A grayscale landscape with a tall border fence surrounded by floodlights in the distance. Image by David Peinado from Pexels is licensed under Pexels license.

Immigration law is commonly assumed to be enforced by federal agencies such as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, in recent years state, county, and municipal police and courts have become integral to the process of identifying, holding, and punishing immigrants. From the moment a person is booked, local police become aware of their citizenship status and this information can be immediately forwarded to federal authorities. 

To gain insight into these local-federal law enforcement relationships, Michael T. Light and colleagues looked at data on felony convictions from every local jurisdiction in Texas and California. These states have the largest and fastest-growing immigrant populations in the US but differ greatly in how they treat immigrants in the justice system. Texas has given immigration authority to the local police and has increased cooperation with ICE. California, in contrast, has become a self-proclaimed “sanctuary” for immigrants by distancing themselves from ICE and preventing local authorities from holding people for immigration violations alone. Looking at data from both states allowed the researchers to compare these differing approaches.

In both states, the researchers found that immigrants were convicted and incarcerated at a much higher rate than comparable US citizens arrested for the same crimes with similar criminal histories. In Texas, however, they found that immigrants were almost 10% more likely than citizens to be incarcerated, whereas the immigrant-citizen gap was only 2% in Californiaimmigrants were almost 10% more likely than citizens to be incarcerated, whereas the immigrant-citizen gap was only 2% in California. This is largely due to Texas’ strict policies that encourage local law enforcement to work with federal law enforcement

In some ways, this “punishment gap” between citizens and immigrants parallels the disparities between white and non-white defendants. The authors therefore suggest that future discussions of disproportionate criminalization may center around citizen status as well as race. 

This research shows what can happen when local police become the gatekeepers of both the criminal justice system and the immigration system. Based on the differing outcomes in Texas and California, it appears that deepening connections between local and federal criminal justice systems may result in harsher punishment for immigrants. 

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Racism is found everywhere in America – from neighborhoods to the criminal justice system, and even in classrooms, where Black boys are more than three times as likely to be suspended or expelled from school than White boys are. In a recent article, Dr. Jayanti Owens looked into one possible explanation for this disparity: differences in how Black, White, and Latino public school teachers assign blame to their male students for minor classroom misbehaviors.

Dr. Owens conducted her study on 1,339 teachers who were nationally representative of racial and gender demographics from 295 schools across the United States. To test the impact of teacher blaming bias, Dr. Owens and professional videographers worked with 11 high school-aged, undercover actors (four Black boys, four Latino boys, and three White boys) to film short clips of an actor from each racial group either throwing paper, texting during class, or slamming the door in the classroom. Owens then asked the teachers to evaluate and describe the behaviors of the students in a textbox after viewing one of the nine possible videos (three misbehaviors and three racial groups, creating nine unique vignettes).

Owens found that, on average, White teachers were more likely to assign blame to Black students than White students for identical classroom misbehaviors. However, these assignments varied by the race of the teachers. When White teachers were asked to describe the behaviors of the Black students in the video clips, they tended to use language that assigned blame to the personality of the student, rather than the potential factors outside the student’s control. In contrast, Black teachers assigned blame equally across all student races, while Latinx teachers assigned significantly more blame to Black students than White and Latino students.

Owens suggests that the higher attribution of blame by teachers of color to Black and Latino students could be a result of what she terms ‘tough love,’higher attribution of blame by teachers of color to Black and Latino students could be a result of what she terms ‘tough love,’ where Black and Latinx teachers hold their students of color to higher behavioral standards to “prepare [their] minority students for the realities of racism.”  

Looking beyond the classroom, Owens emphasizes that these different standards for attributing blame can have real and long-term effects on students. The more blameworthy that teachers see their students, the greater the chance that students will be disciplined by the school. Students who are suspended or expelled from school have a higher likelihood of dropping out, which studies show leads to higher rates of incarceration and other lifelong disadvantages. 

An older couple walking closely together along a gravel path on a cloudy autumn day. Image by EddieKphoto from Pixabay is licensed under Pixabay license.

