Dissertation Development Topic Help

Police organizations in the United States are faced with a perception that racial profiling is occurring especially in multi-racial and multi-ethnic areas in the United States. American police organizations also sometimes deal with the issue of socio-economic preference or social status which is often abetted by critics, mindful of the potential for state tyranny, who argue that police organizations are a means by which the state implements its monopoly on maintaining law in order in its rich communities in order to attract and keep wealthy.

I plan to address these issues in Dissertation topic:

American Police: Research & Evaluation in the State of Florida - Does a suspect’s socio economic status play a role in arrest, search and seizure?

Should I say: play a role in arrest, search, and seizure or play a role in use of force incidents or play a role during the cause of an arrest? Which would you say sounds better? Does this look like a keeper or should I toss it and start again?

I already received clearance on the type of research I wish to undertake, however, I was told to come up with a topic that best addresses what I plan to research.

Thanks

 

My full reply would be a rant.

Pithy rant:

-Applying 'racial' to what is not in fact racial should IMO invalidate the study.

-With my Italian name, I would fully expect Bruce, if looking for some Mafioso, to stop me and let pass some female named Hildegard. What else could he do?

 

Shootin' my mouth off, here, but...

I've never written a dissertation BUT the common wisdom is that thesis topics usually start out too broad.

The State of Florida is going to be a HUGE database for analysis. Plus, you may find it hard to identify members of the target population from police reports alone.

Just a thought from someone who doesn't know what he's talking about? (Me, I mean.) Limit your research to a single city that is highly ghettoized. Shouldn't be hard in Florida. (Or anywhere else in the U.S., come to think of it) With luck, you might be able to draw conclusions from arrestees' residence zip codes.

Note: there's quite a lot of statistical research about the level of ghettoization out there, a good bit from the U.S. Census people, and it might even be presorted by zip code. Wouldn't THAT be nice?

Second, I would restrict my search to a single year. If you pick, say, Miami, you will have MOUNTAINS of data to go through otherwise.

I would ALSO look to see whether someone has already done this in another city or (better) say, ten years ago. Updating or confirming old results can produce useful and interesting evidence of trends, whether improving or worsening. There's also opportunity for the "daylight" any Ph.D. thesis needs to be an "original" contribution.

 

Oh, AUSTRALIA. Won't the diploma be printed upside down??

 

Ummmm

Great points, I do concur. I hate coming up with these topics for the same reason, too difficult to narrow. If it is narrowed too much - it becomes boring - Orlando does have it's share of ghettos but it is not all that interesting to me. I do know that I will have to cut it down and focus though. Thats for sure.

Rest assured that I'd never touch Miami with a ten foot pole. Although South Beach does have its share of rich people, smile. Thank you for your ideas. I have some work to do. Beginning with my topic, I see. It would be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Regarding the diploma - I'm more concerned if after all of this - I won't be turned upside down. LOL.

As always,

 

Oi - watchit or I'll ban ya!!!

Cheers,

George

 

You could narrow it by timeline, by geography, by the type of charge...

Also, you may run into some problems in collecting data if the results of your research might indicate that Police are doing something that they are not supposed to do.

I don't know.
Jack

 

I think one interesting factor would be whether you striate actual Miranda-rights-under-arrest from simply being "pulled over." I think some of the controversy over racial profiling is that some subgroups are "pulled over" much more frequently even though they are NOT placed under arrest, etc. You could face mountains of data either way, and "pulled overs" might be more interesting but much harder to obtain.

 

I think that "play a role in arrest, search, and seizure..." is better than the other choices. Also, like Nosborne suggested, you should narrow your focus to the City of Orlando or the County of Orange. This is only a preliminary proposal. I am sure that your advisor will advise you on how to fine-tune the title and how to narrow the focus of your research.

 

The last time I was accused of racial profiling was last week, when I stopped a black male for having a burned-out headlight. He had "limo-tint" (blacked-out) on all the windows, except the windshield, and it was 10pm. Bozo the Clown could have been driving the car, and I would have never known the difference, since I couldn't see the driver.

 

Do you generally give tickets or warnings for that? Where I live I would like to see more people stopped for warnings for going cyclops.

 

I always give written warnings for civil infractions, unless it's something totally outrageous (burning rubber from a stop light), or the person I stopped has a bad attitude. Monetary fines and written warnings count the same for our unofficial & unwritten quota, and I have no desire to make the insurance companies even more money with surcharges.

 

And let me say that your undertaking such a dissertation topic is very exciting to me. I look forward to reading the article!

 

But couldn't this be an important part of the data?
Compare:
# of black males pulled over with tinted windows,
# of non-black-males pulled over with tinted windows, and
#'s of both without tinted windows.

If black males are pulled over much more when they don't have tinted windows, it would suggest the possibility that they are "profiled" when race and gender can be ascertained. If all tinted window drivers are pulled over more frequently, it would suggest that maybe this characteristic is "profiled." The correlations would be interesting for their own sake, not to "accuse" anyone of profiling but to get a glimpse at what actually happens to whom.

 

If the tint is so dark that you can't even see the driver, how is it possible to "profile" them? Are we going to be accused of tintally profiling now?

 

Not profiling the drivers based on race, but profiling all tinted vehicles on the idea that they are more likely to contain criminals. No one is "accusing" you of anything. I didn't think tinted windows that masked the driver were legal at all, and if they are not it wouldn't be "profiling" to pull over anyone driving with such windows.

 

You need a currently-calibrated tint meter (which hardly anyone has) for the ticket to stick, so no one bothers to charge anyone with that.