately 300 female public housing residents from four housing developments in the city of Philadelphia will be recruited for the study. Two of the developments have been preliminarily assessed as relatively high in collective efficacy, while the two others have been preliminarily assessed as relatively low in collective efficacy.

Data will be collected through structured interviews to measure participants’ perceptions of the level of collective efficacy in their developments as well as their experiences of violent victimization. Demographic data and additional data about public housing residency will also be collected. The findings of the study will have important implications for women’s safety and crime control policies in public housing: If high collective efficacy contributes to reduced violent victimization of female residents, then programs that raise the level of collective efficacy in public housing developments should be designed and implemented.

This research project is supported by the American Sociological Association and National Science Foundation Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline.

IVRP SYMPOSIA

2003: Life without Parole
April 23, 2003
Wolfington Teletorium
8:30am-12:30pm

Confirmed Panelists:

  • Ellen Greenlee
    Chief Defender from the Defender Association in Philadelphia

     
  • Marc Mauer
    From the Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C.

     
  • Julie Good
    Victim advocate from the Anti-Violence Partnership in Philadelphia

     
  • J. Harvey Bell
    From the PA Department of Corrections

An exhibition of Haward Zehr’s work on prisoners serving life sentences is being lent to SJU and will be displayed during the symposium.

Cosponsered by: Faith Justice Institution, Diversity Commission, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy.

2004: Hate Crimes
April 14, 2004
Wolfington Teletorium
1pm-3pm

Key Note Speakers:

  • Dr. Valerie Jenness
    University of California, Irvine. Chair and Associate Professor, Department ofCriminology, Law & Society

     
  • Stacey Sobel
    Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, Executive Director

     
  • Inspector Stephen T. Johnson
    Sr. Philadelphia Police Department Commanding Officer, Community Affairs Division

Cosponsored by: The Alliance, Faith Justice Institute, College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Sociology

2005: The Social Roots of School Shootings
October 3, 2005
Haub Executive Center
4pm-5:30pm

Key Note Speaker:

  • Dr. Katherine Newman
    Princeton University. Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs

Cosponsored by: the Department of Sociology, the Office of Mission, and the Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Homeless Youth Project, Covenant House

The Improving Outcomes for Homeless Youth (IOHY) project is a partnership between Saint Joseph’s University and Covenant House Pennsylvania (CHPA) that seeks to help CHPA build a systematic evaluative infrastructure, to increase the proportion of youth “positively discharged,” by identifying what hinders and helps homeless youth in this process, and finally, to increase the proportion of homeless youth served by CHPA that receive education services, and/or reconnect youth with the education system.

To achieve the first of these three goals, the research team has worked with CHPA to build their capacity to manage data on clients they contact at each of their four main sites in Philadelphia. CHPA debuted a new system-wide tracking program in March 2005, which allows staff at each site to access a central data repository, where records on clients are stored, and can be updated if and when a youth has multiple contacts with the agency. The centralized system, designed and maintained by Social Solutions, also allows staff to track and monitor progress of subjects over time, and as youth seek services at different sites.

The research team is currently enrolling youth in a study designed to achieve second and third goals of IOHY. Specifically, this inquiry is a narrative in-depth interview study of a three-month cohort of young people who enter the CHPA Crisis Shelter in Germantown, Philadelphia. The interviews are designed to elicit information on a range of life domains and experiences such as, housing, family, education, employment, criminal justice system experience, and future orientation. The following report presents the initial data from the in-depth interviews, and highlights the educational experiences, trajectories, and aspirations of the respondents recruited thus far. The interim report highlights the variable educational experiences of the respondents, their aspirations for future educational goals, and the obstacles and supports that will hinder or help them as they seek to complete their education and obtain stable employment.

This project involves conducting baseline, in-depth interviews with residents of CHPA and then conducting follow-up interviews three months after each residents’ departure. The initial in-depth interviews were designed to elicit information on a range of life domains and experiences such as, housing, family, education, employment, criminal justice system experience, and future orientation while the follow-ups are intended to evaluate program effectiveness. This research is funded by the William Penn Foundation.