Are you looking for love? Above the age of 60? Well, you’re in luck. With the advent of online dating, older singles are beginning to reenter the dating world. Social science research has mainly focused on the online dating experiences of twenty-somethings, but new research from Lauren Harris explored the dating preferences and patterns of older adults.

Harris interviewed 50 men and 50 women, ages 60-85, through four online dating sites. Three of the sites were for the general public and one was specifically targeted towards older adults. Harris asked participants questions about their motivation and interests in online dating such as: “What are you looking for in a romantic partner?,” “Do you have any deal breakers?,” and “What do you notice when looking through someone’s online dating profile?”

Harris discovered that family caregiving responsibilities played an important role in how older singles viewed potential matches.family caregiving responsibilities played an important role in how older singles viewed potential matches. Oftentimes, older adults will still provide care for their adult children or grandchildren. Harris found that these caring responsibilities actually changed the desirability of singles online in gendered ways. 

Women with family care obligations were seen as less desirable. For example, one of the men interviewed explained his irritation with this dynamic saying, “Why are you teasing me and wasting my time when you have the responsibilities? …It just gets frustrating. Do you want a relationship or do you not? So if you’re always taking care of your grandkids, why are you on a dating site when you don’t have time to get into a relationship?”

In contrast, men who had similar care responsibilities were seen as more desirable to women. As one woman explained in her interview, “A lot of times they’ll say something about how they love their children and their families and spend a lot of free time with their family. I like that. I like a family man.” At the same time, however, if men appeared to be in poor health or have young children of their own their desirability decreased. Women tended to shy away from men which might add to their care work responsibilities. As one woman described,  “What they’re looking for is women to take care of them… Or they’re having health problems. Maybe the wives [were] taking care of them in life or whatever…I’m not your nurse.”

Harris highlighted the gendered role family care responsibilities play in selecting potential love interests at an older age. Many older adults have care responsibilities and are subsequently experiencing unequal gendered impacts on their dating life. Because romantic relationships can be a major source of support and improve overall well-being, the influence of gender inequality on the dating experiences of older adults is important to consider. Technology has allowed more older adults to re-enter the dating world, but it has also highlighted the persistent caregiving double standard. 

A collage of social media icons with a blue haze by geralt. Image from Pixabay is licensed under Pixabay license.

Your Tweets, pictures, and messages may be used against you. Social media, a common way to connect and share our lives, has become a common form of courtroom evidence. Jeffrey Lane, Fanny A. Ramirez, and Desmond U. Patton explored in their research how social media data in criminal trials harms low-income defendants – who are commonly represented by public defenders. The researchers interviewed New York City public defenders, lawyers appointed to represent people who cannot afford to hire private attorneys, about their experiences preparing for trial and defending clients in cases involving social media data. 

The public defenders shared three main disadvantages they experienced while defending their clients. First, they were frustrated by overly broad search warrants that allowed the prosecution to access years of social media data to use as evidence. This overwhelmed public defenders with data, which increased their uncertainty about what evidence might be used, their fear of missing important data, and the amount of time preparing the case. Describing prosecutors’ use of these search warrants, one public defender said: “They were just fishing…they looked at everything and they found something they liked“They were just fishing…they looked at everything and they found something they liked. That’s not how it’s supposed to go.”

Next, public defenders told the researchers that social media companies generally “bend over backwards for law enforcement,” but do not cooperate with public defenders in sharing individual profile data. While law enforcement could request a wide range of data (including data unavailable to the public, like location data), public defenders have limited access to data that may help their clients.

Lastly, public defenders described how social media data is used to paint their clients in a negative light. This pattern of using social media against people even involved using racial stereotypes. For example, one public defender told researchers about a case where the prosecution selected a photo from Instagram to identify the defendant at trial. Although the Instagram account had plenty of options, including family pictures, the prosecution selectively chose a photo that made the defendant appear ‘thuggish’the prosecution selectively chose a photo that made the defendant appear ‘thuggish’ and ignored others. 

Due to these disadvantages, public defenders in this study said that they consistently had to defend against social media and lacked opportunities to use social media data to help their clients. While social media data could negatively impact any defendant, this research suggests that low-income defendants are particularly vulnerable due to the time and resources it takes to review social media data, putting increased strain on public defenders.  

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In the United States, every state has different laws regulating the strength of unions. About half of states have anti-union laws – somewhat deceptively called “Right to Work” (RTW) laws – that make union membership and the payment of union dues for workers optional and limit other union organizing. In contrast, pro-union states mandate workers join unions at workplaces with existing unions and pay dues. Supporters of these RTW laws argue that workers should not be obligated to join a union at their workplace or pay dues. Opponents argue all workers at unionized workplaces should have to join the union because they benefit from bargaining agreements, including pay, benefits, and working conditions. 

Tom VanHeuvelen compared these RTW laws in anti-union states and pro-union states using a nationally recognized data set of 5,000 American families and 18,000 individuals to see if there were different economic outcomes for workers. His results suggest that pro-union policies are good for workers whether they are in unions or not. Specifically, VanHeuvelen found that states with RTW laws had lower average pay (5-12% less)states with RTW laws had lower average pay (5-12% less), lower union premiums (benefits, working conditions, promotion policies, etc.), and more pay inequality between employees. In other words, these anti-union states had poorer economic outcomes for workers than pro-union states.

VanHeuvelen suggests that anti-union laws have lasting impacts on the overall economy and political landscape of states. To support his theory, VanHeuvelen looked at workers who travel between states for work, e.g. someone who lives on the border of two states: residing in a pro-union state, but working in the neighboring anti-union state. This analysis revealed a sharp decrease in average pay and pay equality in anti-union states — even when workers lived in a pro-union state but worked in an anti-union state. 

Broadly speaking, this research suggests that so-called ‘Right To Work’ laws not only lead to a weaker union presence but also that workers in RTW states are actually somewhat worse off than those in ‘pro-union’ states. For those who were optimistic about RTW laws benefiting workers, it might be time to rethink policies for both unions and workers.

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Both child welfare social workers and juvenile probation agents work in systems where time is scarce and caseloads can be overwhelming. Catherine Sirois observed this reality among social workers and probation agents by observing court hearings where youth did not neatly fit within either the child welfare or juvenile justice systems.

Sirois observed juvenile court hearings, interviewed court and social service workers, and attended governmental committee meetings to understand how young people ended up being the responsibility of child welfare or juvenile justice. She found that both agencies attempted “institutional offloading” during court hearings. That is, they tried to place the children, who required the most time and effort due to mental or behavioral challenges, in the other agency and not their own.

This deflection, Sirois explains, is not caused by social workers or probation officers being lazy, but because of the reality of scarce resourcesis not caused by social workers or probation officers being lazy, but because of the reality of scarce resources. For example, a social worker may have an overbooked caseload which means they can only serve a certain number of time-intensive youths. As a result, when they get to court, such social workers may attempt to remove some of these youths from their caseload — freeing up their time for other, less time-intensive youths.

Because this institutional offloading often occurs in court, where children and adolescents can hear and see their social worker or probation agent attempt to drop them as a client, this can make them feel unwanted, abandoned, and unloved. This institutional abandonment coupled with family histories of neglect and abandonment can increase the likelihood that youth will need even more interventions. 

Sociological research like Sirois’ study sheds light on the paradox of institutional offloading in child welfare and juvenile justice systems. While it may be easy to blame individual probation officers and social workers for turning youth away, this research shows how limited resources can pressure well-meaning social workers and probation agents to drop the children who are most in need of services.

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Almost one in five adult women in the United States is a romantic partner or co-parent with a currently or formerly incarcerated person. In other words, roughly 33 million women in America have had to manage a relationship behind bars. 

Unlike previous studies of long-term prison incarceration, new research by Kristin Turney, Katelyn Rose Malae, MacKenzie A. Christensen, and Sarah Halpern-Meekin asks how shorter-term jail incarceration affects romantic relationships and family structures for women in relationships with incarcerated men. This research addresses a lack of focus on jail incarcerations. Jail sentences often come more suddenly and are less predictable than prison sentences, leaving families less time to plan for the future. 

Turney and colleagues analyzed interview data from the Jail and Family Life Study of incarcerated fathers and their family members. The researchers had three main findings. First, women whose partners were incarcerated in jail felt their relationships were in a period of transition where their roles and expectations were uncertain. Arrests meant that families were suddenly separated for unknown amounts of time. Some interviewees spoke about their partners’ unclear release dates making them unsure of their relationship status and how things might change after release. Many interviewees described feeling both “connected” and “disconnected” from their incarcerated partners, with some describing their relationships as “long-distance” even though they still lived in the same countywith some describing their relationships as “long-distance” even though they still lived in the same county as their partners. Because of the forced separation, some interviewees even described themselves as newly “single” although they still felt committed to their partners.

“We were kind of at a standstill. We’ve just been dealing with Manny being gone, having to just go through life, I guess, without him. Raising his son, raising my daughter as a single mom. Because that’s what it is. Even though we’re married, I’m single,”

Second, many women whose partners were incarcerated in jails took on new or increased responsibilities when their partners were incarcerated, often becoming their family’s only breadwinners. Being in charge of their family’s finances, women were often responsible for the court fees of their incarcerated partnerswomen were often responsible for the court fees of their incarcerated partners, creating new, challenging relationship dynamics. Without their children’s fathers, the interviewees also described difficulty in parenting alone, especially when speaking to their children about their partner’s absence. These often led to shifts in how interviewees viewed themselves with some finding a new sense of independence, such as seeing themselves as more positive, self-reliant role models for their children 

Finally, the researchers found that women with partners in jails reevaluated their relationships and priorities. Some interviewees felt the incarceration strengthened their relationships, as they became more committed to their partners. Some described feeling as though their partners focused on them more after being incarcerated which led to their relationship roles becoming more stable.  Others, because of their new responsibilities or the uncertainty of their relationship status, took the opportunity to reexamine their relationships, choosing to focus on themselves and their children while finding their relationships less important and feeling less committed to their partners.

Jail is an isolating experience for those incarcerated but it also affects relationships back home. Turney and colleagues show how separation complicates these relationships and, more generally, how the criminal justice system can impact relationships and inequalities among families outside of jail.

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Many pursue college as an avenue of economic mobility, but gender and sexuality can also influence the decision to attend and move away from home. For young Latinas, in particular, household and family responsibilities and traditional gender norms can shape such decisions. Sociologists Michelle Gomez Parra and Lorena Garcia argue that desires to break free from these gendered expectations are an important part of Latinas’ decisions to move away for college. 

Parra and Garcia interviewed 31 Latinas who were enrolled in or graduated from a four-year university. The women were all from poor and or working-class families and 2nd generation (born in the U.S., but had a parent who immigrated) or generation 1.5 (immigrated to the U.S. before the age of 12). While the women saw college as an opportunity for economic mobility, they also described gender-related desires for individual freedoms. 

The women shared how going away to college lowered the burden of household responsibilitiesgoing away to college lowered the burden of household responsibilities. For example, ‘Emma’ said: “After school, my sister and I washed the dishes, cleaned up the living room, helped my mom with dinner when she got home from work. And weekends we’d go [to] the lavanderia [laundromat]. My brothers didn’t have to do any of that, it was annoying as hell!” 

By going away to college, the women could escape these responsibilities and focus on their studies. ‘Yolanda’ explained: “I didn’t want to always be stuck doing los quehaceres [housework], I didn’t want to deal with that and try to focus on my studies at the same time…I was like, ‘nope,’ I gotta go away for college.” 

The desire to move more freely outside the home also influenced the women. They described how their parents – in an attempt to prevent their daughters from sexual activity or “quien sabe que” (who knows what) – limited or closely supervised their social activities. ‘Erica’, a college graduate, explained: “My dad was always so strict about everything!…I thought, ‘This is my chance to not have anyone putting so many limits on everything I do.’” In terms of identity, being a college-bound teen also allowed the women to distance themselves from the stereotypeallowed the women to distance themselves from the stereotype that working-class Latinas often become “teen moms.” 

Economic mobility and the promise of a bright future are important factors in the decision to go to college, but not the only factor. Rather, for these working-class Latinas, their decisions provided an opportunity to break free of gendered expectations.

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When referring to people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there are typically two approaches, person-first or identity-first. Some argue that person-first language, which places the person before their condition (“person with autism”), is less stigmatizing and suggests that the individual can be more than the label they have been assigned. However, new research from Keating and colleagues found that this approach may not be preferable for people with ASD. 

Keating and colleagues administered an online survey to English-speaking people with an ASD diagnosis around the world to learn their preferences. 654 people who had ASD from 30 different countries completed the survey and shared their opinions.  

They found that the vast majority of people, 75% to 90% (varying by country), preferred identity-first languagethe vast majority of people, 75% to 90% (varying by country), preferred identity-first language, such as “autistic person” or “neurodivergent person.” Respondents felt that person-first language such as “person with autism” separates autism from their identity and suggests that their autism is a defect that can be removed. As one participant said, “Using terms like ‘person with autism’ feels like an attempt to separate it from me as if it were a disease, and these terms are commonly used by groups of people who ignore autistic voices and support things like a ‘cure’ for autism.” 

Interestingly, while 66%-73% of participants endorsed the use of “autistic” as a noun (such as “an autistic”), others felt it was historically dehumanizing and reduced them to a diagnosis. One respondent said, ”I do generally try to avoid noun omission,” using autistic rather than autistic person, because “omission of a noun is often used to subtlety dehumanize marginalized groups (e.g. “blacks” vs “black people’…)” Some specified that, while the autistic community has reclaimed the use of “autistic” as a noun, it should not be used this way by non-autistic people. while the autistic community has reclaimed the use of “autistic” as a noun, it should not be used this way by non-autistic people.

While these results suggest a general preference for identity-first language, they also reveal the diversity of opinion within the autistic community. Since there is not a consensus, the researchers recommend asking autistic people about their language preferences. When it is not possible to ask for language preferences, Keating and colleagues hope that the results of this survey can be used as a general framework. 

This study reminds us that language is not only descriptive but also performative of how people are identified and described. Language can have an influence on how society views and treats people–autistic or otherwise.

A collage of social media icons with a blue haze by geralt. Image from Pixabay is licensed under Pixabay license.

Your Tweets, pictures, and messages may be used against you. Social media, a common way to connect and share our lives, has become a common form of courtroom evidence. Jeffrey Lane, Fanny A. Ramirez, and Desmond U. Patton explored in their research how social media data in criminal trials harms low-income defendants – who are commonly represented by public defenders. The researchers interviewed New York City public defenders, lawyers appointed to represent people who cannot afford to hire private attorneys, about their experiences preparing for trial and defending clients in cases involving social media data. 

The public defenders shared three main disadvantages they experienced while defending their clients. First, they were frustrated by overly broad search warrants that allowed the prosecution to access years of social media data to use as evidence. This overwhelmed public defenders with data, which increased their uncertainty about what evidence might be used, their fear of missing important data, and the amount of time preparing the case. Describing prosecutors’ use of these search warrants, one public defender said: “They were just fishing…they looked at everything and they found something they liked“They were just fishing…they looked at everything and they found something they liked. That’s not how it’s supposed to go.”

Next, public defenders told the researchers that social media companies generally “bend over backwards for law enforcement,” but do not cooperate with public defenders in sharing individual profile data. While law enforcement could request a wide range of data (including data unavailable to the public, like location data), public defenders have limited access to data that may help their clients.

Lastly, public defenders described how social media data is used to paint their clients in a negative light. This pattern of using social media against people even involved using racial stereotypes. For example, one public defender told researchers about a case where the prosecution selected a photo from Instagram to identify the defendant at trial. Although the Instagram account had plenty of options, including family pictures, the prosecution selectively chose a photo that made the defendant appear ‘thuggish’the prosecution selectively chose a photo that made the defendant appear ‘thuggish’ and ignored others. 

Due to these disadvantages, public defenders in this study said that they consistently had to defend against social media and lacked opportunities to use social media data to help their clients. While social media data could negatively impact any defendant, this research suggests that low-income defendants are particularly vulnerable due to the time and resources it takes to review social media data, putting increased strain on public defenders.